There is at least one are where words matter very much in animal communications, that is when you tell a border collie to “come bye,” or go “away to me.”
“Come Bye,” is the command for a border collie to run clock-wise in what is called an “outrun,” and Red’s outruns are spectacular, they are wide, free and beautiful to watch. I told him to “come bye” this morning, as the sun came up and I loved the shot of him running the boundaries of the pasture.
Maria and the donkeys have provided me with a powerful laboratory and inspiration for my “Talking To Animals” project and I’m sharing this message with my backers on Kickstarter and I wanted to share it with you also – some of you are my backers on Kickstarter! Donkeys are extraordinarily intuitive and sensitive animals, and Maria is an extraordinarily intuitive human being, here emotions are close to the surface.
She and I – and the donkeys – do not communicate much in words, that is a key to talking with them, they do not have words, they do not understand most of ours any more than dogs do. This morning offered another clear example of my beliefs and observations. We came out to the pasture just after sunrise, it was raining last night, then turned colder in the early morning. The donkeys had been out in the rain, which had frozen on their coats.
Simon and Lulu and Fanny saw us come into the pasture and their demeanor was unusual, they came right up to us and pressed close against us, they were not looking for food, they were not braying in excitement. They seemed anxious, uncomfortable.
“He wants you to brush his coat or rub it,” I said, “he wants you to get the ice off.” That made sense to me, Simon was coming to people he trusted to get comfortable. He pressed his forehead against Maria’s stomach, he was offering himself to her, he was seeking comfort and attention. He was not doing this with words, but with instincts, he trusts us and we have both often made him more comfortable, beginning with when he was in such dire physical condition.
Maria, for her part, was still and accepting. She spoke softly and soothingly to him, and he stood absolutely still while she rubbed and loosened his matted coat and brushed the ice off of it. It seemed clear to me he was seeking some kind of help, his body language and approach were unusual, quite direct. Once we cleaned him up, he walked over to the hay feeder, he was done with us. That is important to accept also, Simon does not exist to make us feel cozy and loved.
Talking to animals is important, learning to understand them is important. “Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty,” wrote Albert Einstein. That is what this morning felt like. If you are comfortable doing so, support my “Talking To Animals Project” here, we are close to funding it fully.
I launched my “Talking To Animals” project on Kickstarter.com Monday around noon, and I’m very happy to report that 48 hours later, the project is 84 per cent funded. I’ve struck a nerve. I’ve raised $7,626 as of 10 a.m. Wednesday, I need about $1,400 to fund “Talking To Animals” fully and successfully. On Kickstarter, no money is exchanged unless the project is fully funded. I hope to do that this week, possibly today or tomorrow.
This is exciting new terrain for me, I am surprised how exciting it is, I am surprised how comfortable it is. The biggest difference is that it is the opposite of corporate funding. There is no marketing department to battle through, nobody is doing focus groups on creative projects, the backers are the people who are interested in the project and want to see or read it. The people offering support are enthusiastic, there is not tension about it, most are happy for the opportunity to support the projects they believe in. It is a truly interactive, collaborative project, the notion of patron of the arts has been upended.
Creative people have always had to go outside of themselves to seek funding for their work, Kickstarter is not really that different from a publisher except it is a genuine partnership between creators of things and consumers of things, and I have a community of people eager to share in my work and receive the final results. We each get something valuable.
On Kickstarter, a very sophisticated well-organized site, I can message my backers every day, and I will keep them posted on the progress of the project. It is, in a way, similar to the community that has formed around the blog, and many of the bedlamfarm.com bloggers have joined in the “Talking To Animals” project, I am very lucky to have them.
Yesterday, the pledges ranged from $10 to $1,000, I appreciate that kind of faith in me. The money will go to buy a new camera and equipment and time for me to write a book and e-book – “Talking To Animals,” and I will give all of the backers something – updates, findings, some photos, books, e-books. So far, 174 people have pledged money – I am asking for pledges of $25 or more. If the pledges go over $9,000, I will devote all of that money to the project.
Initially, this was a difficult thing to do, just like the subscriptions,I am not yet easy asking other people for money (although I have been asking publishers for money most of my life) but it is impossible not to be excited at this new way of producing books. I am also learning this is something people are eager to do. Without this money, I simply would not be able to do this book in the way I would like, and with the depth, time and imagery it deserves.
As with the blog, we are forging a new kind of creative community, one that will keep many arts projects alive and many creative people doing their work. America is a generous country, do not believe the news.
So perhaps this is the final leg of this remarkable experiment – $1,400 is a lot of money, but I am much affirmed in the worth of this project by the response of the first two days. I thank those who have pledged and those who will. Come and walk with me into the future. I am honoring Henry Beston’s call to find a new language with which to communicate with animals, I believe I have been doing that for 15 years and I want to share what I have learned. Come and see. I mean to be fully funded for this work, perhaps my most significant. You can pledge here if you are so inclined.
