Something very different today, for me, for you. This morning, I launched my Kickstarter page for my most ambitious project, “Talking to Animals,” an idea I have been working on for 15 years, with dogs, barn cats, sheep, goats, donkeys, chickens and cows. I am seeking to do nothing less than construct a new language for communicating with our animals – not in words but in emotions, instincts, intuition, body language and reinforcements like food and attention.

This is my life’s work, and as I begin to undertake it – I hope it will be my next book  and e-book – I am also undertaking a different and very new way of funding it. I want to do it in collaboration with you, the people who have been following my work so closely and for so long. You know I have been sharing my ideas about communicating with animals for some time. Kickstarter – and my blog – offer me a new way of getting the time and equipment I need to complete this project and new ways of sharing it with  you.

I need time and I need a new camera, a camera of great power, high-speed and effectiveness in low light to capture the detail and emotion I am seeking. It will cost more than $9,000 all told, and that is the amount I am seeking to raise on Kickstarter – a very successful new way for creative people to raise money for arts and idea projects – and also on my blog. In exchange, I will offer to share my research, conclusions, and photos (and also some books when they are produced) with the people who pledge $25 or more. I am offering rewards for pledges – books, photos, posts.

I expect the project to be completed and published by the end of 2015. The pledge money is collected by Amazon, it is simple and secure, if I do not reach the goal of $9,000, no money is collected or transferred at all.

I will draw on the anecdotes and experiences of learning and listening with all of my animals – Elvis, Orson, Rose, Winston the rooster, Izzy, Lenore, Pearl and Clementine, Red and Frieda, Simon and the donkeys, the barn cats Mother, Minnie and Flo.

I need about 360 pledges to reach my goal, to get the photographic equipment I need and to get the time I need to focus on this project.  “An animal’s eyes,” wrote Henry Beston,”have the power to speak a great language.” I have seen this, again and again. It shows up in the photos of Maria talking to the donkey’s, in the loving eyes of the dogs, in the movements of chickens, the vigilance of the barn cats. I work hard not to put my words and emotions into my animal’s consciousness, I want to listen and understand what they are trying to tell me, and I have made great progress at this, as many of you know.

A few years ago, I would have asked my publisher for money for my equipment, that is not possible any longer, but I am committed to the work. Creative people are finding new ways to support the work, and that is transforming the relationship between artists and the consumers of art. Hop on board. We can make it happen together, for those who are so inclined. I see my blog as collaborative, I have been sharing my life for some years so this is not a new idea for us, bedlamfarm.com is it’s own Kickstarter.

This is a very different way of funding my work, as are subscriptions and the new book tour. It is, I think, the future, just as subscriptions are. I am excited to be up to my neck in change and exploration. I get to do my work, you get to share in the results. I will offer photos and findings to people who pledge to support “Talking To Animals.” If I do not raise the entire amount, no money will be accepted or transferred. When it becomes a book or an e-book, I will offer up to 70 free copies of the book and photos from the new camera to people who pledge. I need fewer than 400 pledges to make this work. I see this as my life’s work.

So here is a direct and new way for you to support the arts as you see fit, the middle-men are on the run. My Kickstarter Project for “Talking To Animals” is up and running, I have 30 days to raise the money I need before the project ends. Can’t wait to see what happens, and thank you. This community has been unfailingly supportive of me, and I hope to return the favor.

I’ll keep you posted.