We have an Open House Hangover here, we are sleep-walking, going through the motions in some ways. We go to bed early, sleep late. I want to stick my head in some dry ice.
It’s been a week since our big weekend – a one day Creativity Conference at Pompanuck Farm and a two-day Open House at Bedlam Farm. We are exhausted still, and working still to deal with the aftermath – bills, receipts, fatigue, emotions. The Open House has evolved way past our original expectations for it, and we have learned that we have to deal with differently in the future.
I don’t know precisely how many people came to these events, I think it is well over 1,500. The Round House said it broke all records for business and traffic Saturday and Sunday, so did Battenkill Books, the Over The Moon bead and socks shop and three other businesses in our town of Cambridge.
People ate up the big horses of Blue Star, Jim McRae’s sheep shearing and Ken Norman’s farrier work. Maria said she sold more art than she had ever sold, and is selling more still online. We were barely prepared, and the preparations grow: portable toilets, pamphlets and books, getting Tyler to handle the traffic, help in the studio for Maria, Deb Foster to handle the donkeys and pony. The staff is growing. We scrambled to get chairs and water, fix broken gates and lumber. There are always some boundary issues to be sorted out, we just can’t be available day and night for three or four days, but that is our problem, we will sort it out.
A bunch of poets read their poems, Pamela Rickenbach gave a beautiful speech, Red and Fate showed off their herding skills a bunch of times.
By the end of the weekend I could barely walk, things are getting better. A gifted chiropractor eased the pain in my back and found my feet to give them more support.
Many good people came far to see us and that was both exhilarating and draining. I try and talk to each one, but I often can’t. It was lovely to see Mary Kellogg reading from her next volume of poetry. Maria is still sorting out the artist payments and receipts, I am still trying to get into the end of my book. I am close, but I haven’t shaken off the fatigue yet, or the aftermath. The Creativity Conference was successful in my mind. I never think when I go to a public event of all the work that goes into it before and after. I will think about that now.
About a hundred people came up to me and told me the most wonderful stories about their lives, my blog, my photos, their art, their photos, their determination to live their lives in a meaningful way. Each year, we learn that this is the message of the farm, even if we don’t know it. And we usually don’t. I think of Lisa and Rodney who read on my blog that they should never quit on love, and they didn’t. They are married and very much in love.
The dynamic has changed over the years. In my former life, I did these things alone until Maria appeared, and then we did them together. We are in sync, both pointed in the same direction. People are eager to meet Maria and talk with her, they want to see Fate and Red, the cats, the donkeys, the pony. They are much loved animals.
It takes weeks of advance planning and at least a week to recover. We have yet to re-arrange Maria’s studio so she can get back to work. We will devote the weekend to that.
It was a very affirming weekend, I met so many good and loving people, so many people celebrated friendship with one another, we both had the feeling we had done something worthwhile. The animals entered very much into the spirit of the weekend, they spoke the people here and lifted them up. I think a million photos were taken of the farm. A lot of people asked me and Maria why we do it, and I can’t really say. It just feels good and it clearly does good for many people. I guess that’s why we do it, a festival of encouragement and a brief respite from the raucous world. I will have to leave it to others to say why.
Will we cut back next year? Absolutely not. Maria is going to focus the June open house on art in some very creative ways, she can talk about it herself. I’d like to expand the Creativity Conference to two days right before the Columbus Day 2016 Open House. Pompanuck Farms wa a great place to hold it, I hope we can return.
Next year, we will have to face the growing cost of the Open Houses and ask for voluntary donations – probably $10. Nobody will be turned away, there will just be a basket where people can help defray some of the costs.
We will invite the big horses back, and the shearer and farrier too. Ed Gulley might even put on a milking demo and continue his expanding life as an artist. I guess that’s why we do it. We do it out of our love for one another, our farm, the animals, and our work. We want to share all of those things. We feel we owe this to the world, the good and the bad.
So thanks for reading about it, looking at the photos, cheering it on, up close, and from far away. I’m going to put the earphones in the Ipad and listen to Van Morrison for awhile, I think he is often speaking directly to me. Tomorrow, my short story class resumes, that is the thing about life. It never stops happening.
And I remember what works for a handover. Some milk, some aspirin, some rest, some music. Some love, some time.