Day: November 29, 2011

Simon has been with us for more than six months now, and it is difficult to imagine the farm without him or before him. At different points in time, different animals emerge to take centerstage here, to grow and evolve and dominate, although never for long and not for good. That, I think, is the nature of animals, to come and go, enter and leave our lives. Rose dominated the farm, then Orson, then Rose again. Then Carol, my first donkey, and then Lenore, the Love Dog, and Izzy, the Hospice Therapy Dog, and then Frieda, the Dog Who Kept Men Away, and then Simon, a remarkably bright and affectionate farm donkey who came to the edge of life, and then back.

This landscape evolves, ebbs, flows, is a living stream on the farm. Sometimes, for a few hours, it’s a hen, or a barn cat.

Simon spends the night with Lulu and Fanny high up in the pasture. In the morning, when the people arise, he comes down the hill, to get his hay, his treats, his brushing. He needs food, he needs attention. He is always with the other donkeys now, and sometimes they squabble and posture over food and position, but mostly, they explore the pastures, climb the hills, inspect their world, graze and sit and stare out at the world. He is healthy now, his coat shiny and full, his eyes bright.

He is attuned to the rythyms of the day. He knows when to present himself by the feeder, when to stand by the hay barn, when to watch the gate. Whenever he sees us, he lets out a joyous and embracing bray, his call to life, and tells the world that there is always hope, and that life is always worth living and waiting for. He is a gift to us.

“But time…how time first grounds us and then confounds us. We thought we were being mature when we were only being safe. We imagined we were being responsible but were only being cowardly. What we called realism turned out to be a way of avoiding things rather than facing them. Time..give us enough time and our best-supported decisions will seem wobbly, our certainties whimsical.”

Julian Barnes,  “The Sense Of An Ending.”

I remember the moment when I knew I was not really being safe, and refused to be cowardly any longer. And I faced my life rather than avoid or surrender it or lie about it.  And so time will grind me down, as it will us all, but not yet, not then, not that way. We make our own fate, paint a picture of our lives and imagine them, and we either jump or don’t. That is the Leap Of Faith, the Hero’s Journey,  and those are the moments that define us, and shape our lives. Time may ground me down, I understand, but I will not grind me down. Every day I am called to renew this vow, and every day I take it.

Tuesday’s orders for “Going Home” at Battenkill Books. The orders keep coming.

More than 50 orders for “Going Home” and another dozen for “Meet The Dogs Of Bedlam Farm” came into Battenkill Books Tuesday, by phone – 518 677-2515 – and by e-mail (www.battenkillbooks.com) Connie  has PayPal now.  I am a bit shocked.   People love talking to Connie and Marilyn, but it is also very easy to use her website. It seems that we will top 800 this week, and more on Friday, when I will be in the store from 4 to 6 p.m., taking phone calls and signing books in advance of the Cambridge Christmas Celebration.

All of my books can be ordered from Battenkill and will be signed and personalized. More orders also came in for Jenna Woginrich’s “Barnheart,” out this week, and also available pre-signed and personalized at Battenkill. Jenna is another Washington County writer who followed her heart to her farm,  Cold Antler Farm, where she is growing her own food, animal and vegetable. She’s a terrific writer. I have long maintained that I am a writer, not a farmer, and Jenna claims she is a farmer, not a writer. I am right. You will be hearing a lot about her in the future.

Clearly, something bigger than my books is happening here. I am very grateful for all of the support people are showing me and Connie, but we all sense that there is a deeper current. People do not want their entire lives turned over to corporations and online sales conglomerates. We need bookstores. We want bookstores. Communities are rallying all over the country to draw some lines in the sand and vote with their wallets and credit cards in favor of independence, individuality and creativity. If there is nothing left but corporate profits, those things will become rare and will be greatly missed. I sense this is a struggle for the meaning both of holiday and community. And many people are joining in.

