YouTube video

3/12/15: John Churchman is not your average farmer. A fine art and stock photographer for decades, John and his family live on a “picture farm” in Essex. Sweet Pea is a bottle lamb who just turned one and has found quite a following on social media. John recently raised enough money on Kickstarter for a children’s book starring Sweet Pea and her friends. Eva spent the afternoon in this storybook come to life.

Music: J.S. Bach, “Sheep May Safely Graze BWV 208,” performed by Kevin MacLeod, Bert Lown, “Hello Baby”

UPDATE: The Churchmans’ recently got a three book, six-figure deal with Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Read Pamela Polston’s yarn about the couple’s big news and check out their piece on the CBS Evening News.

This episode of Stuck in Vermont was made possible by

Hotel Vermont and Vermont Tourism
YouTube video

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This article appears in Mar 25-30, 2015.

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Seven Days senior multimedia producer Eva Sollberger has been making her award-winning video series "Stuck in Vermont" since 2007. In 2024, she won first place from the Association of Alternative Newsmedia for her video, “Barbie Collector.” She received...

5 replies on “A Storybook Life [SIV392]”

  1. Wow! This was done so well. Bravo to all who had a hand in making this piece. Great editing and I love your choice for the ending song! Ann Lord

  2. I have been following John Churchman for a few years now, starting with a video that I watched which he created of a bottle lamb named “ollie” and his gambeling. When I saw this video. it did my heart so much good, I went to John’s page, saw some of his photographs and thought “I need to see some good “with animals” in my facebook feeds”. John accepted my friend request and it has been a pleasure ever since. I can assure you that John’s passion was there long before “The Sheepover” and what has come from Sweet Pea and her illness is truly part of John’s Journey and Love. We are all so blessed that we can see the love for and the beauty of these animals unfold. We all need to see more Farmer John’s in our world.

  4. This is a fabulous video Eva and Farmer John! So happy to get to see it. Certainly enhances what I have been priviledged to get to know about this farm and the special folks who live there.
    Donna Houseright
    St. Louis, MO

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