Bedlam Farm Blog Journal by Jon Katz

1 May

Tales Of Zip: He Was Everywhere, Killing A Snake, In The Feeder, Asleep On My Chest

by Jon Katz

Zip surprises me every day.

When I think I know who he is, he changes or pops up somewhere or touches me with his affectionate side.

I think he killed a giant snake this morning; we bound it chewed in half out near the pasture fence. It was tough to see; I’m assuming it was Zip.

Two hours later, when I went out to sit in my blue chair and read, he hopped up on my chest and curled up. I stroked his back, and he fell asleep. I didn’t move for 15 or 20 minutes; there was something peaceful and beautiful about it, and I decided to meditate with him while I slept.

I did get a selfie; I couldn’t resist. This guy is a photographer’s dream.

I’m going through some important and meaningful changes in my life, all good, and it was good to think about them. Zip is a loving creature who can kill on a dime.  They are part pet, part tiger. You never entirely own them or control them. They can also be a great pal. This is the drama of cats.

They can be the most affectionate things in your life, but they will try to kill something the next minute. It was a giant snake; I can’t imagine how he did it.

As often happens, he was awakened by a sound I couldn’t hear. He sat up, tail swishing, ears up, and took off towards a robin eating something on the ground. The robin took off safely, quickly, and far. A few minutes later, I looked at the pasture and saw Zip’s head pop in the hay feeder. I can’t quite imagine what he was doing there, but everything on the farm seems to be his turf, except the farmhouse.

The longer I know Zip, the more I love him and the happier I am that he lives in the barn instead of the house.

This is where he waits for me in our new regular afternoon meeting. He also likes the shade.

Or is it Zud?

1 May

Sarah’s Picks For Today For The Cambridge Food Pantry: Instant Mashed Potatoes, And Spaghetti. “From Love’s Golden Heart.”

by Jon Katz

Troject is tailor made for the Army of Good. Money goes directly to the source of the need.

We help with the goods and brands the pantry can’t afford, or the customers can’t get or afford. We try to fill the space between what the food bank brings and what the people in need of food support can’t afford to buy and sorely miss. We are especially focused on food for the young.

We can’t do it all and can’t make their troubles vanish, but we can make a difference for the people who need food support and their children. Thank you for helping.

Sarah chooses one or two things in great need each day, and I post them on my blog. Amazon delivers them. We skip weekends unless there is something especially urgent.

The people who come to the pantry for help have no choice, we try to get them choices.

Sarah has chosen two things today: food they don’t have and can’t get but want. Thanks so much for your support:

The first is Betty Crocker Gluten Free Potato Buds Potatoes, 13.75 ounces, Pack of 6, $15.76.

Sarah chooses foods that are as healthy as possible and as inexpensive as she can find.

The second need for today is Chef Boyardee Spaghetti and Meatballs, 14.5 ox cans, Pack of 4, $3.99

We can do a lot of good for $3.99.

The above items and others are on the Amazon Cambridge Pantry Wish List. The food is present to go the pantry.

Last week, the pantry served 144 families in one afternoon, plus another 173 bake-pack kilts. It was the busiest day in the pantry’s history.  Sarah said the average was 120 families as recently as a month ago. Although Sarah is now, for the first time, able to stockpile some of the items, even those don’t last more than a few days.

One of the things I love about the pantry is its focus in the middle of a challenge. We send them only a couple of days at most because we only send the things we know they want. Pantry providers need help to do that.

Our work is often focused on the children.

Simple and sweet is the Faith of a child, wide-eyed and holy his trust, little and lowly his heart doth beat solely to give back to god, all he does. His face is as clear as crystal, his kiss as refreshing as ew, the beat of his heart is as music, and his love is as true as the star that shines bright in the heavens – the Northern – before an adieu. H runs to his father and mother to tell the desires of his heart: the world is to his eyes holds no other to whom he may ever impart the needs his little self craves for, the incense from love’s golden heart.” – Her Little Way, the story of St. Terese.

St. Terese inspires me. At 22, she wrote small acts of great kindness, which she called the “Little Way.”

That’s our way, and the White Rose was her symbol.

1 May

Video: Spring Madness: Zip And Zinnia Dance, Bud Cuddles, Fate Isn’t So Sure

by Jon Katz

It feels a bit like Spring madness. Zinnia and Zip are great pals now; they dance together out in the yard behind the house, Bud gives Zinnia Hugs, the flowers explode all over the place

Maria took this video every morning; the two love dancing with one another.

 

 

Maria explains to the disappointed hens that she isn’t carrying any gourmet treats out to them now, she’ll get some out to them later.

Zinnia sort of adopted Bud when he arrived, sick and beat up and terrified. She taught him to be a dog in a house, the two are inseperable.

Spring is a time for flower madness; they are exploding all over the place.

