Many people came to mind after the Open House closed on Sunday, one that kept coming back to me was Ruth, the first person to arrive Sunday, she was born and raised on a farm and drove several hours to come. She walks slowly and somewhat painfully on a walker, she moved it over the lawn and to the pasture to meet the donkeys, then she and her husband found a place to sit. Flo our sociable barn cat quickly found her planted herself in Ruth’s lap.
For nearly an hour, these two communed, and then Ruth determinedly got over to the pasture to get close to the donkeys. She walked to the other side of the farm to see Red herd the sheep. I was so touched that she came far, and worked so hard to see my farm and my life, to meet Maria and come into the studio. There is a sweetness and calm about Ruth that made a deep impression on me. When she left, she took my hand and said very quietly, “thank you so much for sharing your life. I read your blog every day and I am so happy to come here and see it for myself.”
I thank you, Ruth, you make being a writer something especially worthwhile.
If you run your life in fear, live a life you dislike, permit other people to decide your fate and the direction of your existence, you might wish to consider the life of Mary Kellogg, one of our dearest friends and a warrior for self-determination and independence and a meaningful and creative life. At the age of 81, she published her first volume of poetry, she is working on her third.
She is now 84, one of the most beautiful women I have known, she acknowledges without complaint that she is entering one of the final phases of her life. Next week she is getting a hearing aid, she struggles to project her voice and I see the stiffness in her leg when she stands up for too long. Mary recently raised almost singlehandedly the funds to build a small hospice facility near her hometown of North Hebron.
She is close friends with some women in their 90’s who remain on the farms where they lived with their husbands for so many years and where they wish to stay. Mary drives them to the market and their doctor’s appointments. Today Mary read from a new and beautiful poem about what it is like to lose one dear and long-time friend after another, she does not dwell much on death, neither does she run from it. She is a loyal and loving friend, she does not ever speak ill of her life or engage in the self-debasing talk so common to the elderly.
When I confided to her that I was in love with Maria, Mary chuckled and said “good choice, she’ll keep you in line.”
She lives on a remote 30-acre farm on the top of the hill, and like so many people with telephones, has been largely abandoned by her phone company, which much prefers to sell cell phones than fix old ones. Mary is often without electricity or phone service in the winter, she goes down to the pond and hauls water to the bathroom for the toilet. Most people in her life think she ought to get into an easier, smaller place, I think that will not happen any time soon. Mary lives the life she wishes to live, and will until the last. She comes to every Bedlam Farm Open House to speak, she is a prophet for encouragement, independence and a meaningful life. She is a very beautiful woman.
If you doubt the importance of animals in our world, come to the farm during an Open House and see the pleasure, love and healing dogs, donkeys, cats and even chickens can do. Red is not one dog but two, the fiercely focused and businesslike herding dog, the sensitive and affectionate pet and therapy dog. Here, Beth Heffern of the Open House reaches out to touch him, as hundreds of people did this weekend. Without animals, our connection to the natural world will be broken forever.
I took a lot of photos today, but I think this one captured the feel of the open house the best. Our neighbor Corey came over with his wife Sarah and their daughter Sadie to watch Red herd sheep. Sadie got up on dad’s back for the best view, and she and her father just lit up the place, there was so much love and joy in both of their faces.
One big adjustment for me is the fact that everyone has a camera now, every image is recorded. Everywhere I went, I heard shutters and cell phones clicking, this made me stop and think about what I wanted to do. I don’t like to do what everyone else is doing, so I decided to focus on faces and portraits. This one will stay in my memory of the Open House, this photo is the face of the Open House.
The first Bedlam Farm Open House of 2014 ended today, I think we had more than 500 people over both days, I can’t be certain. Each day Red and I put on some herding demos, he and the sheep are tired. This afternoon, he took on the final lambing challenge, getting Ma and Deb to move with the other sheep. Deb doesn’t get herding yet, and Ma won’t leave her, so we had a good and long stand-off. Deb butted Red in the head, then Red decided to lie down and just pressure the pair into moving, which they eventually did.
Today was quieter than Saturday as Sundays are, Maria and I expect the October Open House to be a bit more intense. This was one great fun, genial, continuous stream of nice and interesting people. Maria sold a bunch of art, Simon and the donkeys have bellies full of carrots and apples, I got to meet a lot of people I have not seen before – local people, people from other phases of my life, people from the Open Group at Bedlam Farm. It is hard to be the object of so much interest and attention for two days, it is not usually the way I live but Maria and I got a lot of neat ideas for the October Open House. More later.
