Customer Reviews

Beginning Farming and What Makes a Sheep Tick

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is a humor book and does not deliver anything related to basic farming.

If you've lived on a far, lived near a farm, or just smelled a farm, read this book. As someone who's also routinely tried to herd sheep, had to clean (a.k.a dress) chickens or learned to hand-milk a cow I laughed until I cried. I only wish I could read the sheep section (in its entirety) to a church choir... They would then understand why it's a miracle that "Sheep may safely graze".

I'm not ready to become a farmer, but I did buy some acres and move to the country. Lowell Christensen shares the troubles, wisdom, and humor of farming with us city folk who haven't figured out that a fence won't keep a bull away from the cows. He covers every part of farming from animals to driving on country roads to shoveling manure. The prose are light and humorous. There are a thousand ways to make mistakes on a farm, and at least half of them are humorously detailed in this short book. His recipe for home made soap produces eight pounds of soap, 18 doughnuts, and 3oz of pork skins. If you raise chickens there are thoughtful questions such as, "How many baskets should you put your eggs in?"

I'm not going to raise goats or cows, and I would need more detailed information than this general beginning book if I wanted to. But it's a fun and humorous little book on farming. It is also full of inside information from a man who grew up on a family farm. Its fun to read even if you aren't ever going to live on a farm.