The Bucolic Plague by Josh Kilmer-Purcell

The last time I saw 4 a.m., I was tottering home in high heels and a matted wig sipping from the tiny bottles of Absolut I always keep in my bag for emergencies.  Emergencies like "last call."

From the prologue to The Bucolic Plague: From Drag Queen to Goat Farmer by Josh Kilmer-Purcell.

What happens when two gay men give up their fabulous New York City lives, buy a farm upstate and everything goes right?

Yes, it all goes right.  Just about.  Josh, the former drag queen, and his partner Brent, a doctor who is also a regular on Martha Stewart's television show, purchase the dilapidated Beekman Mansion, a 200-year-old estate, and decide to run it as a working farm.  There is  much hard work involved, but everything works out with remarkable ease.  For example, when they need someone to run the farm while they are in New York during the week, a gay goat herder who needs a place to keep his goats appears.  When they need a way to generate money for their farm, Martha Stewart invites them on to her show to demonstrate how they make soap from goat milk and a successful mail-order business is born. 

If you're expecting the arrival of two gay city-slickers to cause some consternation among the local farmers, you'll be disappointed.  The two are welcomed from the start by another gay couple who run the local inn/restaurant and by everyone else as well.  Turns out the town they've moved to is full of misfits and eccentrics, so  Josh and Brent fit right in.  There are some comical misadventures involving the slaughter of their first Thanksgiving turkey and the hunt for their first Christmas tree, but overall, The Bucolic Plague is the story of two guys having a wonderful time. Until the stock market crashes, Brent is laid-off and Josh has to start firing the people at the advertising agency where he works.  But not to worry--you can tell from the cover photo that things will work out and things soon do. 

There was a time when two openly gay men starting a farm in rural America would have produced a different kind of memoir.  Had Josh and Brent bought their farm in the 1950's or even in the 1980's Mr. Kilmer Purcell's book would have a much a much heavier tone.  Now the fact that they are a gay couple seems about as controversial as the fact that they are from Manhattan--no one seems to give it much thought.  All the locals seem interested in is whether or not they'll get a chance to meet Marth Stewart.   It all makes for entertaining, light-hearted reading that goes down easily like an Absolut martini.  


Full Disclosure: I received and advanced review copy of The Bucolic Plague from the publisher.