Join me...and Earnest, and Pickles and other dreamers and goofballs

I'm having fun building the Patreon site. It feels like I'm building something new and fresh. The blog will remain as an archive of the farm [posts going back to 2005] and I will keep the sidebar links up to date [which of course I doubt you can see on a phone].

I've left a few public posts up at Patreon, so you can get a brief glimpse of what supporters get on a weekly basis.

One of the ongoing stories over at Patreon that I'm excited about is "Bucket & Pig" which will mesh the animals into the history of our 1760 farm. I've just posted the intro and am working on the first story. Bucket is an old, leaky bucket, tossed into the burn heap back in the Civil war era. He survived by being buried deep and did not fade away from the elements. Imagine the things that Bucket knows.

I love my blog. I have been very loyal to it since 2005. If you follow along, you know I've gone back and forth on what to do with it as readership shifts to social media [at least for my followers]. To be honest, I feel...free. Even though I have very few followers on Patreon, as I just launched it, I don't care! I am having fun exploring new ways to share story-like audio. I am learning about recording and have big ideas about incorporating voice over actors, or creating my voice characters. I don't know if it will be a podcast at some point. For now I can post videos and audio along with written story entries. {By the way, today the podcast I did with The Maine Conversation is live, it was recorded as we sat amongst the animals}

So there you have it. I hope you'll consider subscribing to my Patreon. No matter what, I'll be writing and  story telling there and am putting my heart into it, just as I did here for what is almost twenty years of sharing story and so much more.

Cheers!

I hope you will join me on Patreon. Pickles [kind of] helped.

 

Visit Patreon >

 

I have launched a Patreon page.It will be the place I share new, creative projects- sharing short stories starring the barnyard, but also audio conversations with the animals. Videos too. {I will still be on IG and FB, but Patreon will be my place of creative focus. 

FYI-The blog will be a place for archived information of the last 18 years, and will post important news, such as deaths, new work...etc. But think of the blog as a central index to the last 18 years of me, and Apifera. Patreon will share my new creative story work.

WHY?

In the good old days, before social media, I wrote stories on my blog. Readers and followers interacted in comments. It was really a community. While I have many loyal followers to my Instagram and Facebook, I like the fact that we can be more intimate on Patreon–I tell a story and maybe Pickles pops in to participate [that is a lot of ‘p’s}. You can close your eyes and listen to recordings of me and, maybe Harry the llama, having a conversation. Social media is chaotic, and while wonderful in many ways, I want the Patreon page to be MRS.DUNN TALKING DIRECTLY TO YOU THE READER.

So my intention is that this Patreon site will be my go-to-place to share new stories and audio/video content. I’ll still post photos and farm updates on IG and FB of course, but there we will be more intimate and unencumbered by ads, and algorithms.

All level of support gets the same content. And I've kept the bottom level at only $5/month. 

Pickles interrupted my initial greeting, but...of course she did!

And I’m going to have fun with this! So when I say you are getting monthly updates, it might be more. Never less, but often more. I like to share! Also, I’m new to this platform and am still learning the set up and there will be glitches, I’m sure, so be patient, and feel free to write me anytime with thoughts, ideas, trouble.

I’ve been sharing content-writing, photos, books, humor, poems, puppets and art-since I first started the old blog in 2005 back when Apifera was forming. And one thing I’ve been missing of late is...the feeling someone is really listening, or reading. Many of you have been with me for a long time, and I appreciate that. I am excited because I feel a sense of adventure with this, and I have not felt that for awhile, especially as readership to the blog lessened as social media took over. I want to do more podcast-radio-voice work with the animals, or share my written words through my audio recordings too. Pickles and Puddles want a radio show...I’m serious, I don’t make this stuff up.

Your subscriptions are meaningful not only for it’s-helpful-to-pay-the-bills-I’m-a-freelancer-aspect, but they also lift me up emotionally, I will admit that. I will always create, but support is meaningful to artists.We are a sensitive bunch.

Thank you. Mrs. Dunn

The old donkey wanted to be a tree....and...

Peso wanted to be a tree, holding a bird's nest, for Halloween. I think he did a sweet job of it.

You can read all about Earnest's celebration of the dead, and other Halloween-ish antics from the barnyard, over at Tails & Tales monthly short story publication [it's free].

We lost one of our eldest cats, Inky this week. He was 22 or so and had come to us many years ago from the shelter, after his owners died. There was some trauma in the house in the end and I do not know how much of it Inky saw. He was always stoic and friendly, never pushy with the others and liked to ride on my shoulders. He had a good death with Catfish looking on, wrapped in a polk-a-dot blankie in front of the heater. I buried him under the lilacs along with so many others.

There is often a shift that occurs after a death in the herd or cat room. Inky always slept, for the past few months anyway, in a basket on one of the perches. He chose to stay on the ground in his final few days, but nobody claimed his basket. Then this morning, I saw that Francine was sleeping there. The empath in me wants to think she waited for the energy to shift, to give Inky time to leave, and to respect his space. I'll stick to that story.

New holiday card...yes I know it is not even Halloween

I just ordered these and they should be here in a couple weeks. The inside is blank so it's great for holiday season and New Year's greetings.

Visit the online shop >

It takes a [caring] village, please donate to our non profit work

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Katherine Dunn / Apifera Farm (@katherinedunnapiferafarm)

 

As you all know, prices for everything have gone up-feed, fencing, vet care, gas...we are all in the same boat. I did not do a fundraiser this summer due to my own health issues but am back on track and it's time to gather as a village and support the animals, and the work we do for elder people with those animals. 

Martyn and I do not take salaries, all money goes to maintaining the farm animals and helping elder people on our visits. You can donate here at the blog, over at the FB page, or by check. If you are a foundation and want to route money, please let me know.

The face, brought to you by my internal instincts

The face. It is the same one that grabbed me when I saw it at online from Great Pyr rescue farm. White Dog had been gone 3 months and I really wasn’t “actively “ looking [insert eye rolling face] but well, why not just take a “peak” to see if something grabs me [more eye rolling]. 

I waited to contact the rescue, I didn't want to do a rebound adoption. Nothing could replace White Dog, he was such a strong spirit. I didn't want to bring in a dog and always be comparing him to White Dog, it would not be fair.

But days went by and week or two and I kept seeing Teddy's face. I truly believe White Dog was behind it. He knew that Teddy would carry on in work that White Dog had just shifted too-animal visits with the elders. White Dog was not as suited to go in the car, he wanted to be on patrol or in his farm element, but he began to visit elders when they came to the farm. He was a magnet for them. 

After he died, I talked to White Dog everyday as I went to the barn–he is buried under Old Apple. I’m so grateful both White Dog and Teddy kept nudging me as Teddy is so perfect for our life and mission.

Don't underestimate, don't ignore your internal 'feelings'. I have learned over and over to listen to them. If a feeling keeps coming to me over days and weeks, I know it is serious. That was how I moved to Portland, that was how I knew Martyn would be my husband on the day I met him, that was how I knew we had to move to Maine as soon as possible. 

And breaking news! Harry's pretty excited, as am I, that the Lovey Mobile is arriving next week. Stay tuned.

 

 

Officer Mittens arrests a wild one

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Katherine Dunn / Apifera Farm (@katherinedunnapiferafarm)