Welcome. This podcast is from Jon Katz and Maria Wulf, we live on a farm in Upstate New York with sheep, donkeys, dogs, barn cats, chickens, and each other. I am an author and photographer, Maria is a fiber artist. We want to talk honestly about creativity, hope, love and fulfillment.
We're back for what is hopefully a regular weekend podcast from Bedlam Farm. We covered a lot of ground today, from being patient training dogs to adjusting to new Amish neighbors and friends. Maria and I get distracted, but we are zeroing in on podcasts as a way to get our stories told.
This is the true story of our struggle to save a freezing, starving, and abandoned lamb we found. He was completely unexpected and we were totally unprepared. This is what happened after we found his mother..
In today's podcast, we talk about the value of art, and what potholders are worth, we talk about the lies of a President and what they mean, about how we both have grown, about trust and marriage and learning and growth.
We were tired today and wrestled with some minor technical details, our talk ranged from farm rituals to my heart surgeries to loving our little farm. Come and listen.
In this latest podcast, we talked about how our eyes are often fooled by what we see, about Ruth Bader GInsburg and her death, about what is and isn't surgery, about the Virtual Cow Plop, about Zinnia's going into heat, about Maria's creative imagination and other good stuff.
Today, we talked about our farm, how we have grown on the farm, come to love it, what we have learned, our lives with the animals, our lives together. I used to say my farm is the Mother, the dogs brought me here, and Maria has deepened and enriched the experience. Here are sme of our favorite stories.
In this podcast, a good one we think, Maria talks about how she is learning to write so well, I talk about overcoming my terror of exercise and buying an e-bike, and we both end up sharing the ways in which we overcome our fear and uncertainty.
My anointment as Bedlam Farm's Grand Ca-Cas, Portland and Naked Athena, My Creative Process, The World's Longest Quilt-Selling Streak, Zinnia's Light, Housebreaking Dogs. A good one.
We apologize for missing a few podcasts, we're weekly again. Today we rehash our life with the coronavirus, my writing about politics, Maria's desire to be in space (Good Luck, Commander), and her decision to talk to a therapist. Good stuff.
Monday, Maria begins a month-long Artist's Residence and creative retreat, she put aside her tax refund so she can be creative and not worry so much about making money. This is the dream of every creative artist or person, and she has earned it.
In today's podcast, Maria and I talk openly about how the coronavirus has changed us, and in some cases, for the better. We are hopeful about the future, and working hard to understand the present. Come along.
In the midst of a frightening Pandemic, Maria and I talk about the role of artists in troubled times.
Some laughs, some tears, some reflections on creativity and life in these strange and wrenching times. Come and listen. This might just help, it was good for us.
This podcast is devoted to people who are struggling to deal with the awful coronavirus which has transformed out country overnight into something unrecognizable. It is not just a pandemic, it is also an opportunity to grow and learn. Come and listen.
Maria and I talk about friendship, awakening, belly dancing, yarn, art, stickers, dogs, and life. We learned a lot about life these past few weeks.
We talk about getting old, our snail party, Maria's Belly Dancing Revelations, Zinnia and our new logo.
We had fun with this New Year's podcast - our lives, our creativity, our animals, our hopes. Come and listen.
Zinnia Upends Life At Bedlam Farm; Maria Wonders If She's Living In A Bubble, We Talk About The Risks Of Creativity.
Another week of creativity, triumph and change at Bedlam Farm; stone sculptures in fish tanks, a new puppy, snails, stones, exciting new wool news. Our lives are about creativity and change, we are ready. Come and listen in our lives.
Lots of news in Bedlam this week. Maria and her friend Suzy are selling shawls, we're planning for a new puppy, I'm considering a book deal, and most importantly Ryan Snell came to clean out a septic tank, (just in the nick of time, it seems) we are ready for winter!
A sense of renewal on Bedlam Farm this weekend. New Sheep, New Book, New Friend
Maria talks openly and honestly about the meaning of belly dancing for her, (it has a lot of meaning for me as well). This has been a transformative experience for her, and we talk about why that is so. It has also taught me a great deal about relationships.
On the way home from seeing The Joker together, Maria and I had a mesmerizing conversation about it. I thought "this conversation should be a podcast." So here it is, it was just as good this time.
