Strange title unless you are familiar with the book of the same name. No, I didn’t come down with the Bucolic Plague over the holidays but I did read some books. I ate too much, smiled very often, snapped lots of pictures, cozied up in front of a fire, crocheted until my fingers ached, and read 4 books. I was busy, busy and happy, happy.
I read a finance book, a Feng Shui book (which helped me decide on a headboard to make for my bed), and I read one of the best dang non-fiction books I have read in years called… The Bucolic Plague. I was laughing out loud by the third or fourth page and refused to put it down until I had soaked up every last delicious morsel.
It is essentially the story of two professional guys living in New York City. One is a former doctor who took a job with Martha Stewart’s empire. The other is a former drag Queen turned ad executive. They both had rural upbringings so they took an annual country drive to soak up the country and buy apples. It was on one of these trips that they discovered the 200 year old Beekman Mansion for sale quite a ways away from the city. They decide to buy and become gentlemen farmers. So begins their journey to growing their own food, decorating a mansion, maintaining a farm with 80+ goats, starting a business, and reviving the local economy in the sleepy little town they now call home. Oh and they try to do it all with a Martha Stewart like perfection after they appear on her show and she mentions that she would like to stop by and see their new abode.
It is a really great story with many twists and turns… from buying the farm, to bringing in a co-farmer, to acknowledging they may lose the farm and mansion during the economic collapse of 2008 when they both lost their jobs. It gives you a look into a world you would very much like to visit with people you would love to call friend… which I guess is why these two gentlemen ended up getting their own series on Planet Green called The Fabulous Beekman Boys. Season two of the show will begin early in 2011 so be on the lookout for it.