It does not seem to be too late to preserve these things. We will definitely get to 1,000 and beyond, something I would not have imagined two months ago. This is taking on its own life. Connie is offering free “Going Home” videos and Bedlam Farm notecards to people who buy my books. I went to Battenkill to talk to Connie and Marilyn and recorded  a video about their plans for the holiday season and the larger implications of this remarkable experience. It is incredibly exciting. My wrist is sore but happy.  And she says there are already 50 more books for me to sign tomorrow. Come and see these two amazing women.

And listen:

Marilyn and Connie Brooks

All across the country, there are signs that Americans are waking up to the true meaning of worth, and the value of institutions like bookstores and libraries. In a Wal-Mart world, the idea advanced by economists and politicians is economy of scale – bigger and cheaper, at all costs, by any means. This has destroyed millions of jobs,  devastated communities all across the country,and been  a catastrophe for individuals, small businesses, libraries, neighborhood pharmacies and grocery stories, doctor’s offices, farms and the very idea of community.

Bookstores and the people who love them are fighting back. Author Ann Patchett has opened Parnassus, a bookstore in Tennessee when she realized there was suddenly no local bookstore. Lisa Sullivan has re-opened Bartleby’s Books in Wilmington, Vt. after Hurricane Irene devastated the town and her bookstore (her other bookstore was destroyed in a Brattleboro, fire last year.)  She sold nearly a third of her stock in two days. And journalists are waking up to the fact that e-books and the end of Border’s does not mean the end of bookstores – Forbes and Businessweek have both reported recently that many independent bookstores are seeing their profits up over last year as their communities awaken to their importance and value, and as they innovate and change rather than complain.

My bookstore, Battenkill Books in tiny Cambridge, N.Y., has sold more than 1,000 copies of books by local authors in November and December. And we hope to sell 1,000 signed and personalized copies of “Going Home: Finding Peace When Pets Die” by New Year’s. We are nearly at 800. Connie Brooks does not squawk about Amazon and neither does Lisa Sullivan. They both just set out to run a great bookstore and allow people to make their own choices about books.

The cheapest thing isn’t always the best thing. I buy books in bookstores and some  e-books without any remorse or regret, and I like savings – I just saved $250 on a video camera I could not possibly have purchased in my farming community and was appreciative of  it. Corporations have a right to exist, but so do people. Saving $8 on every book purchased may not be so great a savings if it means losing our bookstores. There are some things we have to pay for. There are some things worth paying for, especially if we live in a world where all of our interactions are through a keyboard. Amazon will never give you the pleasure of personally handing you or your child a book they know you will love. But Amazon can give you many good books cheaply and beam they right into your home or your vacation hotel.

So I hope you will fight back and support independent bookstores, as many are doing. This afternoon I will take another video of Connie and Marilyn Brooks. Friday afternoon from 4 to 6 p.m. (Dec. 2) I will be in the bookstore taking calls 518 677 2515.  You can call that number to order my books or you can place your order online. And you can order my books or any books online at [email protected] The store now has PayPal.

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At 2 p.m., Saturday, Lenore, me and Santa Claus will be at Gardenworks signing copies of “Meet The Dogs Of Bedlam Farm,”  my first children’s book. Trees, cider donuts, pies, gourmet cheese and me.

I learn from my animals all the time, because I see more and more how different they are from us, how differently they think and this helps me to understand them and communicate with them. This weekend some friends came over with their small children and Frieda was barking furiously at her fence, lunging and growling at a five-year-old girl who was trying to say hello to her. I have learned a bit working with Frieda. I came up to the edge of the fence, kneeled down at eye level and waited until she made eye contact with me.

“Frieda,” I said in a voice so soft she was tilting her head to catch my words. “I thank you so much for protecting us. But it’s okay now. We are all right.” And she looked at me, wagged her tail, and just lay down quietly. She did not bark any more. “It took me a couple of years to figure that out,” I told my friend, the mother of the small child, who also trains dogs and other animals in Los Angeles. “That’s okay,” she said, “most people never figure it out.”