Fall comes to Bedlam Farm in all of its glory. The Season of Change. In this podcast, we talk about creativity, gardening, the Tiny Pricks Project, the coming winter, the meaning of God, and of course, the centrality of manure in our lives.
Part Two of our discussion on yarn dogs, the discussion continues.
We talk about the farm, why we have sheep now, sheepherding, Maria and her yarn, a new puppy,and a major shift in my life on the farm. Every animal teaches us something.
How much of a role does luck play in our lives? We talk honestly about that (as honestly as we can) and also talk about the death of Zelda, the rise of Fate and her therapy work, and the prospect of a puppy called Zinnia, a Yellow Lab. An important week for us
This week's podcast topic is important to us, it has to do with self-esteem, self-image, and creativity, different and volatile systems all linked together in our lives. Maria talks about her breakthrough manifesto: "I Am Maria Wulf." I talk about my own body shaming.
Maria and I both work at home, we are both artists/creatives. We are always figuring out how to give each other some space, yet be there when we are needed. So far, so good. Come and listen to how we manage this complex yet very beautiful task.
A week after Red's death, we decided to get a new dog, a Yellow Lab puppy. Find out why and how on our newest podcast.
We say goodbye to Red, who died on Friday, August 9. We talk about what he meant to us, and how we are dealing with his loss. There are lots of sad things in the world, but Loss Is Loss
Maria and I meant to talk about panic attacks on yesterday's blog, but we ran out of time, so this is Part 2, devoted to our experiences with panic, and our ideas for healing and moving forward. It's an emotional subject for both of us, all the better to talk about it.
On this podcast, our first two-parter, we talked about Fate's somewhat stunning debut as a therapy dog, and also about the Tiny Pricks Art Project, which Maria has joined. This is our first two-part podcast, and tomorrow (we ran out of time) we'll talk about Panic Attacks.
Maria's life and work are ascending radically. Mine is moving in a different direction and a good one. Will she take money away from me? II am challenged and proud to support her, even though her star may shine brighter than mine one day soon. Relationships depend on honest.
This podcast is about how we have stayed grounded and focused and creative during the Trump Years. Sometimes, we have done this together, most of the time we do this in different ways, each of us using our different kinds of creativity to do good. Come and listen.
We had a compelling week. Bud got lost for awhile, Maria spent weeks making a quilt, freaked out a bit over money, my daughter and Granddaughter visited for the first time in two years, sparking all kinds of feeling about family. We re-committed to the Creative Life.
Today, I took Fate to an assisted care facility to begin her training as a therapy dog. She was wonderful. Today, Maria is close to finishing a quilt titled "How To Keep Your Husband," it's powerful commentary about the lives of women over the past half century.
In our striking latest podcast (and one of the best, I think) we talk about How To Keep Married, about notions of femininity and masculinity, and about Maria's striking new understanding about what being feminine really means to her. And to me. I was surprised and proud.
This is Belly Dancing Week at Bedlam Farm, Maria's first performance is with her fellow dancers at a farmer's market in Bennington, Vt. this Saturday. Who would have thought it? We talk about that, and the healing of our pastures, and Zelda and Bud and the busy week at our farm.
Maria and I talk about our lives with animals - donkeys, dogs, sheep, barn cats, chickens - what we have learned over the past decade, our successes and failures (including a breakthrough when it comes to dogs eating their own poop). This one flew by too quickly, we need another podcast.
Nothing has been more important to Maria, and to me, than our search for identity, our long and hard work to understand who we are and who we wish to be. That's the subject of our podcast today, come along for the trip.
Maria and I talk about the mystical experience of creativity and life, an important but rarely discussed part of each of our creative and spiritual lives. We learned a lot about it in recent months and weeks.
Podcast 14 is about the week on Bedlam Farm, and also about the love and hope we both have found in a troubled Catholic School in a poor neighborhood that is working hard to keep its faith and promise.
In this podcast, we talk openly and with feeling about our life with donkeys, from Carol to Simon to Lulu and Fanny. These wonderful animals are fading from America, replaced by tractors and machines. We love our donkeys very much, they are deeply spiritual creatures.
Maria and I talk about the power of creativity in our lives; how it has become our faith and path to fulfillment. It isn't always easy, but it is always wonderful, we love our lives, and what a gift that is. An honest and open talk about the creative life, good and bad.