Available now from HarperCollins–Chickens in the Road: An Adventure in Ordinary Splendor, the wild and juicy memoir of my life at Stringtown Rising Farm. (Cows, cookies, high water, and love!) Plus special sections with recipes, crafts, and photographs. (What more could you ask for?)
From never-before-told stories to behind the scenes peeks at how and why it all really happened, the book bares all for the seasoned CITR reader and the brand new alike. This book is for you!
Get a free peek at the first chapter here.
Photo by Jerry Waters.
Back cover copy: It was a cold late autumn day when I brought my children to live in rural West Virginia. The farmhouse was one hundred years old, there was already snow on the ground, and the heat was sparse–as was the insulation. The floors weren’t even, either. My then-twelve-year-old son walked in the door and said, “You’ve brought us to this slanted little house to die.”
Thus begins former romance writer Suzanne McMinn’s wild ride into self-sustainable living halfway up a hill on one of the most remote dirt roads in West Virginia, with a cast including her children, an enigmatic partner, the “rural neighborhood” of quirky characters, and a whole slew of ridiculous and uncooperative farm animals. An unlikely adventurer, the suburban born-and-bred author tackles one daunting challenge after another on her new 40-acre farm, from hatching chickens and milking a cow to herding sheep and making her own cheese. Whether she’s trying to convince a goat to accept its baby or just get her ornery neighbor to move over and let her pass on the road, every page of her adventure is fraught with laughter, passion, drama, and the risk of losing it all before she figures out why she’s doing it in the first place. And when she does lose it all, she discovers a triumph she never expected–along with the truth for which she’d been searching all along.
Based on her long-running, wildly popular blog, Chickens in the Road, Suzanne McMinn brings country life to vivid color with all the candor, comedy, and danger of a rollicking good adventure.
Put on your chore boots and jump in.
Reviews:
“[McMinn] found her road to self-realization much rockier than she imagined, but ultimately very satisfying…in her heart-on-her-sleeve, nutty narrative, she had to face the necessity for her own self-sufficiency…In this enjoyable memoir, she learned by trial and error how to do everything from scratch.” (Publishers Weekly)
“A mature woman’s heartbreaking, heroic, and hilarious coming of age story. To McMinn, life is a bold adventure, but only if you live it. And, boy, does she ever!” (Susan Elizabeth Phillips, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Great Escape)
“Humorous and inspirational…a page-turning pep talk for anyone who’s ever wanted to quit their day job and do something different with their life. McMinn’s tale will leave you eager to leap, and build your wings on the way down, too.” (Susan McCorkindale, Author, Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl and 500 Acres and No Place to Hide, More Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl)
Photo by Jerry Waters.
