26 June

Poem: The Last Bookcase

by Jon Katz
The Last Bookcase
The Last Bookcase

I kept looking at the bookcase,

at my bookcase,

it was the last bookcase in the world.

It’s  not that I mind progress or change,

it is life itself to change, and to grow, and to accept.

They stopped making bookcases when they stopped

making paper books,  there was no longer any need for either,

it happened around the year 2025, it was like gay marriage

and the Confederate Flag, the world seemed to decide at one time

that one was okay, and the other wasn’t,

the world decided that paper books were wasteful

and inefficient in the new global economy, and you know what happens

to people and jobs and things when the economists decide they no longer

belong in the new global economy. They are gone, don’t let anyone

tell  you otherwise.

The economists and CEO’s decided that books were

wasteful, a conceit and pretension, we needed the trees used for the books

and the bookcases to save Mother Earth, who was bleeding to death, and the

spaces that bookcases took, space was getting precious, the resources of the world,

dwindling.

I don’t talk about it much, there are lots of people who have never seen a bookcase

or had one,

but bookcases

were  my life once,

before my tablets and smartphones

and e-readers. Before my Apple things, my Amazon Prime.

A book was not just to read but to hold and smell

and feel, a bookcase was my doorway to the world,

to ideas and thoughts and stories.

It was another world, another time and place.

I kept mine for as long as I could, they laughed at me,

asking if it was  museum art, if I was a collector of useless things,

they thought me a stuffy old fool.

A bookcase had a smell that brought up history and time,

I loved the different colors, bindings, titles, the different type and textures. It looked the art

of the earth to me.

I turned to my bookcase like a lover, it never once failed me, it brought me  out of

myself, into the world, it saved my mind so many times.

I have a lot of books on my phone now, they go everywhere with me,

they are the new bookcases, and isn’t that something.

I get sad these days when I look at my bookcase, it is a reflection of me,

I think, getting older and useless and left behind by new things,

new ways of understanding things.

The early morning sun and

the late afternoon sun, loved a bookcase, the bookcase loved the light back.

The slanting light always

found a bookcase, they seemed like sacraments and peaceful things,

the books taught me patience and acceptance, they always seemed to be standing and ready,

waiting

out time together, they never imagined a day when they would come

for the last bookcase,

and then there would be no need of more.

26 June

Scenes From The Open House: Storming The Round House

by Jon Katz
Storming The Round House
Storming The Round House

The people coming to the open house this weekend stormed the Round  House Cafe last night, lining up for Scott Carrino’s increasingly popular wood-fired pizza. There was a good crowd there, a lot of laughter and connection. I think the crowd caught Scott by surprised, but he and his staff rallied and handled us. Scott is as much a part of Bedlam Farm as the animals and the people there.

Our farrier and friends, Ken and Eli-Anita Norman and their daughter Nikilene came also, everyone will be at the open house tomorrow, perhaps at the Round House again as well. Scott cooked nearly 40 pizzas last night, he was frazzled.

26 June

The Open House Begins

by Jon Katz
The Open House Begins
The Open House Begins

As always, we invited some friends and members of the Creative Group At Bedlam Farm, an online community of creatives, to come by Friday afternoon, talk to one another, hang out, take photos, meet the animals, see some sheepherding. It is a sweet gathering, some of us are heading over to the Round House for some pizza. It is a wonderful thing to see the love these people have for one another, even though many of them have only met online. Online communities can be powerful communities, they can connect people in an intense and beautiful way. We allow no anger or hostility on the group, this has cause the kind of connection that only comes with safety and encouragement. The open house is underway.

26 June

Here Come The Portable Toilets

by Jon Katz
Here Come The Portable Toilets
Here Come The Portable Toilets

Last year was the first year we ordered two portable toilets for the open house, it was a good thing to do. The crowds have been getting larger and our farmhouse is small and we can’t offer rest room services to visitors. The Mountaintop toilet people were awfully nice, they came by, filled the toilets with some chemicals – the color is kind of need, and we are set to go. Open house opens at 11 a.m. tomorrow, runs 11 to 4 Saturday and Sunday. The forecast says some rain possible Saturday in the afternoon, showers on and off Sunday. It looks good for us. I did a small herding demo with Fate and Red earlier this afternoon, more tomorrow. Maria has the studio set up beautifully, and Chloe the pony is loving her visitors.

26 June

Tyler: Open House Commissar, Bedlam Farm

by Jon Katz
Deputy Mayor
Deputy Mayor

Tyler Lindenholl is a neighbor and a friend, an emerging craftsman, handyman, great person to know. He is taking the Open House, which begins Saturday, in hand. He has moved about two acres of tall grass for parking, he made a bunch of parking and other signs, he mowed our lawn and weed-whacked, he hammered some loose shingles in the porch. I just hired him to touch up the paint job on the outside of the house.

He is an amazing person, he works quietly, hard and efficiently. He has a great, dry, sense of humor. He loves taking responsibility, what he doesn’t know he quickly learns. He appeared on the scene last year around the time of my heart surgery, he did all the things i couldn’t do for several months, he has been around ever since and I hope he stays around forever.

A good man, a good friend.

Email SignupFree Email Signup