Bedlam Farm Blog Journal by Jon Katz

This photo is now for sale for $125 plus $6 shipping  in Maria’s Etsy Shop.

It just radiated hope and promise to me this morning. When I got up, a heavy rainstorm was just ending, and the blue sky and sun  suddenly opened up, there was a  sea of beautiful blue.

I went outside with my camera and attached a fish eye lens.

I saw the sun shining in the bird bath, and the blue of the birdbath reflected in in the sky, all framed by our two beautiful old trees, the white birch and the apple tree, both at least 100 years old. That birdbath has some mojo. I felt as if I were looking at piece of impressionist art, which is, I guess, somewhat true.

There is so much going on, it is, to me, an eye-popper and an engaging and almost playful one.

I’m going to Albany today for a meeting that might well affect the life and future of a gifted young Afghan refugee. I feel it as a huge responsibility, and I want to be an effective advocate for him and get him admitted to this school with some scholarship money. I don’t want to mess things up.  I have a rich history of alienating affluent people in power.

So I’m actually preparing a little speech in my head, something I don’t usually do.

There is a lot of life in this photo, a lot of color, reflections and frames, even a Tin Man. I hope it lifts up the people who buy it the way it lifts me up.

For me, this work asks me to be thoughtful and eloquent and persuasive. It also teaches me to be patient and resilient.  Something good is happening here.  It sort of shimmers about “hope.”

The birdbath really focused on that, somehow, it is such a bright and uplifting image.

The photo is for sale for $125 unframed and signed, 8.5″ by 12.5″, a fine art print from the Image Loft in Manchester, Vt. Printed on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag, 100 per cent cotton acid free paper, archival ink.

If you care to buy one and pay by check, please e-mail Maria directly, she is [email protected]. $125 plus $6 shipping.

You can view the photo and buy it if you choose, here.

I took a deep breath of hope and promise this morning when I went out to take a photo of the Blue Birdbath against our beautiful trees and the clearing morning sky. This is  photo of hope and promise, and I have some today.

I’m going to Albany today to meet with officials of the Albany Academy, who have shown me so much sincerity, honesty and compassion in the effort to win some scholarships for gifted refugee children.

So far, so good.  A promising first year for this program.  Sakler Moo is in the school, Eh K Pru Shee Wah has been accepted and today, I am going to plead for admission for Noorul Hotak, a 13-year-old boy from Afghanistan whose father died just before he was born treating sick children at his clinic.

He caught a fatal disease there.

These three are promising students for any good school. They are self-motivated, hard-working, and come from families that greatly value education.

They are eager to learn and take their place in the American Dream, which their lives have taught them to value. They are not criminals, rapists or pretenders.

Sakler And Eh K Pru have been offered generous scholarships at the Albany Academy that will cover much of their tuition costs. I asked Noorul’s teacher for something I can pass along today at the meeting – I met with Noorul a week ago.

She wrote about Noorul’s shyness,  his sense of humor, his ability to learn quickly. Two years ago, when Noorul came to America, he spoke no English. Today, he speaks English fluently.

“He has a very sharp sense of humor and is often bored because he “gets it” so fast compared to most of his classmates,” she wrote. ”

He does have a great sense of humor. Once I got past his shyness, we were both laughing and joking with one another. I liked him a lot.

Noorul has only been here for two years, but Kathy Saso told me he will almost certainly test at the highest levels on the New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test..He has so much potential.”

I am very cautious about who I recommend to this or any other private school. The applicants have to pave the way for others, and each one would be an asset to any school. There are many gifted refugee children who would greatly benefit from a good private school.

Their public school classes are very large and underfunded.

The Academy’s headmaster, Christopher Lauricella, is someone I have come to respect. It has been so difficult finding people within the refugee community itself to help,  Chris say he is serious about making his school more diverse, and he is. I am serious about finding the best possible students for his school, students who want to work and are willing to handle the difficult academic challenges of a good private school.

Noorul is  honest about what he needs. “I am grateful,” he said, “but I know I need to get out of here.” So he does.

I found the birdbath to be a source of hope and promise to me, it was so bright and the reflections of the sun and trees were so uplifting.

