Day: July 12, 2016

You did it, a powerful reminder to me and others that their news is not our news. People are good, given the chance. Kelly Nolan will be able to pay her entire vet bill on Friday.

Last Thursday, at our weekly dinner at the Bog restaurant, Kelly Nolan told me about the death of her new dog’s three puppies and the long struggle to save her dog and the surviving two puppies. In the end, surgery was required. I had the sudden impulse to ask her how much it cost. We all gulped when she told us.

The ordeal cost $1,300 which she charged on her credit card.

Kelly did not ask for help or complain in any way about the bill, she just shrugged and said it was a part of life.  She had no choice, she said, she couldn’t let her new rescue dog die and had to try and save her puppies.

We’ve all been there, I thought, and then, driving home I had this idea that it would be great to help her pay that bill, she has to wait a lot of tables and pour a lot of drinks to pay $1,300.  I was thinking about how long it would take her to pay that bill.

I’ve heard plenty of people complain a lot more about a lot less.

I had planned to surprise Kelly with the news on Thursday when we go to the Bog – I wanted to see her face –  but Maria persuaded me I should break the news right away, as soon as we passed the $1,300 mark in contributions, which came from all over the country and some of Europe.

The idea was to help Kelly, but there was a selfish part of it. I wanted to find a small way of doing good that countered the poison and hopelessness we all were feeling last week.

We were descending into those nightmarish days – Dallas, Minnesota, Baton Rouge – all those images of hate, rage, argument, suffering and horror. I wanted to feel a sense of community, some sense of unity. I guess I wanted to know it was still possible, that this very American spirit was still there.

It almost never shows itself on their news.

We needed to feel good about one another.

It is possible to find love and community, you just can’t look for it o or see much about it in or on the corporate-for-profit news, bad news makes a lot more money than the good news. But there is so much more good news than bad if you look for it.So we are making our own. On this blog, we are a community, we do go to bat for one another, we can stand in one another’s shoes.

I went to my Post Office Box 205 (Cambridge, N.Y., 12816) this afternoon and found another stack of letters, what a joy to read these powerful and loving messages. I will give each one of them to Kelly, such generosity of spirit and open hearts.

Paula Beck from Fallbrook, Calif., put us over the top.

She sent a contribution of $50 and wrote: “Dear Jon, thank you for sharing your thoughts and beautiful photos, letting us into your life, and spreading the word when your friends and community need help. I hope this small amount about will be of assistance to Kelly.”

Thank you, Paula, it will surely be of assistance to her and I thank you and all those others who wrote me from everywhere, it seemed. When people need help, some people jeer and others hide or run away. Some people help, no questions asked. That is the hope and the promise if the human spirit, not the eternal raging and fury poured down our throats every day. As a former journalism, I believe if some of these letters I”ve gotten for Kelly made their way onto the news, we might have a gentler and more peaceful world.

Kelly is not a famous person, she never even thought to ask for help.

No one needed to pay any attention to my request, no one would ever have known. Letters are not like e-mail, it takes some thought to write a check, put it in an envelope, address it and get it to the post office. And I can’t believe how quickly the money came in, and from so many different places – more than 30 different states. We have a bond, and it is strong.

In a time of supposed polarization and indifference, hundreds of people sent contributions – some as small as $5, many folded $10 and $20 bills, some wrote $100 checks.  Several hundred dollars also came to Kelly via Paypal. These were people who understood the power of empathy – they could put themselves in the shoes of another human being who could use some help.

I see our political leaders are utterly disconnected from the spirit of ordinary people. We do not seek conflict or fury. Quite the opposite. I think of this campaign as the Bedlam Farm poll. Small things can go enormous good. Perhaps that is the way back.

So I am delighted that we can give Kelly this money Thursday, I hope I can get to photograph those surviving puppies. I am eternally grateful to have my core belief in humanity affirmed so quickly and powerfully. Those letters are a tonic, i will read and re-read them. And I thank you.

(We don’t need any more money, thanks, it looks like there will be some overage. I know some people asked if they could send some money later in the week. It will be  well spent.  If there is an excess, I will make certain Kelly does not have additional medical fees and/or find an animal shelter or other good animal cause to donate the additional money to, and I will let  you know about it.  I don’t wish to make the blog about sending money to people. The blog has raised more than $140,000 for people and that is a wonderful thing, but  raising money ought not be the primary purpose here, few of you have much more money than I do. Although it sure feels good, especially when people can give small amounts to do much good. This one feels especially uplifting to me, it leaves me feeling strong and hopeful. This is a very fine chapter in a troubling week.)