1 May

Portrait, Esabelle Edmond, One Of The Quiet People Starting Out In Life, A Visit With John Rieger

by Jon Katz

Yesterday, I went to Greenwich, a nearby town, to see my friend John Rieger, who owns Power Country Products, and to pay my hay bill for the coming year—$488—  and I met Isabelle Edmond.

He wanted me to meet one of his summer hires.

One thing I love about the country and the farm kids is that they are not very much into TikTok or live all night on Instagram. They know how to talk and have no unease around older people.

They have real lives and real decisions to make.

They work hard all summer as they make plans for the future. Almost all of them go off to college.

They know how to talk to people and seem to enjoy it. I like to talk to people and enjoy it, too. And they listen to people who might give them some guidance.

Isabelle is unlike many of the young people I  meet; their lives were not shaped online or behind screens.

I asked Isabelle if she was going to college this fall – often true of John’s summer employees – and she said she is going to Paul Smith College in the Adirondacks, a college famous for teaching nature and how to live and be outdoors.

Are you going to have a life in nature? I asked.

She said she is considering being a Park Ranger or perhaps a tractor-trailer driver.

I was intrigued by her answer. I said I’d read that tractor companies are turning to driverless trucks.

She said she hadn’t heard that, but it didn’t bother her,  my guess is that when it comes down to it, she’ll go for the Park Ranger option.

I asked her if she didn’t find the two options different, and she said yes, she’d figure it out. I got the feeling she liked the idea of driving around the country, the freedom of being outdoors and seeing other parts of the country.

The farm kids often think about that. They all seem to go to college.

She had a quiet ease about her; the farm kids up here who love nature are often as calm and thoughtful as she seems. I’d like to stay in touch with her and see what she does.

I asked if I could take her photograph, and she said sure, of course. She said she wanted to see my blog, and she’d heard about it.

She didn’t worry about how her hair looked or tell me how much she hated having her picture taken, and I asked her to pick up the plant I just bought and hold it for the photograph.

I’ll see her often this summer when I visit John. I go to John’s to get plants and flowers for my raised garden bed.

(John Rieger)

I love to sit down with John and talk about our different worlds. We are very different from each other, but we connect as friends who understand one another. I talked John into going to lunch with me last year—it was the first lunch he’d ever taken in decades of hard work.

He is always in the store with his wife, Millie; they greet every single person who comes in and make sure to talk with them.

Yesterday, we sat outside on a bench in the sun and caught up. It’s always a pleasure to talk to him.

For our one and only lunch—John is a workaholic, and going to lunch is for city people—he wanted to go to McDonald’s, which we did. He said he was on a strict diet as I ate his french fries and cheeseburger.

John is a good and sweet man; he’s a farmer through and through, and his business is a much-loved place to shop for farm people, especially in comparison with the bloodless and corporate Tractor Supply just down the road. The real farmers love John. I never go to Tractor Supply.

John had some surgery last year and headed to Florida for some rest. He looks great.

We love to kid each other about growing old and talk about the difference between farm and city life. I think he could have talked more to city kids like me.

We rarely see each other, but I cherish our visits. I think he does, too.

Every year, he introduces me to one of the young people he hires each summer before they head off to college. He is proud of them, and I usually take pictures of them. They are impressive, like Isabelle.

I wouldn’t buy hay from anyone else.

30 April

Flower Art, New Flowers, Seeking Their Souls, Got Some Dying Tulips For Free

by Jon Katz

I walked into Sue Lamberti’s Cambridge Flower Shop, which I have come to love—I often stop in to say hello—and made a beeline for some beautiful purple tulips.

I was going to buy a couple to photograph, but Linda, who works there,  (forgive me if I got the name wrong)  told me they had outgrown their sell time and I should take them for free.

That was a sweet way to start the day. I brought them hope, and they blossomed just as I got in the door. Thanks once more, Sue, for your flowers shop and your friendship.

I had a beautiful time photographing the tulips from different angles, thus the Flower Art of today. Maria says they’ll die in a day or two, and that’s why they can’t be sold. But they are just right for me, and I’ll see them out to the end with grace and dignity.

As has been the case lately, I’ve been busy today, eager to start a new book and spend some time talking to Maria. Today was my first day on Ozemptic, the very controversial and in-demand diabetes and weight loss pills  (get ready for misspellings of that! I can’t wait to make the tight-asses crazy) The medicine names make no sense to me.)

We’ll see what the hype is all about. I’ll share what happens and how it compares to or contrasts with what everyone told me would happen.

I feel strong and content, with visions of happiness flowing through my head. As usual, I’m signing off after this post; tomorrow is an open day for Zoom in the morning with my valued friends and eight blog readers.

Otherwise, I can’t wait to see what the day brings me; I’m waiting with arms wide. Happiness, like beauty and suffering, is a choice. The food pantry work has added meaning and dimention to my life. It feels very good, and I’m touched by it’s success.

 

I don’t know what this beautiful little flower is; I love the color.

The tulips that found a home with me during their last days.

Tulips are saying good night.


Today, the soul came out to say goodbye.

The white rose of purity. Compassion and love.

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