Bedlam Farm Blog Journal by Jon Katz

Maria and I were truly surprised by the wonderful response to our first trial podcast, the first Katz and Wulf On Bedlam Farm. We are going to add some music, if we can afford it, hopefully Van Morrison’s Bright Side Of the Road, the same music that opens  my radio show Talking To Animals.

We will pay for it, Van deserves to make a living also.

The people who responded – about a hundred so far – liked the informality, the authenticity and the ease with which Maria and I talk to one another. We liked that too.

We will talk about the farm, the animals, our creativity, or dogs, our lives together. We will certainly keep many aspects of our lives private, but we will share what we can. The podcasts will be free, and weekly.

Fran Wrote: “LOVELOVE the trial podcast! The energy between you and Maria is just refreshing and uplifting. I just love this! Cannot wait to hear more. When I am cooking, walking, working in the yard, I LOVE to listen to podcasts, recordings – and learn and laugh!”

Brenda wrote from Vancouver, B.C.:

“Your voices were great, good volume, speed and clarity. I find your voices very calming. Listening made me smile. ..I envision the podcast being like your blogs, a natural flow of your thoughts and observations of your lives and thoughts and observations and it will be a welcome addition to your expanding creativity and to your followers.”

Most people mentioned Maria, and how glad they were to hear her talking, and to hear the two of us speaking to one another.

“It would be so great to hear you speak more broadly about your lives via podcast,” wrote Valerie from California.”I find your authenticity about relationships, aging, and love very grounding, in addition to your special connection with nature and animals.

So glad you will be offering the podcast.”

We will be sharing our lives, within reason, of course.

Debra wrote: “I just wanted to tell you that I loved your trial podcast. The sound quality was great. It was a treat to hear the dog toy in the background. … I stumbled across one of your books a few years ago and I was hooked. Now I end my day with your blog and I so look forward to that. You have also turned me on to other blogs, artists and writers you know.I can’t thank you enough for the time and energy you bring to my world.”

Thanks Debra, there were no snarky comments or criticisms to talk about or pass on. That is a first. Thanks Debra, we are very pleased with the response and excited about the podcast.

I love those reviews and we will work hard to earn that praise.

We will try to keep it up.

As you know, I’m happy to share criticism as well as praise, but there was no criticism of the podcast. Maria was a bit hit, she is a natural.

The podcasts will be about 20 minutes and people who have questions for us can e-mail them to me: [email protected] or Maria at [email protected].

We will answer one or two questions on  each podcast, each will be about 20 minutes long. The podcast will be free (people can offer donations if they wish) and we will accept some ads. For now, there will be no call-ins. We won’t have time for too many long conversations and the call-in equipment is expensive and more complex.

A podcast button will be inserted at the bottom of every blog post, readers can access them every time. We are seeking a wide distribution, the podcast will be registered in major podcast directories. We will be accepting some ads.

Once again, here is our first trial podcast, we’re leaving it stand as the first. I expect the regular podcasting to begin later this week or sometime the first week of April. Just days away.

Audio, trial podcast: Katz And Wulf On Bedlam Farm

Ellen won two games at Bingo last week, I was spared the Evil Eye I get when she loses. I had just given her a realistic baby doll, and she was grateful. Ellen doesn’t know my name but she has given me one: “The HopeMeister.”

I wasn’t sure what to make of eat, but Ellen paid me a high compliment, she said I bring “hope” when I come, sometimes I  can make dreams come true.

“You bring me hope,” she said. “Something to want and look forward to.”

I know what she means.

So many of the people I meet in assisted care have lost hope, they have become disconnected from their ordinary world and are not sure what to look ahead to or live for. They are no longer workers or part of their families. Many have lost their identity and purpose.

“You can live her and make a life,” Madeline says, “or you can sit here and wait to die.”

In his book In Later Years: Finding Meaning And Spirit In Aging, a book I read to the residents,  Bruce T. Marshall writes that in many ways aging is about loss.

Loss is a part of life at every stage.

Children lose teeth, toys. People lose lovers and games and money and jobs. Friendship ends. Teenagers and young people suffer certainty and peace of mind.

But as we grow older, writes Marshall, “the losses escalate.” There are many opportunities for change and renewal and pleasure, but the losses are deeper, more debilitating, more permanent.

The aging leave work behind, lose friends and family, find it hard to navigate movement, illness, memory.

Spouses and close friends and neighbors die, almost in a parade.

There is a loss of independence and control, of freedom of movement, ease of speech and memory, shopping cooking, keeping oneself clean and fed, taking a drive.

But I have learned that what isn’t lost is the ability to hope.

When I bring a large print book for Matt or Wayne. When I buy a slang dictionary for Tim. When I buy stamps or envelopes or a hat for Sylvie. When I get Ellen a doll.

In the narrowing, sometimes cloistered world of the elderly, a new pair of shoes in the Spring brings hope. Asking for help and getting brings hope. Seeing a dog brings hope.

With each small act of kindness from our  Army of Good comes  hope. A wristwatch that works. Underwear that is clean. A reading light for a book.  Warm pajamas. A bra that fits. A letter from a new friend. Meditation lessons, stories to listen to.

The world can take so many things away from the elderly. But hope can always be felt and restored, can always be a part of life. So that, I think, is my job, with your help.

I am proud to be a “HopeMeister.” It’s the best job title I ever had.

If you wish to support this work, you can contribute via Paypal, [email protected]. You can also send a check to Jon Katz, The Mansion Fund, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. Please mark it “Mansion Fund.” And thanks.

If you live on a farm, you live in nature and you come to see it in a completely different way. In the past week, after the Vernal Equinox, there is a new kind of sky, a Spring Sky.

I have a passion now for taking Big Sky photographs. In my former life I sometimes went years without seeing a Big Sky, now it’s becoming a photographic trademark of mine,  something I cherish in my life and my art.

I think we are broken when we live out of nature and away from animals, for me, both have been healing and nourishing and uplifting.

The winter sky was beautiful and intense, sometimes angry.

The Spring sky is beautiful in a very different way, simple and blue and bright, fewer seething and teeming skies around storms. Soon, the pastures will turn green, we’ll be ordering hay and firewood for next winter.

I very much love the winter skies, and I just reveled in the spring sky today, as a photographer I am so sensitive to the light and Mother Earth was singing her song today. Sometimes I like to indulge myself, I think she is talking to me.

I don’t ever wish to live in a place with no Big Sky.

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

I’ve named it “Meditation” because I often meditate across from that light, which is on an old dresser in our bedroom.

It helps me when I can’t sleep at night, I think the image has a spiritual and ethereal quality. The photo calms me, and several people asked me if it was going to be sold.

It is an old table lamp from a farm, probably made in the early part of the last century.

The photo will be printed by the Image Loft in Manchester Center, Vt., a fine art print, 8.5 x 12.5 signed and unframed,  Hahnemuhle Photo Rag, 100 per cent cotton, acid free paper, archival ink.

You can see it and buy it on Maria’s Etsy Shop Monday afternoon, or if you prefer,  you can arrange another kind of payment, contact Maria at [email protected]

The lamp has a spiritual quality, it helps me focus and sleep. I also look at it when I meditate, it helps me focus. The image is called “Meditation.”