Significant news about bedlamfarm.com. As you might already know, I am always re-imagining it.

First, in the next few weeks, the blog readers who support the blog using credit cards will receive a message alerting them to my decision to stop receiving credit card donations. The firm that handles credit card distribution and security has raised its prices again because of severe new security regulations.

I am spending more on rising fees than I receive in donations. Most donations now come through PayPal, which is inexpensive, and Venmo, which is far less expensive than the credit card companies and their managers. Half of the money now goes to fees. That makes no sense, and honestly, I can’t afford it. The world has changed.

Your donations should go where you want them to go, not to enormous credit card fees. That doesn’t feel right to me. I hope you’ll switch over to the new options.

I remind you that the blog is always free and will always be free. Donations are voluntary. But without them, there would be no blogs to read or pictures to look at.

Credit card donations will be automatically canceled as soon as we get organized. You can cancel the payments now or ask for the donation program to be stopped, which will cost me nearly $2,000. I didn’t want the credit card cancellations to shock people, so this is a warning. That program will be canceled.

In recent years, the donation structure has changed. Most donations come through PayPal and Venmo.

If you can and wish to, I’d be grateful if you donated instead of using credit cards; think about donating through PayPal, jon@bedlamfarm, where most donations come, or through Venmo, Jon Katz@Jon-Katz-13.

Regular donations are easy to set up on PayPal; Venmo only allows single contributions, which is also acceptable.

If you are comfortable doing so, this is a good time to cancel credit card donations and switch to PayPal, Venmo, or checks.

Some people prefer to pay by check to Jon Katz, Blog Support, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. That system works well and without complaints or confusion.

I also offer monthly blog support payments, such as single donations of $75 a year, $5, or $10. As a rule, people in the Army Of Good are not wealthy. If you want to find out how to cancel a credit card subscription or start a new one on PayPal, you can go to blog support. You will post more announcements on the blog.

I love the blog, write on it daily, and take many photos. That costs a lot, as does blog maintenance, so those good enough to make credit card payments will hopefully transition to one of these other options. Without your support, there can be no blog, photos, or memoir of a life.

I’ll keep people updated; we hope to do this in the next few weeks. The new fees are outrageous; I can’t justify paying them any longer. I intend to keep the blog simple and healthy. Thanks for your understanding and, hopefully, your continued support. If the blog is worth anything to you, please help support it.

You can switch now or wait until the credit card donation options stop. It will be done automatically.

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Secondly, the political campaign is heating up and getting intense and, sometimes, disturbing.

I am committed to keeping the blog out of politics, even though I pop off occasionally. I don’t quite understand what is happening in the country right now, so I don’t feel entitled to write about it.

I won’t let our poisonous politics penetrate the blog or my life. I intend to keep using the blog for good. Other news is that we are now supporting food pantries and the blog, and my life is free of hate and anger.

I want the blog to be a safe and uplifting place, and  I’m committed to that. I rarely permit attacks on myself (unless they’re funny or exciting) and never permit them on anyone else. I have worked hard, and I feel it’s happening. The delete button is my friend.

We are just about where I wanted the blog to be. I’ve worked hard to get there, and I want to expand that idea and make bedlamfarm.com a place where you can come for peace and thought, excellent photos, and comfort—some philosophy, animal stories, and ideas—and to find new ways to do good and feel good rather than argue about what good is.

Look for essays, spiritual explorations, book ideas, and movie reviews. Look for portraits of people I like and love and stories about my relationship with Maria, the light of my life. Look for some of the best animal photos around.

Please be sure to look for my work to improve my photography. Some of you have been there since the beginning, and thanks; the best is yet to come.

Also, you can expect exciting essays and look for pictures of animals and stories about their trials and troubles.

This blog is the story of my life, the life of Bedlam Farm, and my life with the remarkable Maria.  I am learning things all the time, and I wish to blog to be a place of exploration, discovery, thought, and connection.

This transition is happening a little more each day, and I plan for the blog to be a haven and place of peace this year and beyond, no matter what happens in politics.

I want it to be a safe place where innocent people are informed, not attacked or ridiculed. Please continue to support it if you already do, and think about supporting it if you find it helpful and don’t yet support it.