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Dirty Chick

Adventures of an Unlikely Farmer

by Antonia Murphy

About a young couple who love to sail, end up in New Zealand, and decide to stay. They had a few acres of land- at first a rented place, then later manage to buy their own. Start out by taking care of other peoples’ animals- an elderly dog, a few cats and chickens. Things do not go well from the start, from diseases attacking the hens, and a duck assaulting them repeatedly until one dies. Not at all for the faint of heart, full of disgusting descriptions of all kinds of things that can go wrong with livestock keeping- from terribly cute alpacas that spit deadly green goo at anyone they dislike, to sheep that need their butts shaved to prevent maggots from burrowing in, to midwifing a goat that eats her own placenta (normal, but rather gross the way it’s described). And just more from then on. I cringed at parts, was astonished and laughed out loud at others. Oh, and the descriptions of cheese-making attempts in this book, have made me not want to eat that product for a very long time. And there were some details about their neighbors, learning about the local culture- I did wish for a bit more of that, whereas usually I’m more keen on reading about the animals. This one was mostly focused on their children, and how they kept accumulating animals, learning to care for them, dealing with all the messiness and trials that includes. Goats, chickens, alpacas, cows, sheep. They drew the line at pigs after the husband helped someone else castrate a bunch of piglets. No go. Too much poop flinging for my taste.

Exacerbated by two little kids, one who talks easily about death and gross things, the other who suffers from seizures no doctors can find the cause. It’s sad to read about how they struggled to find treatment for their son, while accepting him for who he was and finding him a place in the coummnity. A bit alarming how much they let their kids just roam around- reminded me of the Slacker Mom, ha. Other books this brought to mind: the Bucolic Plague and Once Upon a Flock and The Dirty Life. I know there’s others, about raising chickens and taking up farming late in life, but can’t think of them now.

Had a recent knock to my health, doing some reading as I recuperate but not very keen on the writing right now- screens give me awful nausea and headache at the moment. So when I do manage to get on here a post something (so as not to forget what I’ve been reading) it will be short and to the point, for a while . . .

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5

256 pages, 2015

More opinions: Book Chase
anyone else?

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Animals Nonfiction, Bios / Memoirs, Current Reads

Hit by a Farm

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Barn

by Catherine Friend

I really liked this book. It’s about the author’s forays into farming, with her female partner. A big concern they had starting their farm, was how people in the small town would react to a lesbian couple as neighbors. Nobody batted an eye. Much harder was learning the skills- they’d had grandparents that farmed, but didn’t have any direct experience themselves. The author was a writer, her partner wanted to start a farm and she was supportive, so they dived in together. One of them a bit reluctant to get her hands dirty, prone to anxiety and a tendency to be controlling. The other enthusiastic and brave (lots of dangerous equipment and situations!) about all things farming, but easily angry- at immediate problems, at her partner, at the world in general. The story is just as much about the difficulties their relationship suffers through, and how they work through that, as it is about farming. First they raise chickens, then try their hands at sheep and wine grapes. Trying to do it all with the least negative impact to the land, few pesticides and chemicals, etc (but not strictly organic). With lots of pitfalls and a steep learning curve. And the author’s personal struggles realizing how much the farm work takes away from her writing, and figuring out how to balance that without leaving her partner all the heavy work. I loved how brisk and down-to-earth this book was. Grimacing and laughing at the mishaps, delighting in the new lambs and other joys, the satisfaction of good work done. Very honest about how hard it all is. I could relate far better to this book than Dirty Chick– they have a lot in common, but the mindset and personality varies widely.

And then there’s all the animals! In addition to chickens and sheep, they had goats, llamas, ducks and geese. I was a bit baffled and disappointed not to hear more about the dogs. Several dogs from the start that were just pets, but then they got a young border collie. Reported feeling encouraged when he showed “eye” towards the sheep- but then no mention of the dog being used to move sheep, or getting trained- however lots of pages about the difficulties in herding sheep or catching them. I suppose they never found time to train the dog? or it didn’t work out? but there’s no explanation of that at all. I just found that a tad frustrating as a reader, because every time I read about how hard it was to catch an individual sheep or move them, I’d think: where’s that border collie? why isn’t he helping with this job. Would have liked to know.

