Bedlam Farm Blog Journal by Jon Katz

Our day begins with hay, with the feeding of the sheep and the donkeys. Soon, they’ll be able to graze, they won’t need hay until October or November. Farms have a ritualistic feel to them, the day is bounded by chores and responsibilities.

The animals eat first, no matter the weather. We check each one each day, look at their eyes, their coats, their hooves. Maria usually gets the hay, I fill the water tank, we both shovel out the manure from the Pole Barn together.

The shearer is coming next month (Liz Lewis) the farrier is due to check on Lulu and Fanny. These rituals are the foundation of life here, and I always love this photograph of Maria filling up the feeders. Somehow, the world is right.

This is the first news of the day for us.

I took Red out to work this morning, Spring is upon us, he took up a close position by the sheep feeder, and stood watch. The sheep were close, but they respect and trust Red, they don’t freak when he’s close, as they do with a dog that isn’t grounded or sheep broke.

It lifts my heart to see Red like that, he is so professional and appropriate and vigilant.  You could drop a steak on the ground and he wouldn’t move a muscle, his focus is so intense and unrelenting.

I’ve been privileged to have some wonderful dogs in my time on my farm, Red stands out in so many ways. This photo captures his astounding work ethos.

We just got the drawers for Maria’s new desk, she’s keeping it on the back porch until it turns warm enough to clean it up outside. We’re not sure where it’s going yet.

Somebody wrote suggesting it might have been a hospital desk, they like white desks because they were easier to clean and the racks were for medical charts.

Makes sense. Minnie is pleased to make the new desk  her outdoor headquarters in the meantime.

(Above: The Maestro fixing his car at WBTNAM, today was “Talking To Animals.”)

We had one of the best shows ever I think, Thomas Toscano did a beautiful and touching riff on conducting music,  and he also likened it to loving and training dogs. Whoever it is for, it was beautiful.

We had lively and informative discussions about a dog’s mind and what goes through it.

The program was also helped by Maria’s call in the second hour, she is quite natural on the radio, as she is off. Maria never wears a mask, she is who she is all the time, and for everyone.

Thomas and I squabbled about the number of calls. He said there were plenty, most couldn’t get through, I counted three and one of them was Maria. He thinks I’m crazy.  It’s odd, though because I know there are people listening, the volume of mail is continuous and geographically diverse.

But there were no e-mail questions either, that is a step backwards. The program is only as good as the participation of the people listening. I’ll keep on  hammering this point.

Many people tell me they have trouble getting through. Sigh….

We had a compelling discussion throughout the broadcast, I thought a lot about the intelligence and consciousness of dogs and other animals. And I brought six books on the subject with me. I have read each one of them.

But I cautioned the listeners that I was serious about calls. If Thomas is correct, there will be plenty of calls next week. If he isn’t correct and here no calls from anyone except Maria, I will start thinking about whether or not I should be doing this show.

I know people are out there listening, we  have to keep working to solve these communications problems.

And I say this knowing we are catching on, Thomas and I both feel it.

Callers are so important to me and my vision for the show, they are, in a way, what is’ all about. I want to be thoughtful and useful when it comes to animals. Thomas andi have a good chemistry together. When they are calling, the show flies. I don’t wish to be talking to myself for 90 minutes or two hours.

I want to help solve people’s problems with dogs, in contrast to the animal rights movement, which simply wants to talk all of the animals in the world away from us profoundly flawed people and sent them off to mystical and magical “reserves” that no one can ever find or contact.

Thomas and I were talking to Maria so long that the show, which was supposed to be 90 minutes, went two hours.  I didn’t even notice, Next Wednesday I’ll continue talking about the intelligence of dogs, and the consciousness of animals.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                j

I especially loved the discussion about the difference between emotions and feelings when it comes to animals. I’ll pick up the thread of it next week, hopefully.

Friday, Maria and I talk to a podcast specialist about what we will need to host our own podcast.