I saw this wind chime on Ed Gulley’s blog this morning it was also on You Tube, and I texted Carol Gulley and said I wanted to buy it. Ed has sold a number of his wind chimes in recent weeks, I thought there was something special about this one, it was made entirely out o implements, tools, keys and fixtures from the farm.

It was a Farmer’s Wind Chime, and it makes the most beautiful sound, he got some spoons from a neighbor. It has joined the Ed Gulley Gallery on the back porch.

It cost $75, anyone else might have charged much more.

I went to Bejosh Farm this afternoon, I sat and had a long talk with Ed about his art, and how difficult it was to find the time to create his art and run a busy dairy farm, there is always so much to do and he said his hands hurt constantly in the winter.

So does one knee.It is, he said, much better in the warm  weather.

Ed is not one to take a few weeks off and get things taken care of, he just works through it. Ed and Carol have decided against a gofundme project to buy a new computer. They just don’t feel right about asking for it, they are going to save the money from the money they earn on the farm.

I think Ed is struggling with the insecurities of the artist, after all of the certainty and ritual  and routine of the farm.  Am I any good? Can I sell my work? How will I provide for myself and my family?

He denied that he was feeling low for about 20 minutes, and then Carol and I badgered him  until he admitted he had fallen into a bit of artistic funk, wondering if he good make and sell good art in the face of so many other responsibilities and so much work.

I said being an author or artist is lonely work sometimes, you never really know if what you do is any good, and you have to keep cranking yourself up, because there is no one else to do it. You’ve got to ask for help sometime, I said but I don’t know if he heard me or not.

The farmer’s life is hard, so is the artist’s life. It’s hard to carry the weight of two difficult ways to live.

My wind chime is, I think, an exceptional work of the imagination. So are many of his others.

Farming is a hard, 24/7 job, it is the ultimate distraction. It’s amazing that he turns out so much interesting and unique art, he is also beginning to sell a lot of it. His wind chimes are taking off. I told Ed I believe he is the real deal, so does Maria. As I write this, I am listening to those chimes in the wind, not too far from me. They are beautiful. You can see the video here.