Other similar books: The Bucolic Plague by Josh Kilmer-Purcell, The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball, Shepherds of Coyote Rocks by Cat Urbigkit, Thoughts While Tending Sheep by W. G. Ilefeldt. I know I’ve read others about keeping sheep, and being new to farming, but these are the ones that came immediately to mind.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 4/5

240 pages, 2006

Tags: Animals Nonfiction, Bios / Memoirs, Current Reads

Mud Season

by Ellen Stimson

I thought this book would be something like Dirty Chick– but it wasn’t. Similarity: it’s about a family that decided to move to their favorite vacation spot, putting down new roots in northern Vermont. From city to rural area, with all the adjustments that takes. Everything else is different. This book isn’t nearly as funny as it wants to be, and a lot of it just rubbed me the wrong way. It doesn’t help that the author’s personality is the complete opposite of mine- though I can often like reading varied points of view. But the focus was all wrong here. Or at least, what the author thought readers would find interesting, funny and endearing, just had me shaking my head or cringing. Rather like my reaction to A Dog Called Perth. Let’s keep this painful thing short: I was expecting to read about the author’s attempt to embrace a rural lifestyle: raising chickens, chasing wayward goats, dealing with the weather, etc. And it is, but only in small bits. The best parts are mentioned in the blurbs, front jacket flap and intro- so there’s not much else to get to inside the pages. There’s an encounter with a bear, a fight with a skunk, the adopting of two bottle-fed lambs which ends awkwardly (they had no plans what to do when it grew up). There’s effusive descriptions of the scenery and the changing seasons- and that’s about it.

Most of the book is about their misguided attempts to run a local general store, their poor business decisions, their excitable plans that never quite turn out, and exactly how they made such a poor impression on all the locals. It’s the kind of book where the author obviously wants you to laugh along with her, at her (with plenty of oddly-placed footnotes tongue-in-cheek explaining that), but I didn’t. I got tired of reading about mismanaged money and ditching this attempt to start another before she’d even got the store off their hands. In the end I was skimming pages. There’s recipes in the back- they all sound delicious but also very dense and rich (I probably won’t try any). It is very readable, though. A light, breezy conversational style that you can get through quickly. Just not at all my cup of tea.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 2/5

Tags: 2/5- Just Okay, Bios / Memoirs, Current Reads

complete!

I finished the local library’s summer reading challenge. Quicker than I expected, but that’s nice because there was a much better selection on the prize book cart! (I got a copy of The Overstory by Richard Powers). Three of the items on the challenge list I skipped, just counting thirty minutes’ reading time (allowed). For the other choices, here’s what I read:

Re-read a book you read during childhood- Tomorrow’s Sphinx by Clare Bell

Read a book set in a place you want to visit- Dirty Chick by Antonia Murphy

Read a book that takes place in your home state or country- A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins

Read a graphic novel- The Magicians: Alice’s Story by Lilah Sturges (adapted from Lev Grossman)

Read a book recommended by a librarian- The Atomic City Girls by Janet Beard

Read a book outside of your comfort zone- Impossible by Nancy Werlin

Read a book outside of your own timeline- Too Late the Phalarope by Alan Paton

I always feel like I’m kind of fudging the read a book recommended by a librarian item. I’ve never yet actually gone up to a desk and asked one of the librarians for a direct recommendation. Instead I pick a book off one of the displays they’ve made on a theme- I figure if a librarian singled out those books to bring to the public’s attention, they must count as recommendations!

So this was fun. Once again it stretched me a bit, to read a few books I wouldn’t have otherwise- the teen romance and the WWII historical fiction. Most of the others were already on my TBR so I was happy to mark them off my personal list, too. And very pleased with my book prize!

another TBR list

for the new year- catching up on a backlog of book titles I have noted in the past weeks, but not listed out or looked up (source) until now:

The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert- Shelf Love
Rules of Summer by Shaun Tan from Stuff as Dreams Are Made On
Dirty Chick by Antonia Murphy from So Many Books
Burma Chronicles by Guy Delisle- Ardent Reader
Cooked by Michael Pollan- Farm Lane Books Blog
As You Wish by Cary Elwes- It’s All About Books
Eating Animals– Jonathan Safran Foer from Stuff As Dreams Are Made On

