The first thing that I said to Maria when I woke up this morning was “I think if nobody buys the Tin Man, he ought to stay here.” The Tin Man was a sensation at our Open House, scores of people wanted to be photographed standing with him, he is an icon, an apt symbol for Bedlam Farm, where we search for our hearts all the time and encourage others to do the same.

Ed Gully, the gifted farmer and artist who made the Tin Man, loves him, and I will have to do some haggling to keep him here. We cannot afford the $750 the Tin Man will cost, but we might work out some alternative deal like renting him or trading for 50 dinners, which Ed is a sucker for.

If Ed wishes to keep him, that is fine, and if someone buys him, that is also fine. But Ed and I both love to haggle, and we’ll see what happens. I think if possible, he ought to stay, and I ought to find a way. Future generations of visitors can be photographed with him, he is the perfect symbol for a country where many hearts in government and politics and the rest of the country have turned to stone.