17 November

Amazing Women. Battenkill Books: Project 1000. The Empire Trembles

by Jon Katz
Kicking Off: Project 1000

 

Battenkill Books is a David and Goliath story I am enjoying. Friday is Connie Brook’s Birthday (Happy Birthday, Connie) and when  I stopped in to sign books, she was on the phone taking an order for “Going Home” and I picked up the phone and shocked a therapist from Massachusetts, a very lovely person, who was ordering my book. We are having fun. Connie was also taking a slew of orders for writer Jenna Woiginrich’s new book “Barnheart” which is out early and Jenna has also agreed to personalize copies of her book purchased from Battenkill. There are more than 100 orders already in. Jenna, like me, is a compulsive writer. Connie is happy.

Connie has sold more than 600 copies of “Going Home: Finding Peace When Pets Die,” and nearly 100 copies of “Meet The Dogs Of Bedlam Farm,” my first children’s book. We are heading for 1,000 copies by New Year’s and we believe we will make it. Connie is offering a free video of “Going Home” or a signed Bedlam Farm notecard with each of those books – or any of my books – ordered throughBattenkill Books,  which now has Paypal. You can also call her or her charming mother Marilyn at 518 677-2515.  Many people are already re-ordering “Going Home” as they or their friends and family members lose pets. I love helping take orders on the phone and surprising readers. We have fun. December 2, from 4 p.m. to 6, I will be at the bookstore with Lenore. (Dec. 10 at Northshire, Manchester, Vt., 2 p.m).

It is a great pleasure to see Connie and Marilyn so busy, and so happy. Connie is not looking for sympathy. She is coming up with many innovative changes that are helping her small and independent bookstore outflank the giants. I think this David and Goliath story will have a long and happy ending. If you can, cast a vote for independent bookstores and support the peoople who are fighting to keep them vibrant.

Come and see Connie explain the juicy holiday offerings and her ideas about bookstores. Marilyn will be on in a few days:

 

17 November

The Blog Re-Design. Sharing One More Leap.

by Jon Katz
One More Step

Puppies from Kee-Pin Labradors, Lenore’s breeder.

Been going back and forth all day on the new blog re-design, talking to Chris Archibee and Brendan LaRock at Mannix, sorting through the e-mails, messages, posts and stepping back and considering most of all, what do I want? What is my sense of the blog? What suits me? As I’ve been sharing the process of putting together the re-design, then I should share a decision Chris Archibee and I reached on the phone a few minutes ago. We’re  adding some color alongside the Farm Journal – blue – and then cleaning out most of the navigational features on the right-hand side – the Archives By Subject, the Additional Tools, The Calendar. We will keep a search engine. The Book Tour will disappear until there is a book tour, and otherwise, events will be listed in the “calendar” box at the top.

People who want to go backwards can still scroll back, but I became clear that I want the site to be both all-encompassing yet also much simpler and more focused. The photo will get even larger. Sites traditionally over these navigational tools to help people go back and forth on the site, but I think they deter from the focus. I want to extend the blog’s reach into new media and make that much simpler to navigate. The rest of the page will be devoted to the Farm Journal and the photography. Up top will be  Facebook, Video, Photos, Blogs I Love,  and other information.

I’ve focused on design for some time, although am not a designer and I think Steve Jobs nailed my sense of design for me. Very focused, spare, clean. I’ve cluttered up the website for years with friends, links, tools and widgets. But now I understand that less is more and this will help me focus as well. Wanted to share that. So the site is decided, and many thanks for the very helpful suggestions and comments. One message said: “it suits you.” And it does.  I did love this message from a woman in Ohio: “Listen. I am not coming onto your site every again if you move the photo of the four dogs that is up there every day.”

The refund, I said, is in the mail. ):

 

17 November

Are Animals Just Like Us?

by Jon Katz
Are Animals Just Like Us?

 

In recent years I’ve learned that I have a somewhat different view of animals than many. I think people want their dogs and cats to have souls because they love them dearly and they wish to cross the Rainbow Bridge with them and join them in heaven, or whatever afterlife they might believe in. This comes from love so great the idea of separation is unbearable. We want them with us, and we wish them to be like us and are increasingly seeing them that way – they have souls like we do, ascend to heaven like some of us wish we will, grieve for one another they way we do. Many people see animals as their children,  view them that way, mourn them in that way.

I love animals the same way, I think, but I believe they are very different from us. I do not believe they have language, or speak in our words, or construct their emotions and narratives – guilt, envy, resentment, grief, separation, anxiety –  in the way that we do. I do not know if any of us have souls, but I believe the human soul or spirit is very different from that of an animal. We suffer from conscience, are stirred by creation and change, undertake to create political systems, improve our lives, invent things. Animals don’t do that.

Many people are beginning to worship animals and seek perfect, no-kill worlds for them. I worship the part of animals that is so different from us. That accepts life and death. That lives in the moment. That lives off of instinct and intuition, and does not stave off death with medications and medieval procedures,  and does not attack or harm one another, or wage systematic and destructive war, or waste or damage the earth, or conceive of terrorist attacks or acquire more resources than they can use, or live to pay their bills. Animals are innately spiritual to me, and evolved in so many ways beyond our consciousness.

But I love them because they are so different from humans, and I hope I never come to see them as the same.

17 November

Bedlamfarm.com – Decisions

by Jon Katz
Rose In The Big Barn

Lots of people weighed in on the re-design for bedlamfarm.com – First and Second Draft, and I thank you. I appreciated all the feedback – way more than I anticipated – and also appreciate the collaborative tone of most of the messages. Some were angry and demanding, and very insistent, but I asked for it and I was glad to consider them all. In America, communicating on open spaces always seems to pull up some anger, although not much. People, I sense, don’t believe anybody is really listening, and they present their voices loudly, as if to be heard. But this was a great discussion, and it was very helpful to me. I think almost all of you are getting a site design you are comfortable with – one that showcases the photos, is clean and bright, and provides easy access and navigation.

Many people wanted the border collie graphic – Izzy- now at the top of the site, to stay. I don’t want it there any longer, so it’s moving. It just doesn’t reflect me or the site now and that’s a personal thing. I do like feedback and I do consider it, but at the end of the day, it’s my site and I’m paying for it and have to live with it, so I am at that point where it’s just time to make some decisions. I agree with those who thought the page a bit too colorless, so we are adding a blue border. The photos are properly emphasized.  I like the boxes up top, and they are remaining, perhaps just rounding off the corners to make them a little less sharp and removing one or two. That’s it, really. Time to move forward, not only in discussing the blog but in creating it. Many thanks to Brendan LaRock, Chris Archibee and Toby Dawes at Mannix Marketing. Another step forward for this blog, a powerful and enduring element in my life and work. The new blog should be up shortly. Can’t wait.

17 November

Video: The Inquisitive Chicken

by Jon Katz
Meg, The Inqusitive Chicken

 

Maria calls Meg the “Inquisitive Chicken” and that’s a good name for her. She follows us around, pops into the big barn, lays eggs on the donkey hay feeder, chases the dogs away and  takes ride’s on the donkeys’ back We are always carrying her out of places she doesn’t belong. She has even tried to scoot into the kitchen through the  back door. That would not be a good idea in Frieda’s house. In my experience, fearful chickens don’t last too long, so I hope she gets a bit more cautious. The camera likes her though.

Took a smile video this morning. Some sweet moments on the farm. Come and see.

 

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