OOof. I liked Perry's public radio interviews, but this book was so full of ego and self-aggrandizing there was little room for a story. I caught myself passing this book up in favor of lengthy volumes on sociology, sewing projects, and several truly terrible mysteries, even though I was half way through and Perry's wife was committed to a home birth. I'm pregnant... I should want to see how that goes.... but for some reason, it languishes on my bookshelf, demoted from my bedside table.

Perhaps when we get our new chickens I'll pick it back up.... maybe...

Would love to now read this story from his wife, Anneliese's, perspective. At time a bit self indulgent but I am willing to forgive this for his way with words carries me away. Beautifully written

Can't say enough good things about Michael Perry. Every book he writes is a combination of humor, sentiment, raw emotion, and wit. Maybe Im inflating his ego a bit too much here.. Listened to the audio version on my way back to Wisconsin and he included a song for his nephew at the end which made me pull over on the side of I 55 because I was crying so hard. This book was a wild roller coaster of emotion from quiet chuckling to conversations with my husband about his own experiences with cattle and pigs (and why he hates them). To loud gaffaws when he told the story about leaving his farm to the chicken sitter, to grief with the story of his nephew and then back up to self inspection. Perry writes his books with honesty and I think that's why I like him so much. So Michael keep writing stories about your childhood. Like your daughter, we love hearing them.

I will read anything he writes...forever. And any time you get a chance to go to reading, treat yourself to a great nice of laughter and reflection.

The sign of a good audiobook? When you miss the narrator after it's over. Loved this one, can't wait until Mike Perry's next book comes out. He is a fantastic narrator!

Michael Perry is one of my favorite others and this is one my all-time favorite books. This book is funny, sad + nostalgic and very well written. Loved the farming aspect of this book, too!

My review will never do justice for this book, so I'll just keep it short. :) Great book. Read it.

This guy is funny! For a book with not a lot of plot, no real conflict, nor climax I was completely entertained! I laughed (out loud, about every other page) and cried (just once or twice). I would totally read this again, if not for the story then to steal some of his lines so my friends might think I'm actually witty. I haven't seen such beautiful writing in years. Imagine what Michael Perry could do with a real plot!

Less naval gazing, more chickens. Should have been called, "Boring family stories, and 10 pages of pork and chickens."

This is the third of Michael Perry’s memoirs that I’ve read. In this volume he relates the early years of his marriage and efforts to establish his small family on a farmstead in Northern Wisconsin – growing much of their own food by raising chickens and pigs, and planting a good-size vegetable garden.

Perry is a humorist and a philosopher. His memoirs aren’t particularly linear, though they are revealed in a fair approximation of chronological order. He goes off on tangents, ruminating about the joys and difficulties of the rural life he’s chosen. He can be hilariously funny, especially when poking fun at himself and his efforts to provide for his family as a farmer. He doesn’t sugarcoat the life of a farmer, but he elevates it, as when he relates his daughter’s sheer joy at holding that first, still-warm, brown egg from their own chickens, or recalling a father and son stopping to enjoy the stars on their way back to the house from the barn.

His descriptions on the growth and development of his children are priceless. Who can possibly out-think a six-year-old determined to get a horse? Or reason with a teething infant? Or answer those BIG questions that would stump any genius?

Just as with his other works, I find myself laughing out loud, and also crying in empathy. I hope he keeps writing for a long time. (His daughters may think otherwise, but I am really looking forward to hearing about his years as the father of teenage girls…)