DEAUVILLE or DOEVILLE???

I think my readers will start to wonder...what's the story here with the farm's name?  Why is the film called something else??  I'm confused!  The names are not the point, perhaps... it's the history that is interesting... here's a brief snapshot as I understand it....

Alex loved birds, too

"Deauville Fallow Deer Farm" is the name that Gail's late husband, Alex Rose, called the property he acquired and developed into a fallow deer farming operation back in the 1990s.  Deer farming had become popular in the USA, although it has long been popular in the UK, Europe, and New Zealand.  In fact, humans have been farming fallow deer since Phoenician times.  Fallow Deer are a distinct breed of petite, relatively "manageable" deer that can't breed with our wild white tails or mule deer, so they have been allowed for farming in the USA. 

Why deer farming?  Alex had retired from the business world in the city and longed for a life in the country doing something interesting, something unusual, and deer farming fit the bill.  He did his homework on fallow deer and spared no expense in building a model operation, complete with a special barn for managing the deer if they needed to be captured for any reason (up on the hill behind the central pasture).  And special wildlife fences that will keep deer in place -- they're really expensive and are very much like the ones I saw for game reserves in Africa.  

Then there was what to call this new operation?  Apparently one of Alex's daughters (by a previous marriage) came up with the name, "Deauville" for her Dad's new passion.  It was a play on words of course (inspired by the does on the farm obviously.)  And she liked to think of the "Deauville" in France, a resort I believe.  

Gail & Alex Marry at Deauville

Gail shrugs at the name and the reasons it was chosen.  After all, it wasn't her name choice; she inherited it.  But ask her of Alex, and she has nothing but smiles and fondness, and sweet memories.  She met Alex at a country auction (she likes to joke that he bid on her) and after courting her for a time, eventually he asked her to marry him.   Gail had already spent quite a lot of time at the farm helping Alex out with the many tasks involving deer farming.  She'd grown attached to Alex and the farm, so she agreed.   In time, Gail also started to add her own little flourishes to the farm... a few chickens here and there (which apparently Alex adored)... followed by quite a few more... some vegetable gardens (Gail's passion as a master gardener.) followed by greenhouses, a giant pumpkin patch, blueberries (another whole story), an orchard.    Bit by bit, the farm as we know it today evolved.  Sadly, Alex passed away before his time.  But he made it clear to Gail that he wanted her to try to keep the deer farm going.  And that is what she has done.

Gail feeds deer for wedding guests

When I showed up and started the film project, I noticed that Gail's license plate on her old white chevy is "doeville."  This, more obvious name, is the right number of letters for a license, which I think is the only reason the plate says this and not the proper name of the farm.  But the visual "Doeville" stuck in my head and then I of course came up with all kinds of reasons why it was the perfect name for the film.

To me, Doeville is about a little town or "ville" that is populated by a lot of hardworking girls...  there's Gail, two female dogs, Sam and Cinder (they're sisters, and yes, Sam is a girl), a female cat named Psycho (watch out, she bites), lots of hardworking hens, plenty of female customers, and yes... a whole lot of does.   'Doe, a deer'... and all that.

Gail hand feeds a beautiful big buck they called "Daddy-O"

I ran this blog past Gail before publishing because there's lots of personal information here that I wanted to make sure I got right, and all she had to say was "Hey, we get a lot of great male customers too!"  And that is true.

So that's the story of the farm's name DEAUVILLE and the film's name DOEVILLE... and that's how the farm came to be.