It’s hard to get anywhere as a small business without a solid team behind you. Unfortunately for me, that team consists of a bunch of farm animals and a baby. Nevertheless, I’d like to give you a chance to get to know the Corey Flint Photography Farm Animal Team (or C.F.P.F.A.T., which is also a fart noise if pronounced phonetically.) If you have your photo session on our farm there are farm animals you can meet, right near Boston!

Harriet

AKA Hattie, aka Hattie Mayonaise, aka Patty, aka Patricia, aka Patricia Mayonaise

Hattie has a lot going for her as an employee: She’s gregarious, unafraid, independent, and approachable. On the down side, she regularly spits right in my face and it ruins my day every time. I have to go take a shower afterward, it’s truly horrible (don’t worry she only seems to do this to me and not photo clients.) She also has a hard time following directions, as can be seen here. All that aside, I love her very much, and consider her an asset to our Boston family photography team.

Winnifred and Louise

AKA Winnie and Louise, aka Ruth and Rosemary, aka The Golden Girls

I’m grouping these two together because they’re always together and move as a unit. It’s great to have employees that work well together, but I do have concerns about their chemistry on a personal level. In fact, I’d go so far as to classify their relationship as downright unhealthy at times. There’s a lot of spitting, biting, and angry gurgling noises exchanged between them throughout the day. But maybe that’s just a form of alpaca codependency that I don’t understand. I’m not a camelid sociologist.

Louise is a bit of a diva. She is the best looking of the three alpacas, but clearly expects to coast through life using her looks alone. She is nice to everyone except me, so that’s a pro, but even the way she walks is stuck up.

Winnie is the clear leader of the group and is always on the lookout for danger. She will be the first to let out a warning call when a threat is nearby, whether that’s the dogs she sees every day of her life or a suspicious-looking tree branch. She’s not as easy on the eyes as Louise, but having a leader in the alpaca division is a great asset to our team.

Mae

AKA Mae Bean aka Miss Maezelton aka Maybe it’s Mae the Queen

Mae brings a lot to the table. She is determined, outspoken, and naturally curious. She also has a hunger for knowledge (and blueberries), which she feeds by investigating everything first-hand. Mae also contributes a lot of intangible benefits to the work environment. You just can’t help but smile when she’s around, and she has an absolutely contagious laugh.

That being said, I don’t think a single work day has gone by where she didn’t poop in her pants. She could also use some improvement in following directions, and has been known to scream at the top of her lungs for no apparent reason. She also leaves the lunch area a total mess, but luckily our next featured employee helps with cleanup.

Monte

AKA Mister Moon, aka The Good Time Boy, aka Dingo Dongo

Monte is an Australian cattle dog, which means he is a mixture of a blue merle, a wild dingo, and a Tasmanian devil. He is very extra. We got him from a friend of a friend who decided to buy a cattle dog without doing any reading about what that entails. They tried to keep him in a crate most of the day and in response he made their lives very difficult, but through good fortune he landed with us and has been a very happy dog ever since.

Monte has a lot of strong suits. He is extremely hard working, especially when it comes to chasing down errant tennis balls and frisbees (which could pose a serious hazard if left ungotten.) Monte is also fiercely loyal, tireless, and gentle. Most work trainings with him have gone well, but he needs improvement when it comes to personal boundaries. It’s not workplace appropriate behavior to greet people by trying to kiss them on the mouth and shoving your nose into their crotch.

The Cows

AKA The cows

Flint Farm used to be mainly a small beef cattle operation, raising these Oreo-looking bovines known as Belted Galloways, a breed from Scotland. But, like lots of things in farming, it made no money and no one wanted to raise animals for meat because it’s a huge bummer. So the herd was sold and sent away, except for five cows. This was a tight friend group, several of which were bottle-fed as calves so we kept them as very expensive, borderline useless pets.

Honestly, I’m pretty disappointed in the cows’ work performance. They contribute little to team discourse, but are very quick to voice their complaints, which usually relate to food. Really their sole contribution is their manure, which they refuse to manage themselves and rely on others to pick up for them. They also love to knock over my light stands when I leave them out in the field. If they didn’t have strong ties with the owners’ family, the Boston family photography team here would probably have let them go a long time ago.

The Horses

AKA Clark, Mac, King, Calvin, and some other ones

My sister in law, Sarah, runs a horseback riding program here on the farm, and it’s very important if you’re going to have a horseback riding program that you have horses. There are 7 horses living on the farm. Or 8. I should know this but I don’t. Anyway the horses are there and they are beautiful, majestic, and grand because they are horses.

Horses are absolutely team players. After all, they let humans ride around on their backs. They are also strong, resilient, and usually don’t kick anyone in the head. However, they are also very high maintenance. They have people come brush their hair for them, and apparently they need new shoes every 4-6 weeks.

A Whole Bunch of Other Beings

AKA about a dozen adults, 7 total cats, a goat, and a mob of angry geese. Plus more.

I should mention that a lot of hands go into making the farm operate, and that the farm doesn’t make any money. Sometimes I wonder why we work hard all spring and summer to bring in hay and grow corn and pumpkins in order to make zero dollars. But then I remember that throwing hay around is a good core workout. Also, it’s more about tradition and connecting with the land than having financial stability. So Sue and a dozen or so of her family members living in and around the farm all chip in to keep things running and to make sure we at least don’t make less than no money.

In addition, there are a buttload of cats, one single goat, and every year our cow pond is inundated with a christmas of geese (this is an actual term someone decided can be used to describe a group of geese.) We also have barn swallows that help keep the flies in check (very helpful). And killdeer that lay eggs that look like rocks out in the field and we have to find them and mark them with flags so we don’t run them over (unhelpful.) There are owls, foxes, and coyotes that help control rodents (very helpful). And deer that eat just enough of every pumpkin to ruin it instead of finishing the whole damn pumpkin (really, really not helpful.)

And those are the farm animals near Boston that you can meet if you play your cards right.

Here at Corey Flint Photography, Boston families are served by a large team with a diversity of backgrounds, ages, and species. This range of personalities and skills helps create a unique and unforgettable customer service experience. When you get your family photos taken here at Flint Farm, you’re not just standing in different places/positions pretending to be comfortable. Instead, you’re being immersed in a beautiful landscape full of silly animals and tractors, with someone there to capture the joy that results. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about these funny animals near you. If you’d like a free tour of the farm just reach out here and let us know!