I think, at the core, that the Open Houses we host are about friendship and love. It was very difficult for me to agree to open up my life to strangers – more than 1,500 people came the first time.

The Open Houses are smaller now, more intimate, quieter, as is appropriate. A lot of people come, but there is nothing  frantic about them. I realized after a while – Maria agrees – that the Open Houses are our holiday, our faith. We celebrate creativity, independence, and encouragement.

I have also come to see that the Open Houses – this weekend, ll to 4 – are about something else, friendship and love. For the most part, the people who come are not strangers at all, but friends. They come in love and friendship.

When I really believed that I could be loved – Maria showed me this – then I was finally able to permit my friends the freedom and respect to respond to love in their own way, even if it is sometimes different from mine.

They have their own histories, emotions, values, their own characters. But they come to show us their love for us, our farm, our animals, and our faith in self-awareness.

My ability to respond corresponds almost precisely with my own belief in my goodness, a wildly fluctuating belief over the years.

When I can give freely and spontaneously – I am learning to do that – then I can receive freely and spontaneously.

We have been astonished over these years to see how much our lives mean to others, this is a hard thing to accept and believe.

But The Open Houses have  become our sacred holiday, our celebration of us, and one reason that is so is that we allow our friends the freedom and courtesy to respond to us as they want and are able to do.

This is what we worship, this is what we believe in.

That is the foundation of learning how to feel true gratitude, and we are nothing but grateful for our Open Houses and the people who come to share our holiday with us.

This weekend, I will share my life and Maria will share hers, and we will share our lives together. We will share Mary Kellogg’s final volume of poetry, my herding with the dogs, our donkeys, and a long list of gifted artists who represent the art of rural life.

And Maria’s Belly Dancing Group will be here Sunday at 1 p.m. On Saturday at 1 p.m., Liz Lewis, who has been shearing sheep since she was 8, will come her to shear ours. Poetry readings both afternoons, and I will gas on briefly about my work and life.

Maria will be having a wondrous time hold  up in her very beloved Schoolhouse Studio selling wonderful art at very affordable prices.