What We See When We Read by Peter Mendelsund- Indextrious Reader
Feral by George Monbiot- Shelf Love
Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf – Indextrious Reader
The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman- Iris on Books
Between Gods by Alison Pick- Indextrious Reader
While You’re Reading by Gerard Unger- Indextrious Reader

Tags: TBR additions

Little White Duck

a Childhood in China

by Na Liu and Andrés Vera Martínez

A beautifully illustrated book where the author reminisces growing up in China just after the Cultural Revolution. She depicts stories from her parent’s youth, and her bafflement at the death of Chairman Mao (adults weeping all around her at the loss). Traditional celebrations, New Year’s events, her youthful enthusiasm for school and doing her part to help rid the town of pests- in this case rats, because sparrows had all been nearly exterminated. This was a deliberate (and encouraged) killing of animals, but there’s another incident where the narrator and her sister have well-meaning intentions to give someone’s baby chicks water in the heat, but accidentally do them harm. My favorite part was in the final pages, the titular story where she goes with her father to visit his mother’s family in a poor rural village. She wants to wear her best coat and is advised not to, but insists. She’s shocked to see how different things are in the village, where people have very little and struggle day to day. The grandmother appears sullen and mean. The children outside- where Na is sent to play- are muddy and rough. Their idea of fun is to casually torture live insects. Na is appalled, and upset at how dirty her nice coat gets (especially when the curious children want to touch it, enthralled by the lovely texture it initially has). Realization of how much she has at home sinks in. Earlier lessons on avoiding food waste, and helping to plant the rice, seem to mean more now, too.

This is a slender graphic novel, and while it’s about a child, I don’t know if I’d read it to children- a lot of the nuances might go over their heads, and the part with the insects is rather upsetting- it made me feel distinctly taken aback. (It also for some reason brought vividly to mind the book A Child of the Northeast). Sensitive kids would probably have a similar reaction. But I don’t think this was necessarily written for children. And the pictures really are lovely.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 4/5

108 pages, 2012

More opinions:
Waking Brain Cells
Book Aunt
Lindy Reads and Reviews
366 Books
A Book and a Hug

Tags: 4/5- Great Book, Bios / Memoirs, Current Reads, Graphic Novels

Hamsters

by edited by G. Edgar Folk, Jr.

I ordered a few books online for my kid, about hamster care. They’ve all arrived promptly so I have time to look them over myself- and decided I’d better read this one, the oldest of the lot, before giving it to my almost-ten-year-old. Glad I did, and here’s why.

The book is outdated. It has good basic information, but also some questionable advice. We’ve kept hamsters before (and read other books on their care) so a few things raised my eyebrows. For starters, the book has a lot of information on breeding hamsters. Setups, how to tell when the female is in heat, how to track which hamsters you’ve bred, basics on genetics and how to fix desirable traits, care for the pregnant female and her young when they’re born, how to find buyers, etc. There’s pictures of the naked babies and drawings of hamster undersides so you can sex them- which I am pretty sure my kid will find squicky. And not kidding, the sections on breeding are at least half the book.

The rest is for the most part pretty good, except what I’ll mention. There’s a few pages on the origins and history of hamsters. There’s info about their habits, with some interesting facts about their ability to hibernate, if kept in an area under 40° (why would you keep a hamster cage outdoors? but this book suggests that if you do, provide plenty of warm bedding so they can survive cold temperatures- with the unpleasant note that if they’re in a colony group, non-hibernating hamsters may eat the hibernating ones!) There’s info on how to choose a healthy hamster (including consideration of good qualities for breeding and show), and instructions on how to build different types of housing yourself (but I was surprised that one of the suggested building materials was asbestos shingles!) Next is info on how to keep the habitat clean, and what to feed a hamster. This book says they can be quite happy eating dry dog food or pelleted rabbit feed and fresh greens, with occasional things like banana peels, meat or milk (for nursing mothers). Hm. Never heard of giving a hamster dog food, although dog treats like biscuits might be okay- this I figured with a quick online search. Banana peels okay if they’re organic, but meat? The book doesn’t get more specific, but I would think that means something like mealworms- although a quick online search told me some people feed their hamsters bits of cooked chicken. Moving on- the book explains how to handle your hamster- suggesting picking it up by the scruff or closing your hand over it from the top, never holding it from underneath. This is the exact opposite of all advice I see online or in other books about how to pick up a hamster. It also says that if your hamster decides to bathe in its water dish, you won’t be able to make it stop so just give it a second one for drinking water. What? I thought most people used those water bottles, because otherwise the water gets dirty. Also, never heard of hamster taking a water bath. Next, the book says hamsters have “no known diseases of their own” but can catch colds from humans, and suffer from paralysis or digestive issues. I am pretty sure hamsters suffer more ailments than just headcolds and constipation, but moving on- this is what I really objected to- in the section on what are hamsters useful for it mentions that hamster make nice pets but are also important in things like research or, well-

