Just a Couple of Chickens

Photo courtesy of Corinne Tippet and The Free Rooster

I have had the good fortune to spend part of my break reading Just a Couple of Chickens:Raising Poultry and a Family in Hard Times by Corinne Tippet. Corinne and her family embarked on a poultry-raising adventure that rivals anything that Lane and I have set out to do in our own haphazard way. Living on 2 acres in northern New Mexico, Corinne decided to raise about 100 birds (pheasant, chickens, ducks, quail, geese and partridge) for eggs and feathers in one fail swoop. Her book is a memoir of that time as well as the impact the economic meltdown had on her family. Additionally, there is a bevy of information on raising poultry at the back of the book, which I found very helpful.

Written with humor and wit, Corinne details this chapter in her life in a way where I felt I was hearing the story of a good friend over tea. Her writing style is full of self-deprecating humor and told with hysterical recreations of dialogue. I could hardly put the book down and laughed out loud on more than one occasion. (If you've ever been stuck in the mud or spent time with poultry, you'll laugh too!) Corinne's entrance into the world of poultry reminded me of the many projects Lane and I have accomplished that usually turn out alright in the end but have a lot of missteps and mayhem along the way (ie buying our house sight unseen and then navigating the system to get it liveable). I feel as though we are kindred spirits.

Corinne and her family now live in Portland, OR and hope to have chickens again someday. She blogs about her life at The Free Rooster and has a new book (or two) in the works. Albuquerque Public Library carries Just a Couple of Chickens and I've spotted it at Miller's Feed in Los Ranchos, too. Oh, I failed to mention that she self-published this book. She's got spunk, I tell 'ya!