This past August I received an email from an editor with Cosmopolitan.com. I thought it was a joke. After researching her info and discovering it was legit I responded and we set a time to talk on the phone.
Since then it’s been a gradual increase in a flurry of activity around here. I had the property looking great, flowers planted as best I could manage for winter and was looking forward to a beautiful, sunny winter day. I envisioned birds chirping and my usual Disney-like experiences with silly animal antics and affection. That’s not how it panned out.
Several days before the video and photo shoot winter suddenly arrived. Storms blew threw spreading debris and mud everywhere. Since my animals welfare are my primary concern I gave them the barn to shelter themselves from the cold. Animals and clean barns don’t go together. Imagine having a group of toddlers having free reign, mostly unsupervised time in a small area for days. Insanity and shit – literally everywhere. UGH.
The day before the shoot the rains finally subsided and I did my best to clean, tidy and remove fallen limbs from the property. Unfortunately, it was little help and the ground was more like gumbo than grass. The chickens newly molted feathers were caked in grim and the goats were miserable. Mud is a terrible thing for a farm but it’s also a fact of this life.
I was sweating this big time. Then the Cosmo crew arrived. Their professionalism was top notch and they just rolled with the situation. Fortunately one of the video guys was a farmer in Ireland before moving to NYC so he didn’t seem phased by any of it.
The day was cold but amazing and surreal. They shot hours of video and photos in various locations and had me in several outfits. They captured the glam and fun stuff as well as the serious side of things and I taught them to milk a goat. Equal trade, don’t you think?
I was able to get a few pictures and my favorite is in the coop with one of my Lemon Chiffon Brahma hens, Princess Sophie. You can see her dirty feet in the photo. I suppose that’s appropriate for my little farm though, just a bunch of princesses with dirty feet.
Who knew you could be a Cosmo girl at my age?! Here are a few of the shots I was able to get: