It was Maria who first saw the artist in Ed, and encouraged him to make his sculptures, and showed him how he could sell them and ship them. It was me who saw he and Carol as natural bloggers with a powerful story to tell.

Unlike most people, who claim to want to change but don’t really, or who find blogging vaguely distasteful, Ed and Carol jumped on these ideas, and their lives changed in ways they both love. Their know their stories are important. The story of Bejosh Farm is the story of the American Family Farm, good and bad.

They are authentic and articulate about their lives. That is always a gift to others.

I told Ed that he has a strong intellect and a number of important things to say and stories to tell, and he knew that this was true, it was just that no one had told him this before in his life.

He said he had never taken the time to act on it.  Although Ed had never been encouraged in his creativity, he has a strong and healthy ego, and he put his work and life right out there. That, of course, connected the two of us to one another.

Carol joined my writing class, but she needed very little teaching, she is a natural writer and story teller. The two of them have created a potent chronicle of life, farming and creativity on their Bejosh Farm Journal.

The two were a natural for a vibrant and honest farm journal. It was instantly successful and Carol intends to keep it going, I think it is a part of her life and neural system now. I’ve urged many people to try blogs like that, very few ever do.

Ed is a very unique personality, there are not many like him. He asked me again today if I would consider writing a book about his experience with cancer after he died, i told him I would do my best. I also told him I don’t think that this would be the right kind of book for me. I don’t have the time to explain modern publishing to Ed.  The blog is my book more and more.

After my next book, I don’t plan to write more books, just the blog. That is where I belong now.

Cancer is never welcome, but it cut down Ed at an especially hard time, when his life as a creative was just coming into focus.

This respect and creative connection was the basis of our friendship. Ed  taught me a lot more than I ever taught him, he taught me about farming, animals, the natural world, the land the forest. He was always there when I needed him, and it turned out that I often needed him. And still do.

He took a dead bear out of our pasture, opened up our woods to us, even gave us a bench to sit on out there, and a bridge to get across the stream.  Now, he has joined with me to share the story of his cancer, hoping it will be a gift to others. I see it already is.

I called the hardy little bridge Ed built us the Gulley Memorial Bridge, an ironic title that makes me squirm a bit. Ed says I should keep the name, he likes it. His wind chimes and farm sculptures are all over our farm.

He loves to show Maria his work, she is a good teacher and a loving one. Ed is sketching every day, no matter how sick he is (Maria writes about this on her blog today). Her comments are very important to him.

This afternoon, she and Ed talked about his strength and the clarity and focus of his sketches. Ed is a true creative, and it is inspiring to me to see his dedication to his poems and sketches, even when he can hardly sit up. Maria is a proud teacher and friend, he told me today his only regret is that he didn’t meet either of us years ago.

Well, I said, we might not have liked each other back then.