Meet Antonia and Peter, a couple who move from America to New Zealand and end up becoming farmers of a sort. This is the story of how this couple traveled to New Zealand in a sail boat, how they started a family and then became hobby farmers. The hobby farm grew one animal at a time as their family constantly fell in love with the idea of a new animal to add to their growing herd. Not for the faint of heart, Antonia dishes on all the dirty details involved with raising different types of animals, and what makes her enjoy the work still. Antonia's accounts of her first year of learning to farm various types of animals are honestly hilarious! Some pages had me laughing so hard that I would start to cry! Don't think this is a humor book though. She experiences some very wonderful people who help them along the way and has hard times just like all of us do. These stories will have you grabbing the tissues and pulling at your heartstrings. I have no desire to farm myself, however, the story of their family and farm is so very charming, funny, and endearing in our digital age.

Ashley C. / Marathon County Public Library
Find this book in our library catalog.

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I received this book as a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.

In recent years when my dad was dying or when my daughter was in the hospital, I switched from reading my usual fare to things like [b:Goat Song: A Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese|5975656|Goat Song A Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese|Brad Kessler|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347457109s/5975656.jpg|6148894] or [b:The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love|7841677|The Dirty Life On Farming, Food, and Love|Kristin Kimball|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1277929135s/7841677.jpg|10935145]. These were lovely books but I read them in part because I was reasonably certain Nothing Bad would Happen to character I'd invested in. (Some might invest themselves in the animals who I knew from the beginning might get eaten so I understand I'm speaking only for myself.) These got me through tough moments by allowing me to escape safely.

Despite the fact that none of my family members are endangered, when Dirty Chick arrived I started reading it right away. While it has some elements in common with the other books about "city folk" who gave up the urban life to go farm in the middle of nowhere with little or no experience, Antonia Murphy was clearly always an adventure waiting to happen and it shows in this work from the beginning. The prologue is a meditation on watching a goat eat her placenta (the goat's, not Murphy's) and then moves briskly into the incident which Murphy believes will keep her from ever owning an animal again: while Murphy is house sitting for her father and stepmother, one of their chickens is sexually assaulted by their duck and dies as a result.

And the pace picks up from there. She and her husband, houseboat dwellers in the San Francisco area, end up sailing across the ocean to New Zealand where they end up farming a variety of animals including alpacas, chickens, goats and sheep with all the chaos that implies. They also raise their two children: Silas, who turns up with a developmental delay, and Miranda, who is as verbal as her brother is not and can be counted upon to say exactly the wrong thing at exactly the right time, and make a place for themselves in the community.

There is "language" as they say and she does not hold back on describing the maladies that can befall livestock, most involving their bottoms, so that might not be for the faint of heart. This was a quick read and I enjoyed all of it. ( )

I received this book as a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.

In recent years when my dad was dying or when my daughter was in the hospital, I switched from reading my usual fare to things like [b:Goat Song: A Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese|5975656|Goat Song A Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese|Brad Kessler|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347457109s/5975656.jpg|6148894] or [b:The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love|7841677|The Dirty Life On Farming, Food, and Love|Kristin Kimball|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1277929135s/7841677.jpg|10935145]. These were lovely books but I read them in part because I was reasonably certain Nothing Bad would Happen to character I'd invested in. (Some might invest themselves in the animals who I knew from the beginning might get eaten so I understand I'm speaking only for myself.) These got me through tough moments by allowing me to escape safely.

Despite the fact that none of my family members are endangered, when Dirty Chick arrived I started reading it right away. While it has some elements in common with the other books about "city folk" who gave up the urban life to go farm in the middle of nowhere with little or no experience, Antonia Murphy was clearly always an adventure waiting to happen and it shows in this work from the beginning. The prologue is a meditation on watching a goat eat her placenta (the goat's, not Murphy's) and then moves briskly into the incident which Murphy believes will keep her from ever owning an animal again: while Murphy is house sitting for her father and stepmother, one of their chickens is sexually assaulted by their duck and dies as a result.

