One Straw Goes Hollywood (Video)

The 19th annual Jefferson County Farm Tour is this coming weekend, and while we're not hosting in-person tours this year we are participating as part of the Farm Tour promotional video! If you haven't seen it yet, it's definitely worth checking out here on YouTube: 2021 Jefferson County Farm Tour. Farmhands Eli and Vera laughed and laughed when they saw it, as did their momma. They've probably watched it a dozen times already :)

It's fun to see the finished product, but we had a real blast a couple of weeks ago helping with the filming. I wish I could have filmed some behind-the-scenes videos to share, but I was too busy keeping the cows off the camera equipment and videographers! Our cows are used to us walking through the herd, but they're super curious about new things that show up in their pasture. And many of our friendly momma cows think that maybe, just maybe, you have something tasty for them in your back pocket, or perhaps in that nice basket.

No animals or humans were hurt in the making of this film, but at least one camera tripod went home with some cow slobber...

Filming with live animals turns out to be a creative challenge requiring patience and a great sense of humor! Filmmakers Tomoki Sage (also the actor) and Allison Barrett did an excellent job working with untrained bovines as extras. Even when one of the yearlings calmly stopped directly in front of a camera and refused to budge, thereby blocking a shot, or when on the final take needed for a scene the bossy cow decided to push everyone around and re-arrange the lineup (never to be straightened out again), everyone had a good time and valued the joy of spending time in close (really close, a couple of times) proximity to animals.

We sure enjoyed our filming day on the farm, and are grateful to The Production Alliance, Tomoki, and Allison for allowing us to be a part of it. Now, sit back and enjoy the show! You have time - it's only 3 minutes :)

Click here to watch the 2021 Jefferson County Farm Tour Promo Video on YouTube.

Cora has always enjoyed playing center stage!