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The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentlemen Farmers: An Unconventional Memoir (2010)

by Josh Kilmer-Purcell(Favorite Author)

4.06 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

006133698X (ISBN13: 9780061336980)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Harper

review 1: A fun factual romp with the Beekman Boys (aka Josh and Brent)who lived and worked in Manhattan, and in 2006 while out apple picking in Upstate New York, discovered and bought an old farm from 1802 in Sharon Springs. where they struggled to begin new lives as farmers and entrepreneurs. I have watched their reality show, The Fabulous Beekman Boys, I've been to their website, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading their story which was funny and touchingly told. Now to visit their farm and store in Sharon Springs!
review 2: I loved this memoir so much for its lightness, humor, entertainment value. Or maybe it is because the author was living my dream, a dream that a couple of million dollars is keeping me from realizing. Josh and his partner Brent were on their annual... more apple-picking trip out of Manhattan into upstate country-side when they happened upon a beautiful old farmhouse with bones (both architecturally and literally as it turns out), and made a semi-impulsive decision to buy it. In doing so they also acquired a caretaker, barn and herd of goats. The readers follows their journey of transforming the farm into profit so that they might realize their dream of a simpler life. I can honestly say I had more laugh out loud moments from Josh's writing than I had from that of David Sedaris, especially in his telling of the first time he met Martha Stewart. In the next two years, many aspects of the dream began eroding. Josh wrote about these times with honesty and vulnerability. Ultimately there was a return to laughter, and reassurance that everything would be okay. Part of the appeal of this book is that the home is in Sharon Springs, an hour and a half from my home. I had just driven out there, seen the house, explored a bit of historical Sharon Springs, and visited their exciting new store, 1802 Mercantile. less

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