TV show follows evolution of exurbanites' farm
08.05.11
SHARON SPRINGS, N.Y. ---- It sounds like the breathless plot of
a zany sitcom: Manhattan adman who moonlights as a drag queen
trades high heels for barn boots to raise goats and purple tomatoes
with his life partner, a doctor who moved from geriatric practice
to "The Martha Stewart Show" before chucking the city life for a
new career on the farm.
The story of Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge is chronicled
in a cable TV show, "The Fabulous Beekman Boys," on Planet Green.
But it's a reality show rather than a gay "Green Acres." The men
also share their exurbanite adventures in a blog and in
Kilmer-Purcell's hilarious book, "The Bucolic Plague," a follow-up
to his memoir about his nightclub career as Aqua, a drag queen who
used live goldfish in the glass-globe breasts of her costumes.
The cast of characters includes other residents of tiny Sharon
Springs, a former spa in farm country 43 miles west of Albany.
There's Doug Plummer, described by Kilmer-Purcell as "Paul Bunyan
in a kilt," proprietor of the restored American Hotel along with
his partner Garth. And Farmer John, who raises goats with some help
from his partner, Jason, who builds nursery pens for the kids and
wooden milking stands for the dairy. And there are the local
weaver, soapmaker, blacksmith and woodworker whose wares are sold
by the company launched by the fledgling farmers.
Source: North County Times