It all started when I saw an ad on TV for a new show on the Planet Green network called The Fabulous Beekman Boys. If you have not yet seen it, it is a reality show about two guys from Manhattan who take up farming in upstate NY. This show first aired around the same time I was having my own "Homesteading Revolution" and this show was absolutely perfect! I love every minute of this show. Nay. Every second!! I feel quite "stalker-ey" when I tell Charles, "I loved when Brent and Josh went through the process of slaughtering their own pigs." (As a vegetarian that is saying quite a lot!) Or I might comment on the funny paranormal investigation the Boys did at the Beekman on Halloween." When I talk about them, I talk as if they are two people we've met in the neighborhood. Of course, one of the first things I did was look for them on Facebook and hit the "Friend" button as quick as I could. I love getting FB tidbits from them about the Goat Cam, recipes and farming tips. It just adds a layer to the delusional friendship I am developing! When I read that Josh had written a book called, The Bucolic Plague I got on Amazon and ordered mine the same day I ordered The Backyard Homestead and Made from Scratch. The latter two came right away and I have been devouring them learning all kinds of things this city girl never knew...like did you know that you don't need a rooster to have hens lay eggs? Or did you know that you can grow lettuce through the winter in something called a Cold Frame? Or that raised planting beds are easier to tend to? Amazing stuff!!
So here comes Josh's book and I am excited to read it. In fact when I found it in the mailbox, I couldn't wait to take care of the evening chores and head to the front porch rocking chair to start the book. The prologue had me laughing so hard that I was fearful the neighbors would wonder about me. Here is one part of reading this book that I hadn't counted on: having very similar point of views. See Josh lived in NYC and moved to a rural farming community and I had lived in Tampa and moved to a rural farming community. The experiences he is writing about are some of the very same things happening in my new world. Like conversations at Agway. Like discovering the Penny Saver (Josh calls it "The Penny Savior". I just call it "The Paper". Either way, we both love it!) Like both wondering why dandelions are such a bane to some folks when to us they look like wildflowers. And of course, like our amazement at the niceness of folks in these communities.
Now here is the bad part. The part that has me mad. I just spent about 20 minutes reading a bit of this book and when I put it down I realized that I am over halfway done. I could read the whole book in a day if I didn't have anything else to do. So my madness comes from the fact that I have a very limited view into the Beekman life. Only so many more pages to learn about my new friends the only way I can. Oh, yeah. I don't think there are any or many more episodes on TV too! So I will have no Beekman Boys to learn about or to learn from.
At the very beginning of The Bucolic Plague, Josh cautions the reader that, "This book is not about living your dream. It will not inspire you. You will not be emboldened to attempt anything more than making a fresh pot of coffee." I say that I beg to differ. I have two new fruit trees in my yard-an apple and a peach. I have a spot cultivated and ready to plant fall blueberry bushes. We are putting our barn kitty to work on mice in the garage/barn without remorse. I just build a shelving unit in my basement to hold jars of put up food that I've just started to work on. I have steps in place to learn about goat soap and goat cheese making next. My idea of homestead living may not have been born watching an episode of TV, but seeing it and now reading about it from someone with a very similar starting point has just proved to me that I CAN do it! I am living it! Well, maybe not Beekman style, but my style. I am loving every minute of it. Nay. Every second.
Buy it here, buy it now!
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