We seem to have a nosy and inquisitive chicken on our hands. Meg hops up on the donkey’s backs, she jumps in the hay feeder, she follows Maria around the farm, tries to steal the cat’s food. I warned her that inquisitive chickens don’t live long but she ignores me, and is cheeky and demanding. Now she looks right into the camera lens. An unusual hen.
Maria and I had one of the nicest Thanksgivings either of us had ever had, a sweet, gentle day filled with friends, each other, gratitude and good food. The day began with an animal communication with Jeannie Lindheim, a surprisingly touching exchange between Maria and I and the animals. We loved Jeannie’s image of Frieda on her hind legs embracing all of the creatures on the farm.
I baked a first-rate turkey, if I do say so myself,and I was proud of the stuffing Maria and I made together. An affirmation of our lives. My stuffing included wheat bread croutons, dried cranberries, chopped apple, grapes, grated orange peel, celery, walnuts, onions, baked inside the turkey.
Friday, another special day. I’m going to be at Battenkill Books from 11 a.m. to somewhere between noon and 1 p.m. to take your calls ordering “Going Home,” “Meet The Dogs Of Bedlam Farm” or any other of my books. You can call at 518 677 2515 and if I am able, I will be happy to personally thank you for ordering books from this great independent bookstore. We have taken more than 700 orders for “Going Home” and nearly 100 for “Meet The Dogs Of Bedlam Farm” and we are hoping to pass the 1,000 mark for “Going Home” by New Year’s. Connie Brooks is giving away videos and signed Bedlam Farm notecards to people who buy any of my books through her store. You can buy these books at Battenkill’s website or by e-mailing the store at [email protected]
At 2 p.m., I’ll be signing books at Gardenworks, Salem, N.Y.,518 854 3250. Great food, crafts, cheese, cider donuts and other lovely things at Gardenworks, my neighbor. Another great independent store.
At midnight Thursday, Maria is launching her Plaid Friday potholder sale at fullmoonfiberart.com. She had made 25 “plaid” potholders and will give them away free to three of the first 25 people who e-mail her – [email protected] – wanting to buy a potholder.
Plaid Friday is a fast-growing movement that encourages people to do their holiday shopping at independently owned stories and businesses, a response to the “Black Friday” sales offered by large online stores in malls. Support individuality, community, independence and creativity. You should shop, of course, wherever you wish, but Maria and I are supporting Plaid Friday all day. Call me at Battenkill Books from 11 a.m. on today – 518 677 2515 -that will be fun – or e-mail Maria and get a neat potholders ($15 plus shipping).
And Happy Thanksgiving. We hope your holiday was as meaningful as ours.
I took my Thanksgiving Prayer from Mary Oliver’s “Six Recognitions Of God:”
“I know a lot of fancy words.
I tear them from my heart and my tongue.
Then I pray.
Lord God, mercy is in your hands, pour
me a little. And tenderness too.
My need is great. Beauty walks so freely
and with such gentleness. Impatience puts a halter on my face
and I run away over the green fields wanting your voice, your
tenderness, but having to do with only
the sweet grasses of the fields against my body.
When I first found you I was filled with light, now the darkness grows
and it is filled with crooked things, bitter and weak, bearing my name.
Oh feed me this day, Holy Spirit, wih
the fragrance of the fields and the
freshness of the oceans which you have made,
and help me to hear and to hold in all dearness
those exacting and wonderful words of our Lord,
saying:
Follow Me.”
Got up early. Did an animal communication with Jeannie Lindheim.
Went to the barn. Fed the donkeys some Thanksgiving Grain. Fed the chickens croutons and two-day old rice.
Fed the barn cats bits of salmon.
Thanked each one.
Prepared the turkey.
Cleaned it out.
Made the stuffing. Wheat bread croutons. Grapes, dried cranberries, onion, orange peel, broth.
Put the stuffing in the turkey. Cooked up the heart and liver and fed it to the dogs.
Put the turkey in around ll:45.
Made orange cranberry sauce – cranberries, maple syrup, orange juice.
Boiled potatoes for mashed potatoes.
Basted the turkey every 15 minutes with butter, broth. Nice and brown.
Put an aluminum “tent” over the turkey.
Guests arriving at 2:30. Bringing bread, dessert, crackers, wine.
Planning a Thanksgiving, gratitude reading.
Good meal to those who are dining. Good shopping to those who favor that.
Going for a walk. Dinner at 4.
We had a profoundly sweet and meaningful communication with all of the animals on the farm this morning, courtesy of friend and Animal Communicator Jeannie Lindheim, who called early Thanksgiving morning – thanks Jeannie – to talk to Maria and I and exchanges Thanksgiving messages between us and our animals. This is not something I would have done a few years ago. But I am glad I did it this morning. I am not one of those people who prizes consistency. The mark of a mind that is alive is that it can change and grow.
We asked Jeannie to relay to the animals our love and gratitude for their presence in our lives. Jeannie said they all knew, and Izzy spoke for them and asked that we see each one of them – the dogs, donkeys, chickens and cats – personally this morning. We did that. Each wanted a quiet touch, hug, kiss or treat. We did that also. They spoke from all of their places. Jeannie said each of the animals is fully aware of all of the others. They are connected.
“Our hearts are full,” Lulu told Fanny.
Frieda then emerged from the group, said Jeannie. “She’s taking care of everything with her magnificence. She’s holding everyone.” Jeannie said this was a beautiful image, a beautiful feeling. She said Frieda surrounded everyone in a gentle embrace with her amazing energy, a “magnificent holding.”
Maria was emotional. She loves the animals so much, it was difficult for her to tell them.
There were individual messages. Lenore asked quietly if she could play. Rose asked “what is going to happen today,” she wanted the agenda. Simon said all of the animals are aware of everything that is happening to each other on the farm, all the time. He said it was foolish to ask him if he was grateful to be here. Of course he was, he said. Lulu asked if Maria or me could visit her and give her a treat (she got a carrot.) Toots the Zen Hen asked repeatedly if I would pull up a chair next to her and look out the window with here. “C’mon,” she said, “c-mon.” Fran suggested to Jeannie that I read a lovely book called “That Quail, Robert,” and Jeannie passed that along to me. The dogs chanted “walk, walk, walk.”
Mother and Minnie told of their love for the big barn, especially when they settled into bales of hay, got warm, vanished into the soft piles to be warm and hidden.
The strong idea, Jeannie said, was that we were all connected her, in a network of energy, love and awareness. “It’s a day,” said Simon. “It’s a day. For me, every day is a good day.”
Happy Thanksgiving, I told them. You have brought me so many gifts,my work, farm, my stories, my love, my photos. I appreciate you. We know, they said, as one.
