City to Farm: The Bucolic Plague Book

photo from beekman1802.com I just want to hug these cuties!

 The story starts off with a trip to NYC, a 2 plus hour drive, bringing baby goats to the Martha Stewart show.  Babies ate too much milk and end up having diarrhea.  If you have a baby or ever had a kitten or puppy and you were traveling and they have become sick you can understand the humor of this situation.  Just this past year I was on a train from Boston with Harper, now 10 months old, and she was sick.  There were lots of diaper changes and it was an unpleasant smell.  At one point the conductor just kept walking past us while we were mid diaper change.  I digress.  My point is you can appreciate the situation.  This is the opening of Bucolic Plague.  A book I finished recently and thoroughly enjoyed.  Maybe it is because I, like many New Yorkers dream about having a place outside of the city.


Josh Kilmer-Purcell is the author.  He and his boyfriend head to upstate New York for their seventh annual apple picking weekend when they put on "their best Ralph Lauren plaids".  Being a designer, a gardener and lover of outdoors I already am enjoying this story a few pages in.  On their way back to the city they loose their way and land in Sharon Springs.  A historic town west of Albany.  They see a beautiful, very old mansion and it is getting dark.  The rest as they say is history.  Briefly, these guys work in the city.  Josh as a writer and works in advertising; Brett, his boyfriend, is a physician and works at Martha Stewart Living.  They end up buying the Beekman Mansion right before the recession hit in 2008.  The book is about their first year at the mansion.  Trying to keep the mansion up and running, bringing in goats, building an heirloom garden all while maintaining their relationship and shuttling back and forth to the city for their regular paying jobs.

Bucolic Plague

  It was a great story to read as I wished for winter to be over and spring weather arrive.  It inspired me to get my heirloom tomato seeds planted.  It also gave me some insight to the reality of owning a farm.  However I think I would prefer something a tad smaller. 

Beekman1802.com now has a gorgeous variety of items to purchase from their mercantile.  Videos of the goats are ridiculously cute and there also are a few more books out about the Beekman Mansion, mainly cooking and dessert.  You can learn about farming, gardening, decor and animals.

Photo from Beekman1802 Facebook page

A good read! I loaned it to a friend so we shall see if she agrees!
Have you read this book or seen their show, the Beekman Boys?
What do you think?