Self-Help

36

Lively, sage advice on raising chickens, tape-recorded in 1975 from an 86-year-old woman farmwoman and lifetime chicken lover.

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NW Trillium Press

     Minnie Rose Lovgreen's Recipe for Raising Chickens returns in a 3rd Edition to offer practical advice for hard times and a nostalgic look at a lost world.  Minnie Rose knew her subject.  She grew up on a 200-acre farm in England.  In 1912, headed for Canada, she booked passage on the Titanic, but when sailing was delayed, decided to take another ship and arrived safely in Montreal.  Later, for 30 years, on Bainbridge Island, WA, she and her family ran a dairy farm, where she always kept chickens and sold fresh eggs.   
     In her book, Minnie Rose advises on hens, nesting, egg laying, broodiness, hatching, chick care, hen psychology, coops, yards, roosters, feed, and more.  Her subtitle sets the tone:  "The main thing is to keep them happy."  
     The book evolved organically in early 1975.  Minnie Rose, a gifted storyteller, had often talked about writing a book on raising chickens, but was always too busy.  At age 86, when she was diagnosed with cancer, her friend Nancy Rekow tape-recorded the book, transcribed the tapes, hand-lettered the text, located an illustrator friend, found a local printer, and self-published 1000 copies of the book--which then sold out in a month!  
     Nancy then took the book to Pacific Search Publishers in Seattle, who agreed to print a 2nd edition of 20,000 copies.  Minnie Rose celebrated with an autograph party that May, and also appeared on TV.  She died in June that year, proud to know that 21,000 copies of her book were selling nationwide.  
     After selling in the 70's and 80's, the book was then out of print many years, until May, 2009, when Nancy and her partner Everett Thompson re-published the book in a 3rd Edition, now selling widely.