bedlamfarm

Tomorrow is Wednesday, and I would normally be poring through my growing stack of canine and animal reference books in preparation for my weekly radio show, “Talking To Animals.” I’ve loved learning so much about animals and their intelligence and consciousness. I’m sorry to say I won’t be on the radio tomorrow, or in the foreseeable future. For reasons beyond my control, the program is taking a breather, and I can’t say if it will return to the air or not. In the meantime, Maria and I will move ahead with our plans to publish a weekly or even more than weekly, podcast, details to come. We are putting the podcast together now,  Simon’s bray, his “Call To Life” will be our opening music. I will be candid, I am sad about my radio show, I came to look forward to Wednesday. I met some great people in the phone, including Cynthia Daniello, who started her own blog, The Never Ending Story, this morning. She was a regular caller, the first one every week. She has lots to say. You can e-mail her with your questions and comments about life or dogs or almost any animal: you can e-mail her at cynthiadaniello@gmail.com or story_teller_34@yahoo.com. Life goes on. And on. I don’t wait for it. Please do message Cynthia. She is a remarkable 84-year-0ld full of life and determination. She has an amazing background as an author, poet and animal lover. On my broadcast, I loved talking to animal lovers about their pets, I loved trying to help them deal with the problems that face all pet and animal lovers. I am  glad I helped a few people and their dogs. I was happiest when talking to people who loved animals, that was the draw for me. The broadcast was a long-held dream of mine, and I worked very hard at it. It was just beginning to catch fire with plenty of calls and messages and questions pouring in to me from all over the world. We did this with  no money or support from the station, which had no resources to offer. We got pretty far. I have to say I thank WBTNAM for letting me have two hours a week of their air time, and I especially thank the quite remarkable Thomas Toscano, my friend and the station manager, for agreeing to host the broadcast, and for helping me with the technical aspects of the program, and for engaging in a dialogue with me on the air that was stimulating, entertaining and intelligent. I never did get him to turn on the phone switch when we were talking, I think he liked to talk without interruption. He is, after all, a conductor. But it was never easy to get through. Thomas is a fascinating man, a composer and conductor by trade and disposition, cast into a new role as a community radio station director, he works brutally long hours and pretty much runs the station by himself. Too much work for any single human. Wherever he lives, he has Brooklyn and the Bronx written all over him. His dukes are always up. I loved taking photographs of his wild Toscanini eyes. We became friends, I think, or were getting closer, and I should be clear that there was and is no difficulty between us, he supported the program in every way that he could, and we worked seamlessly together. We had some great conversations about animals and life. He was stimulating and fun. If you think I’m a curmudgeon, you ought to spend some time with him. Sometimes, I felt like the Muppet Fozzi The Bear around him. We had a rich and effective chemistry. We complimented one another well, he zigged when I zagged. Our egos worked well together, they didn’t collide. Thomas is a true creative. It was a pleasure to work with him, and I wish him every possible success. I hope we can build on our friendship. I will miss our Wednesday lunches, I usually stopped at an Asian restaurant nearby and brought Bento Boxes before Thomas went on the Miami diet in preparation for some surgery. We always had lots to talk about, Thomas is the biological opposite of boring. I can’t talk about the reason

We’ve decided to open our new podcast – Katz and Wulf On Bedlam Farm – with with Simon’s Call To Life, his famous bray that seemed to celebrate recovery and life itself. This will be instead of music, I guess it is music in a way. Simon was perhaps the most extraordinary animal to enter my life during my time on the two farms, both called Bedlam. He was taken by the State Police off of a nearby farm starved and sick and emaciated. I had to hand feed him hay and reach my hands into his mouth five times a day to rub medicine on his swollen gums and in his infected eyes. He trusted me, he always let me heal him. We formed the most powerful bond together. He and I went for daily walks in the woods, his appreciation for his new life was palpable. Maria and I came to love him very much. At night, I would sit by him in the pasture and read donkey stories and tell him about Don Quixote, Rocinante and Dapple, Sancho Pancho’s donkey. For several years, he had the most wonderful life. He would greet us every morning with a robust bray, we called it the “Call To Life.” Thousands of people came to our farm to meet him during our Open Houses. I’m happy to honor the spirit of this amazingly forgiving and loving animal by having him open our podcast, which will be registered and produced sometime in the coming week. Simon died of a stroke here on the second  Bedlam Farm several years ago. He is buried in the pasture. He had some great years. It feels good to honor him by leading our podcasts with his bray.   Audio. Simon’s Bray will be inserted into the podcast opening, here’s the podcast trial https://www.bedlamfarm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Podcast-Trial-1.m4a Here’s our discussion about how to open the podcast. https://www.bedlamfarm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Podcast-Trial-2.m4a The post Simon’s Call To Life Will Open Our New Podcast appeared first on Bedlam Farm.

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: jon@bedlamfarm.com or Maria at maria@fullmoonfiberart.com. 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 https://www.bedlamfarm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Podcast-Trial.m4a The post The Podcast, Coming Very Soon appeared first on Bedlam Farm.

“Spring, your luminous face, resembles the face of the Friend have you borrowed it from him? You are a feast for the eyes yet your essence is hidden like that of the soul. The trials of winter are over beautiful rose, lift your head and smile the thunder has announced the arrival, The lily urges her young buds to open their eyes and behold the splendor of the Garden. Stirred by the wind that carries the sweet scent of union the branches dance in celebration.” — Rumi Audio: This was a naked photo opportunity, Maria got a photo of it and it’s on her blog. https://www.bedlamfarm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Naked-Photo.m4a The post Spring, The Luminous Face appeared first on Bedlam Farm.

The central question in my new e-book "Listening To Dogs: How To Be Your Own Training Guru" is this? Is there something better for you and your dog than the wisdom of the gurus? Does Cesar know the best way for you to train your dog? In this country, we seem to have slipped into rigid, almost cult-like thinking about many things. In politics, there is only the "left" and the "right." In the animal world, our creativity and flexibility is also ossifying. There is only one way to get a dog. There is only one way to train a dog. More and more, we are seeing all dogs through the prism of rescue and abuse – many people think […]

I'm happy to offer my second podcast, this one on animal grieving, inspired by yesterdays' blogpost on the memorial service for Leo, my friend's beloved Lab/Mix who dies in his sleep at age 12. Many people wrote me and asked me to talk about this subject more. I think the podcast is a good forum for an occasional discussion of grieving, I wrote about my life with dogs as a "river of joy," and expressed a desire not to turn that joy into misery and lament. I've been writing about this subject for years, from "New Work Of Dogs" to "Going Home: Finding Peace When Pets Die." We love animals more and more and need them more and more and […]

Welcome to my first podcast. There's an echo and a squeak but we will figure those things out as we go, you can join in the process. I'm excited to offer another way to tell my story. Enough said, you can hear it from me. Within the next few days, you'll be able to subscribe to my podcast on Itunes. First Podcast