Minnie could well be the poster girl for the loving spirit we hope permeates our farm and lives. We try and try. Lately, we are succeeding in ways we had not imagined. My students are on fire. I did my first portrait show, a number of people (unasked) have come forward to purchase photos for the subjects that can’t afford them.
Our creative conference in October is full up, our Open House is coming up, Maria is selling everything she makes, we are both focusing on our art and our teaching, Maria is headed to Calcutta (Kolkata) in February to help teach the victims of sex trafficking how to make potholders and other art.
Our Peaceable Kingdom is peaceable. The Bedlam Farm idea is growing richer and deepening, this blog raised more than $150,000 last year on behalf of a number of good causes. Recently, we have been fighting to keep the Round House Cafe in our community.
And then there are the animals, of course, the heart of our enterprise, Minnie is shy but loving, she opens herself up to every human and animal on the farm. She has known Maria all of her life, and the two love one another every day.
Once a month or so, I am compelled to remind my readers that this blog, the site, the photography, our lives, are expensive to maintain. I am still a book writer, but publishing revenues and royalties have sharply declined since the recession, and I am using a Voluntary Payment system to support my blog, my photography and the idea of Bedlam Farm.
People are beginning to support the idea that valuable online content needs to be paid for, if it is to survive the information revolution underway. The voluntary payments are important, they make a difference.
This is a growth enterprise, my blog now gets more than four million hits a year, nearly 400,000 unique visitors a year. About two per cent of them contribute to the blog, and it is much appreciated. The good news is that there is lots of room to grow. The blog needs some maintenance and updating, two of my cameras need repair.
My photography has grown, so has the number of photos I share with you – color, infrared, black and white.
Payments are all voluntary.The blog is fully accessible to those who don’t pay, I don’t keep track. I will not abandon the people who never quit on me, even when I was quitting on myself.
I mean it when I say the blog is free to anyone who can’t pay or doesn’t wish to. You can contribute in one-time or annual ways, up to you. Subscription payments can be cancelled at any time, it is quite simple to do. If you don’t like to use the Internet, you can send payments in any amount to P.O. Box 205, State Route 22, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.
When you contribute, you open a simple account, you run it and can change or close it any time. A week before any subscription renewal, you will be reminded of the renewal date and can cancel. You can also make a one-time payment. Some people pay $5 a month, some pay $10 a month, some pay $75 a year. Some send checks to our post office box or make one-time payments on Paypal.
it’s up to you.
You can use Paypal or major credit cards, no financial information of any kind is stored on my site or my web company, only you have access to your money, for your protection. I can’t monitor, open or close payments or subscriptions. If there are any problems – they are very rare – you can call Paypal or your credit card company and quickly resolve them. That’s for my sanity, also. My e-mail is profoundly boring.
I post daily on the blog, except for short trips and shorter vacations. I write about dogs, animals, rural life, my life and my life with Maria. I see the blog as my great work, my living memoir. I don’t proofread it because I don’t have time, I’d rather write than correct spelling errors.
The blog is authentic and I work hard at it, every day. I used to be afraid to ask to be paid for my work, I recognize the folly and foolishness of that, I think it is important to be paid for my work, for you and for me. This is how I live and I love the new writer’s life. I feel I am doing some pioneering here, it is important.
But I don’t want anyone to give up the blog over money, if you are not able for any reason to contribute, please feel free to keep reading And the stories and photographs, as always, are free, and can be shared or used in any way.
I love the blog, it is nothing but a joy, it never feels like work, it is the centerpiece of my creative and spiritual life now, my writing as well as my photography. If you enjoy it find it useful, please contribute in any way you care to, and if not, you are always welcome here. The blog is now a community in many ways.
You can make a voluntary payment here, and if you do, thanks. If you don’t, thanks anyway.