14 October

Jack’s Outback Antiques: Cambridge, Main Street

by Jon Katz
Jack's Outback, Main Street
Jack’s Outback, Main Street

For years, Jack Metzger has prowled the prowls and auctions of upstate New York and collected old and beautiful stuff, he had so much of it stored out back he called his business Jack’s Outback, it is one of the favored destinations on our little Main Street, people come to see Jack from all over the country.

There is always new stuff on his front porch, Jack is a generous and knowledgeable soul, he has also become an artist, taking what he calls “lost” artifiacts and turning them into beautiful sculptures and pieces. I love my Main Street, Jack’s is one of the reasons why. The inside of the store is crammed with wonderful old things, they hang from the ceilings.

 

14 October

Vintage Hankies On The Line: Connection, Community

by Jon Katz
Vintage Hankies On The Line
Vintage Hankies On The Line

Maria got the idea for scarves made of vintage hankies last year, and she has sold every one she has made, usually within seconds. The vintage hankies have added a new dimension to our lives, become a presence here. They seem to arrive in small amounts every day. People mail them from all over their country, they come in small envelopes and big ones, there are usually some in our mail. Sometimes people arrange to drop them off if they contact Maria first and she is around. On sunny days, there are usually some vintage hankies on the clothesline by the back porch, Maria often leaves them there because she knows I love to photograph them. I do.

Maria’s art is founded on the notion of making art out of recycled fabrics, and the vintage hankies are a wonderful example of recycled art. More touching is the sense of community Maria seems to have spawned, how people find their mother’s and grandmother’s hankies in drawers and boxes and are generous enough to send them to Maria (people can also use our Post Office Box, P.O. Box 2, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.) The hankies are points of light, points of connection, symbols of the kinds of powerful communities that can form online, that can form anywhere.

I never heard of vintage hankies until less than a year ago, now there are small flags flying over our lives. Do not be fooled by their news, warmth and love and community and connection thrive.

 

14 October

Strong Women: Making A New Book Together

by Jon Katz
Making A Book Together
Making A Book Together

Two of the strongest and most beautiful women I know and love were together in the farmhouse this morning, planning a new book together for the third time. Our friend Mary Kellogg, the poet came by to meet with Maria and i and show us a stack of poems she found that she had written around the time when she was 12, they were beautiful and spare (she hid them from the world until she was 81, when she showed them to me at Bedlam Farm), they complete the circle in her life, we are thinking of calling the book “A Complete Life,” and publishing a book under the Bedlam Farm Books label.

This would be Mary’s third book of poems, and the third volume of Mary’s poetry that Maria has edited and organized. I would contribute photographs again, and take some that reflect the theme of the book, which we haven’t totally figure out yet. We hope to have the books published in time for the Bedlam Farm Open Houses next June and October.

It was quite inspiring to see Maria and Mary work together, they love and respect one another so much. Mary came with some friends to see Bedlam Farm a few years ago, and we became friends. She showed me some poems she had written as a child, I was the first person other than herself to see them. I showed them to Maria, who agreed to edit the book and organize it, our trips to the publisher together on  behalf of Mary’s work began our friendship, which eventually led to our love.

Maria is a dear friend of ours, she has witnessed our story from the beginning. Our collaboration together resulted in two volumes of poetry – My Place On Earth, and Whistling Woman. Maria edited both volumes, I took the photos. Mary hand sold enough copies to pay us back for the money we spent publishing the books under the Bedlam Farm Books imprint and Mary eventually even made a few dollars, astonishing for a first book of poetry.

We are thinking of calling the new book A Complete Life as the poems would range from age 8 to 83. We hope to publish the new book in time for the Bedlam Farm Open Houses next June and October. Mary’s husband died more than a decade of ago of Alzheimer’s Disease, Mary cared for him for 10 years he never spent one night outside of his home. She lives on a 30-acre farm on a remote hillside, she cares for the property herself, riding around on an ancient lawn mower. During an awful blizzard I called her to ask if she was okay, could I bring her anything. “No thanks, dear, I am fine,” she said. An hour later she was at the back door of Bedlam Farm in the blinding snow holding a pot of soup. “I know you fall down all the time in the snow, dear,” she said, “I thought I’d bring you something to keep you warm.”

It was so beautiful to see these two strong women laughing and talking to one another, beginning the glorious process of making a book together. I am eager to get started on the photographs. A powerful trio.

 

14 October

To Photograph A Sheep, Be A Sheep

by Jon Katz
Sheep In The Meadow
Sheep In The Meadow

I have learned that to photograph a sheep, you have to be a sheep, at least part of the time. Being a sheep is not a natural position for me in the world, I am not a ruminant and not a flock animal. But I have lain with them many times putting the camera in front of me, sitting still until they grace, I bring them bits of apple and some of the softer donkey cookies, which they love sometimes. It  helps also to have a border collie watching your back, fixing the sheep with a steely gaze. Sometimes, they will just lower their heads and co-operate. I am working on my sheepness.

14 October

Our Lives Are Paths, Our Dogs Are Mirrors Of Our Lives

by Jon Katz
We All Live On Paths
We All Live On Paths

We all live on paths, our lives are a series of paths, many of them disconnected from one another. As long as I have lived on my farms, I have walked my dogs on paths, paths are a living memoir of my lives with dogs, they are mirrors of the different chapters in my life with animals.

Many people mark the anniversary of their dog’s and cat’s deaths, I do not, I mark the joy and meaning my dogs who are living bring me every day. We are living on a new farm with new paths, and it brings me great happiness to see a new generation of happy dogs running and sniffing and positing for against a sunlight forest in the fall. Behind them, a parade of ghosts – Rose, Orson, Izzy, powerful animal spirits who are no longer with me but who are with me all of the time.

I do not mourn their loss, I give thanks for my time with them, and acknowledge the gratitude I feel for having other dogs who are just as wonderful and challenging and spiritual in their own way. How is it that my dogs all love these paths, and I love walking on them with them? It can’t be an accident, cant it. We get the dogs we need, they guide us through the phases of life, if we are open to it, we mirror one another, each becoming what the other wants.

 

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