I don’t want my kid reading that. So this book is getting tucked onto my own shelf, I might pull it out for some additional reference if needed. It’s kind of like the Golden Book of Wild Animal Pets– interesting for what it is, but simply not the way we do things anymore.

On the flip side, this picture might give my kid grand ideas:

No, I don’t want a hamster village in my house. One will be enough!

Rating: 3/5

80 pages, 1984

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Animals Nonfiction, Current Reads

The Runaways

by Glenn Balch

I was hesitant to try this one after the last disappointment I had with Glenn Balch, but knew upon the first page that this edition hadn\’t been dumbed down or abridged. And it\’s quite different from other horse stories I\’ve read- so even though some parts felt predictable and the children\’s dialog a bit stilted (because English was their second language in the story) I found it likable enough. The main character is Jan, a boy whose family fled Latvia due to war. They settle uneasily in America, working on someone\’s farm. But this isn\’t lush green pastures with flowers and chickens running around like they were used to back home- it\’s dry sparse range country. Their main task is to tend a grain field, but the boy Jan longs to see and ride horses. He\’s jealous of the ranch owner\’s son, who can drive a truck, has a fancy rifle, a good horse, and roping skills. When Jan\’s mother wishes for warmer winter blankets, the boy makes traps to catch wild ducks and geese on a nearby body of water. He has no idea that in this new country there are laws protecting animals that don\’t belong to anyone, that he\’s trapping illegally out of season. When game wardens show up questioning the family, Jan basically panics. He remembers that his brother and grandfather back in Latvia were taken away by authorities for breaking some law, and never returned. He doesn\’t want to die at the hands of police or soldiers (so he imagines) so at night he grabs some supplies and runs away into the hills.

There he holes up for a while in an abandoned dugout shelter he finds by chance. Soon notices a band of wild horses that regularly grazes nearby, and realizes the golden-colored stallion must be the wild horse ranch kids talked about back home- everyone seemed to want to catch and own that stallion. Jan figures out how to survive in the wild (reminscent of Hatchet), and is planning to cross the mountain range where he hopes he can find work and nobody will have heard about his poaching mishap. But something holds him back- he sees a cougar stalking the horse herd, and comes across the bodies of colts it killed. He loves watching the young colts play and determines to protect them, by hunting down the cougar. (This part of the story reminded me so much of The White Puma). The big cat is secretive and intelligent, so this takes a long time. But when Jan finally deems the horses are safe from predation, he still can\’t leave- for now the horses have become used to his presence and he thinks maybe he has a chance to catch the golden stallion. His sister found out where he\’s living and brings him food supplies, she also brings him a rope when he tells her about seeing the wild stallion. However he hesitates to just throw the rope over the horse- instead determines to win its trust- by hanging out with the horses day after day they come to accept him until finally he can make his move to capture the stallion.

But when he finally has the wild horse under his control, he realizes it is unhappy to be separated from the band of mares. He feels guilty for taking the stallion away from the life it\’s always known, and also wonders how he will take care of it if he travels on across the mountains, or if it will attract too much attention- being such a fine horse for a boy (except it\’s actually rather dirty and scruffy now). The final chapter is Jan deliberating what to do- and because it\’s a kid\’s book I guessed what would be his final move. Would have liked to see a bit more closure on that, what the consequence or reactions were, but oh well.

I do have to say, a key component of Jan\’s plan to approach the wild horses and get them used to him, took me by complete surprise. In fact it\’s a little shocking and not for the squeamish. I wonder how well it might have worked in a real situation.

Rating: 3/5 192 pages, 1963

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Animals Fiction, Current Reads, Juvenile Fic

Adventures of an Unlikely Farmer

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Barn

a Childhood in China

RATINGS / SUBJECTS: