Yesterday, 8th March, was International Women’s Day. We all know about it, we’ve all heard of it but what are its origins? How come there is such a day? A day that is officially celebrated in countries such as Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Mongolia, Turkey, Uganda, Russia, Vietnam, Zambia and elsewhere. There are …. Read More
Category: Mother Nature
Winter Stock-Take, Looking Towards Spring
Here in Connemara we have finished celebrating the Winter Solstice and on Monday I went to a friend’s house to enjoy an evening with women friends as it was Nollaig na mBan or Women’s Christmas. Traditionally in Ireland, this is the day when women put up their feet and relax or they go out and …. Read More
Medicine and Magic in the May Garden
I love the month of May – the whole country becomes lush and green and seems to me to be full of magical promise. Every time I turn around there is a new plant to discover, a new flower blossoming, a new leaf just opened on a young tree. Some people might say that …. Read More
Will You Join The 3.5%?
What a beautiful and delicate little flower the Wild Violet is. Would you deliberately trample on it? Would you pluck it and let it wilt and then discard it? I am sure you would not. I am mulling something over here, so I hope you will bear with me. A very good friend mentioned …. Read More
Taxation on Health – An Opportunity?
The Irish Government recently decided to impose a 23% taxation charge on health supplements. This seems to be a disappointing move but perhaps we should view this step as an opportunity for self-empowerment. Fortunately, for the present at least,( no doubt due to the massive response from the public and a number of …. Read More
Danu’s Irish Herb Garden – A Leap of Faith
Recently, on You Tube, I added a post about evergreens and how we bring them into our homes at the winter solstice as they represent life and rebirth during the deepest, darkest depths of winter. (https:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4iMBMJz2Sg) Evergreens remind us that life is eternal, that there is no death really, only some change. This was brought …. Read More
Danu’s Irish Herb Garden – Healing for Mother Earth
The weather is growing colder and the nights become darker earlier. With the fall of leaves, the landscape changes and the trees appear skeletal. Their nakedness reveals other things within the landscape, things that are usually hidden, such as tussocks and hillocks and animal dens as well as the rocks and stones that are the …. Read More
Danu’s Irish Herb Garden – A Radical New Beginning!
For twelve years I have been working with and learning about medicinal plants in my study of herbal medicine. For the last seven years I have been learning from and journeying to plants and trees. I am now fully out of the closet – I am a herbalist. In today’s corporate world, a world of …. Read More
An Bhean Feasa – Growing Medicine
The wonderful warm weather (ok, hot) weather, has really helped my garden to bloom and blossom this summer. Last month I created a new vegetable bed using the “lasagne” method, building up a bed with layers of organic material. This is the bed newly planted on 7 June. This is the bed below, on 10 …. Read More
An Bhean Feasa – Beds, Bees and Ox-Eye Daisies!
I am so, so grateful for the wonderful weather we are having as I write this post. The garden is truly blossoming and I have been working outside every day, planting and re-potting and weeding, (although that last job will never be done!!!!) and making a new bed to accommodate all the seedlings that have germinated. This …. Read More