Special Guest Author, Daneen O’Donnell
Anyone who has stopped by Freedom Farms, in Butler, PA, can tell you that the experience of being waited on by an Adonis-like King brother can almost make you forget you just purchased some of the best locally-grown produce around. But one thing you can’t forget is to check out Farm Kings, a reality show featuring these hunky brothers and their family, located right in the middle of Armstrong country.
Farm Kings airs Thursday nights at 9:00 PM on Great American Country (GAC – Armstrong Channel 484). This reality show is a refreshing alternative to the pampered ‘Housewives’ and celebrities, offering a look at the hardships and joys of life on the farm. Through the eyes of Lisa King, her nine sons, and one daughter, you visit the Kings’ farm – over 150 acres of land in southern Butler County, Pennsylvania. The family also own Boldy’s Homemade Goodies, Lisa’s Gardens and The Market at New Ken, a café and small grocery store that serves locally grown produce, cakes and breads.
The King brothers caught the attention of Stage 3 Productions after they appeared shirtless on the cover of Edible Allegheny Magazine. These ‘Shirtless Salesmen’ are well know around this region; many a female has breathlessly told her friends and co-workers that she just bought corn at Freedom Farms. But the show is so much more, showing the fierce, yet tender dedication each family member has to the other as they work long, hard hours to make a living from the land and keep their businesses going. The brothers strive towards making the farm self-sufficient by growing their own produce, raising free-range chickens and eggs, and working towards raising their own goats, pigs and cows. The show stresses the importance of buying locally and using what nature gives us when it is in season.
If you are ready to leave the bickering and drama of Hollywood, Jersey and New York behind, plant yourself on your couch on Thursdays and tune in to Farm Kings. Not only may you find the show pleasing to the eye, but you will get caught up in the good old fashioned farm life of Western Pennsylvania. You may even find yourself yearning just a bit for the simpler ways of life in days gone by.