And the pace picks up from there. She and her husband, houseboat dwellers in the San Francisco area, end up sailing across the ocean to New Zealand where they end up farming a variety of animals including alpacas, chickens, goats and sheep with all the chaos that implies. They also raise their two children: Silas, who turns up with a developmental delay, and Miranda, who is as verbal as her brother is not and can be counted upon to say exactly the wrong thing at exactly the right time, and make a place for themselves in the community.

There is "language" as they say and she does not hold back on describing the maladies that can befall livestock, most involving their bottoms, so that might not be for the faint of heart. This was a quick read and I enjoyed all of it. ( )

I received this book as a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.

In recent years when my dad was dying or when my daughter was in the hospital, I switched from reading my usual fare to things like [b:Goat Song: A Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese|5975656|Goat Song A Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese|Brad Kessler|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347457109s/5975656.jpg|6148894] or [b:The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love|7841677|The Dirty Life On Farming, Food, and Love|Kristin Kimball|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1277929135s/7841677.jpg|10935145]. These were lovely books but I read them in part because I was reasonably certain Nothing Bad would Happen to character I'd invested in. (Some might invest themselves in the animals who I knew from the beginning might get eaten so I understand I'm speaking only for myself.) These got me through tough moments by allowing me to escape safely.

Despite the fact that none of my family members are endangered, when Dirty Chick arrived I started reading it right away. While it has some elements in common with the other books about "city folk" who gave up the urban life to go farm in the middle of nowhere with little or no experience, Antonia Murphy was clearly always an adventure waiting to happen and it shows in this work from the beginning. The prologue is a meditation on watching a goat eat her placenta (the goat's, not Murphy's) and then moves briskly into the incident which Murphy believes will keep her from ever owning an animal again: while Murphy is house sitting for her father and stepmother, one of their chickens is sexually assaulted by their duck and dies as a result.

And the pace picks up from there. She and her husband, houseboat dwellers in the San Francisco area, end up sailing across the ocean to New Zealand where they end up farming a variety of animals including alpacas, chickens, goats and sheep with all the chaos that implies. They also raise their two children: Silas, who turns up with a developmental delay, and Miranda, who is as verbal as her brother is not and can be counted upon to say exactly the wrong thing at exactly the right time, and make a place for themselves in the community.

There is "language" as they say and she does not hold back on describing the maladies that can befall livestock, most involving their bottoms, so that might not be for the faint of heart. This was a quick read and I enjoyed all of it. ( )

Listening to or reading autobiographies is something I haven't done since I was a teenager, but when I had an opportunity to review Dirty Chick I had to grab it with both hands. You see, Antonia's adventures as a newly minted farmer is something I could relate to and was intensely curious to compare with my own experience.

Personal reasons aside, this book is funny, at times hysterically comical, smart, self-deprecating and bittersweet. Antonia narrates it herself and does a fantastic job depicting various accents and characters of her friends and family. It's also a very quick listen (I recall sawing wood while I was at it).

Antonia and Peter move to New Zealand from San Fransisco in search of more affordable life, and when their son is born with a rare genetic disorder, they decide to stay for the health system and a way of life which would afford him an existence as close to normal as possible.

Renting a farm house in rural New Zealand for a year, Antonia decides to have a go at being a farmer imagining this picturesque, wonderfully calm living where she potters round and create these wonderful artisanal produce for sale. The reality is far from what she imagined.

Soon she is overrun by a herd of animals who are more pets than valuable produce, the fence is collapsing, the goats ruin any cars parked nearby, there is sh*t everywhere, her kimchi is a disaster, her cheese is mouldy and her evenings are spent in a blissful haze due to the copious amounts of homemade wine.

However, the sense of community is wonderful, her friends are always ready to lend a hand or a roast chicken, and when disasters strike (and they do!) all people around her unite to help.

I mentioned that this book is bittersweet, and I admit, because it's mostly humorous, when something bad happens it cuts you worse than usual. I had tears in my eyes a few times, but I finished this book with sense of wonder and I felt inspired.

Very much recommended. ( )