Red reminded us again what a great working dog he is, he tried to corral Izzy in the dog area, she ran him right over, he got right up and walked her towards the gate. Then I woke up and brought the sheep into the dog area to be with Izzy, rather than the other way around. In sheepherding, you always bring the many to the few. Izzy was anxious at first, but the other sheep accepted her quickly. Later today, we’ll bring her in to be with the donkeys and the pony, Chloe.

Red is an amazing creature, he backed Izzy down a few times, and now she seems to be doing what she is told. He never bit her or acted aggressively towards her.

Izzy arrived this morning, Donna and Maria tackled her when she bounded out an SUV and held him while she tried to figure things out. She ran over Red once or twice, and then we brought the sheep into the dog area, they accepted Izzy immediately. We’re keeping her apart from the donkeys and the pony. We need to find a shearer who will come to us for one sheep – not simple. Izzy badly needs some shearing, but she seems like a nice sheep, easy-going and Red got her in line pretty quickly.

Maria was thrilled with his wool, it is beautiful. He reminded both of us of Ma, who came to use in similar shape but also turned out to be a great sheep.

At midnight tonight, all of the animal cruelty and neglect charges against Joshua Rockwood will be officially dismissed, per the ACD agreement (Adjournment In Contemplation Of Dissmissal) agreement that ended his long nightmare earlier this year.

This is a big day for Joshua, the Glenville, N.Y., farmer accused of 13 counts of animal cruelty during the brutal winter of 2015. His life was upended when the secret informers of the animal rights movement reported  him to the police for having frozen water tanks and barking dogs.

It is also a big day for the new social awakening, the new communities forming among animal lovers and people who work with animals to keep our way of life, and to keep animals among us.

As of tonight, all of the charges against him will officially be dismissed, but only after a harrowing couple of years in which he paid a fortune in legal fees, had to fight to get his horses back and nearly lost his farm. When he was arrested, the authorities wanted to put him in jail, no one has ever come back to check on the well-being of the animals who were supposedly so neglected.

Joshua will be celebrating his return to life this Saturday at his West Wind Acres Farm Festival. I’ll be there.

SIx months ago, Joshua (reluctantly) agreed to the ACD (called ACOD by non-criminal lawyers) in order to get his life back together. That meant that all of the ludicrous charges against him were dropped, except for one: failure to provide nourishment to a dog.

That was one of several of the bizarre charges lodged against him. Joshua kept the dog’s food at his farmhouse, a mile or so down the road from the barns were the dogs, sheep guard dogs, were kept. I saw the dogs days after his arrest, they were not malnourished in any way. Two vets were willing to testify to their good health.

An ACD is not a plea of guilty, nor is it a conviction, something often misunderstood. It is simply an adjournment and dismissal of the case in six months providing there are no additional charges or concerns raised by the police against the defendant. Prior to the ACD, the prosecutors tried several times to get Joshua to accept a plea deal, he refused. He said he would not plead guilty to anything he didn’t do.

In effect, an ACD is the way a judge can give a defendant the benefit of the doubt and  toss a case out of court without formally throwing the case out of court, something that is embarrassing to prosecutors.

Obviously, if the authorities thought Joshua was starving his dogs or mistreating his other animals they would have returned to check on them.  I saw them a number of times, I saw no signs of any mistreatment, illness or injury. When the police inspected his farm, they removed three of his horses. It took him many months and thousands of dollars to get them back.

Joshua was also charged with having frozen water tanks in -27 temperatures. They could have nailed me and many others for that as well during those awful winter weeks.  Thousands of people, many of them farmers from all over the country, rallied to help Joshua pay his legal fees and build new water tanks and shelters for the farm.

I’m grateful to those many people who helped Joshua survive this ordeal, many people are not so fortunate.

Farmers everywhere report being harassed by the secret informers of the animal world, a kind of Stalinist twist to the animal rights movement.

Joshua is strong and honest and idealistic, I think his Farm Festival is a celebration of endurance and of a bright future for the farm. I’d love to toast his future tonight, he is part of the  awakening spreading through the animal world, a new and truer understanding of animals.

He showed great strength and courage during the many hearings, awful publicity and cruel accusations against him. He has endured, and will thrive, I believe.

We are fighting to preserve a way of life, a way of loving and working with animals, a way of keeping animals in the world.

Over time, we are touched by the sweetness of donkeys, by their gentleness, patience and intuition. Lulu is a guard animal, she is ever vigilant against intruders – deer, foxes, coyotes, stray dogs, new people. She is shy sometimes, wary of people trying to make her do things she doesn’t want to do.

She has completely opened herself up to Maria, who she trusts. Donkeys are wary of human beings, because human beings have so often used them badly. Donkeys will not do what they think is unsafe or too difficult. But Maria and Lulu have forged a trust far beyond food and attention. This morning, as we walked out in the far pasture, Lulu sidled up to Maria for her morning hug and talk.