I believe this is the path for me to take along with the Army Of Good to help refugees in a meaningful and life-saving way. I am determined to help Noorul get the education he needs and I will tell school officials that I am willing to fund-raise for him over the for years of his time there, if he is accepted and gets some financial aid.

I will stick with him, and I may ask for help. I’ll know more today.

Noorul’s academic achievements are stunning, given his short time here. He is a math prodigy, it seems. He wants to be an engineer.  His mother works 14 hours a day in a Wal-Mark bakert. She has not re-married.

Wish me luck today. I don’t know how much money the school has left for Noorul. They have invited him to come and visit Wednesday and and take an admissions test. Noorul is worth of help and support.

It was warm and quiet out in the pasture, we fed the sheep and donkeys and then walked out back in the paddock with them. Suzy, one of our easiest and gentles ewes sat down next to Maria, she clearly wanted some back scratching, which Maria often provides her.

Red was a good distance away and Fate came over to lie down next to Maria also. The sheep pay absolutely no attention to Fate, she can lie down right next to them and they won’t move.

Bud came over to hang out, and the usually restless dog – he is rarely still outside – came over and sat down also. It was a nice scene for the Peaceable Kingdom we hope to be, and Bud is a disruptor, not usually a peacemaker.

The spirit touched him this afternoon, he seemed happy to hang out with this crowd, one more image I did not expect to see today or any other day. It is a Peaceable Kingdom, after all.

That’s the thing about life, if you let it, it will provide for you.

I’ve been working with dogs and sheep for more than 15 years now, but almost every day I see something I’ve never seen before and did not expect to see. Liam is our wether, a big and strong-willed ram who will butt Red and Fate every chance he gets and battle every effort to move his block.

He was lying down in the pasture today and Bud came waltzing over to him, I worried Liam would but him or stomped him, but Liam seemed pleased to have Bud touch his nose and sniff him.

Bud simply has no fear, or no common sense, depending on how you look at it. The two touches noses for awhile, and Liam never bothered to get  up, which he does if Red is within 10 yards.

Liam can be grumpy and assertive, and he doesn’t care to be sniffed or nuzzled. I sure wouldn’t try it. Bud didn’t hesitate.

Then Bud moved away to bark at the donkeys. I wonder what his way-back breeding history might be, there must be another breed or two in there.

I don’t know where Bud is doing with all of this, but it is a  wonder to watch and wonder.

We noticed during shearing yesterday that Griselle and Zelda are losing more weight, too much to be healthy. We found that Zelda has lost all of her front teeth and is probably having trouble chewing and grinding the hay.

Giselle is very old, and she has always looked kind of emaciated, she was a very neglected and abandoned animal, her wool had felted when she came, she hadn’t been sheared in years. But she is declining visibly, like Zelda.

We are talking about putting Zelda down in the fall so that she doesn’t have to endure another winter.

She is often alone and lying down by herself, always a sign of trouble with sheep.  And winters can be brutal on animals losing their weight and fat.

She is probably about 12 years old, she is a far cry from the feisty and rebellious animal who knocked me down many times and jumped many fences.

Many animal lovers define mercy as keeping an animal alive by all means at any cost. To them, that is what love means.

I have learned to define it differently. To me, and to Maria also, mercy means sometimes letting go, and ending suffering, as we did with Rocky, our 34-year-old pony as he faced another brutal upstate winter.

Sometimes, you love the most by letting go. This is something every person with a farm knows, but many pet lovers do not know.

So we may spare Zelda another winter, depending on how she is.

In the meantime, we are getting her and Griselle into the Pole Barn for some daily grain feedings. This should fatten both of them up, grain is easy for them to swallow and grind and digest, and should also give them both more energy.

Red has slowed down a lot, and getting the sheep into the barn is easy – we shake a grain bucket – getting everybody but Zelda and Giselle out is the hard part. It was quite  brawl today but we did it. It can get rough in there, the trick is to get most of them out and slamming the gate at the right moment.

Very easy to get knocked down, and sheep go for the knees.

Bud wanted no part of it, and Fate is enthusiastic but useless. Red just can’t move fast enough any longer.  I am a herding dog now.