Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Michal Lumsden: Cover Goats

Meet the newest addition to the Storey staff.

We’re thrilled to introduce readers to Michal Lumsden, our new copywriter and assistant to the publisher! When Michal’s not in the office, she’s busy leading the Storey life as an expert knitter, a gardener, animal lover, and the keeper of some goats with Storey ties of their own.

Even before I worked at Storey, I owned a lot of Storey books; I wouldn’t be the knitter, gardener, or cook I am today without them. As I prepared my application for a job at Storey, I looked around the company website to get a feel for everything they publish. Clicking and scrolling, I stumbled upon this:

Worlds collided.

I used to know those goats! What’s more, my own goats are related to them!

For many years I helped out at Rawson Brook Farm, in Monterey, MA. I had an office job elsewhere, but spent my days off hanging and packaging cheese or mucking out the barn. The farm’s owner, Susan Sellew, is a delightful soul, brimming with both laughter and business savvy. One day she came into the cheese room more animated than usual and announced that later in the week a photographer was coming to take pictures for a new edition of Storey’s Guide to Raising Dairy Goats.

Eventually I left the southern Berkshires, so I had to give up my weekend shifts at Rawson Brook. Later, when my husband and I moved to an idyllic vale on the eastern edge of the Berkshires, I knew I wanted to raise goats. I called Susan and we negotiated a barter: Some of our beef and maple syrup for two of her kids.

That was nearly four years ago, and now Audrey and Ingrid are all grown up. I’ve turned to Storey’s Guide to Raising Dairy Goats many times over the years, but I have an older edition, with a different cover photo, so I’d forgotten that my girls are related to famous goats.

Just a few days before starting my new job at Storey last month, I captured them enjoying this fall’s apple bounty. I hope you enjoy it, too!

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