Joyfully Retired

Back in the days when I was employed I was a fan of TGIF. Now Friday means Friday Finds – a day to share those book-gems I’ve found. This week was all about chickens.

On Tuesday I saw an announcement in Shelf Awareness that perked my interest. What did I see that was so exciting? It was the announcement of the Midwest Booksellers’ Choice Awards; Baccante Literary Prize. (The Midwest Booksellers’ Choice Awards honor “authors from the Midwest Booksellers Association region and/or books about the region” and are voted on by MBA members.) Some of you will recall that I love chickens – the animals and their products. (You can see my original post HERE.) Out of a list of about ten MBA winners two of them had my chicken-heart racing – they were about CHICKENS.

1.  The winner for Nonfiction: Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs and Parenting by Michael Perry (HarperCollins). I’ve taken a quote from his book. As you can see he loves the little guys just like I do.

These Troubled Times seem to have precipitated a fowl renaissance. Mail carriers labor under a groaning load of multicolored hatchery catalogs, the latest issue of Backyard Poultry, and perforated containers that peep. . . . The online world is alive with Subaru- driving NPR supporters trading tips on eco-friendly coop construction and the pros and cons of laying mash; my NASCAR-loving brother-in-law tenderly minds a box of chicks beneath a heat lamp in his garage; my biker bar bouncer–turned–Zen Buddhist pal Billy and his wife the certified nursing assistant are building their second backyard coop with an eye toward expanding into―ornamentals. Anecdotal evidence to be sure, and a drop in the Colonel’s bucket, but something is afoot. . . . My wife and I are enthused by the idea of fresh eggs, homegrown coq au vin, and (at least until butchering day) a twenty-four-hour turnaround on the compost. In addition, it is my long-standing opinion that entertainment-wise, chickens beat TV.

Doesn’t that make you want to run down to the feed store and see if they if they have any baby chicks left? No? Then how about this:
2.  The winner for Children’s Picture Book: Louise, The Adventures of a Chicken by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Harry Bliss (Joanna Cotler Books/HarperCollins). From the publisher:

She longed for adventure.
So she left her home and ventured out into the wide world.
The pleasures and perils she met proved plentiful: marauding pirates on the majestic seas, a ferocious lion under the bright lights of the big top, a mysterious stranger in an exotic and bustling bazaar.
Yet in the face of such daunting danger, our heroine . . .
She was brave
She was fearless.
She was feathered.
She was a chicken.
A not-so-chicken chicken.
Her name?

This last book was not on the list of Midwest Awards but sounds like a winner to me. At least it’s in keeping with my idea of chickens and all things farm-ish.
3.  Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter

From the publisher:
Urban and rural collide in this wry, inspiring memoir of a woman who turned a vacant lot in downtown Oakland into a thriving farm. Novella Carpenter loves cities — the culture, the crowds, the energy. At the same time, she can’t shake the fact that she is the daughter of two back-to-the-land hippies who taught her to love nature and eat vegetables. Ambivalent about repeating her parents’ disastrous mistakes, yet drawn to the idea of backyard self-sufficiency, Carpenter decided that it might be possible to have it both ways: a homegrown vegetable plot as well as museums, bars, concerts, and a twenty-four-hour convenience mart mere minutes away. Especially when she moved to a ramshackle house in inner city Oakland and discovered a weed-choked, garbage-strewn abandoned lot next door. She closed her eyes and pictured heirloom tomatoes, a beehive, and a chicken coop. (I saw this on Heather’s High and Hidden Place on August 16th.)

I’m dedicating this stack of Friday Finds:The Farm Edition to Christopher and Genevieve who are living the chicken dream. (See them at Sustainable Chicken)