9 February

How My Donkeys Trained Me In The Snow

by Jon Katz
How My Donkeys Trained Me In The Snow

Donkeys are hardy desert and mountain animals, they thrive in all kinds of weather. But my donkeys, Lulu and Fanny, trained me a decade ago to feed them privately, away from the other animals, when we are experiencing high winds and heavy snow.

They are clever creatures. When these two came to the first Bedlam Farm, and it snowed heavily, they went into the barn and brayed piteously when it snowed heavily.  When donkeys bray piteously, it can melt an icy heart, or mine for sure. It is a piercing sound.

I thought something was wrong, perhaps they were sick or had slipped on the ice.

Donkeys are like border collies. Once is an experiment, twice is an addiction. More than that, they will own you. For two days I brought them their own supply of fresh hay in the dry barn. Every since, they simply stay in the barn and bray for me to come and serve them, out of the mud, wind, ice and snow.

It isn’t that they couldn’t come out to eat, of course they could. They just don’t want to, and now, they know they don’t have to. They know there is a sap of a human who will bring them their own private collection of hay.

Maria saw them waiting for me in the barn and she laughed. “What a mush you are.” Coming from my wife, that is a statement to consider. I am a sucker for my donkeys, they know it, they can bring me out of the house often with some carrots by sounding the right bray. I like them dry and warm in the barn.

9 February

Thank You, Thank You!: New Refugee Families Coming This Week

by Jon Katz
New Refugees, Coming This Week

My donation today: Red Ceramic Heater, $14.99.

These two young women – very recent immigrants to America – wanted so much to thank you personally for the donations you have sent them through a special Amazon Gift Page that they came to the warehouse where the gifts are being sent and signed released forms agreeing to be photographed.

I can’t use their names or provide any specific details about them – they feel there are great risks to doing that in America right now – and in their original countries, it is rare for women to be photographed or have their pictures shown in public. The volunteers said they said “thank you, thank you,” at least ten times.

They showed up because they wanted to thank you, they were smiling ear to ear and wanted to make their gratitude and appreciation to you  known. I thank them for that. They are quite brave to do this.

They need so much.

This week more refugees are coming to this area, mostly women and children, rushing to skirt the proposed ban.

They have all been repeatedly investigated and tested and vetted – often many times, and for years.

They have suffered greatly and are no threat to you, your family or our country. They lost everything in their own country, and to come here and need everything, especially inexpensive household appliances, blankets, comforters, coffee makers, teapots, silverware, toothpaste, deodorant, citizenship application guides, socks and diapers.

The U.S Committee on Refugees And Immigration and it’s very dedicated volunteers are  regularly updating its gift page on Amazon to reflect the evolving needs of these new Americans. They are our brothers and sisters.

Your gifts are not only valuable in their own right, they also serve the purpose of showing these refugees that they are safe and welcome in America, a land they have always believed to be welcoming and generous.

This is a way to do good, inexpensively and effectively. Every penny goes directly to the refugees and the suggested items range from $6 to $50. You can also donate Amazon gift cards.

Thank you so much. Your donations filled the volunteer warehouse, which is already emptying out as the packages are being quickly distributed. Many of these refugees didn’t know they were coming here until a few days before they left. They have all been traumatized by the sudden ban on immigration, they fear they will ever see their loved ones again and wonder about their lives here.

They arrived to encounter their first winter – an upstate New York winter – and need just about everything to fill the apartments that have been found for them. Thanks for contributing, and if you can continue doing that – again the items are inexpensive and utilitarian – you will be doing good and feeling good. Thanks.

For me, this transcends the idea of charity. It is about who I am as a human being, who we are as a people. This could well be my grandmother, cold and frightened in a strange country thousands of miles from home. Don’t argue. Do good.

My donation today: Red Ceramic Heater, $14.99

9 February

Nevertheless, She Persisted

by Jon Katz
Nevertheless, She Persisted

Maria’s trip to India is three days away, 72 hours. We can hardly believe it is here.

Maria is excited about her trip, and well prepared. She is going to Kolkata to teach the victims of sex  trafficking how to make her potholders so they can earn a living for themselves.

She will have a powerful and creative experience there, and so will I, here on the farm. Cassandra Conety will show up Monday morning to feed the animals and do the farm chores, and I will begin work on the fifth chapter of my book “Lessons From Bedlam Farm,” due out in 2018.

I will write it as it unfolds.

The chapter will be called “Left Behind” and will be about my experience being without Maria and alone on the farm once more. It will be about independence, self-reliance, love and spiritual growth.

Love is not about clinging to someone and keeping them near, love is about selflessness, about letting others be all that they wish to be and can be. Of course I will miss her, but she will be back soon enough, with tales to tell and beautiful quilts and potholders to make.

Love is sometimes about staying close, sometimes about being far away. Being alone will bring good things and perhaps, bring up some bad things. A chance to get to know myself and understand where I am now. Maria’s trip is about nothing so much as an affirmation for the way she – we – have chosen to live our lives, the risks we have taken, the great rewards we have been given.

At every step of her life, Maria faced enormous obstacles, and one by one, she has overcome them.

Nevertheless, she persisted.

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