Pure Poultry is going to press!

"Part memoir and part roadmap to success, Pure Poultry tells a compelling story full of grit, passion and discovery as the author and her husband embrace a sustainable, off grid life in the woods – with chickens, turkeys and ducks. Whether you are a seasoned fowl keeper or a passionate dreamer, you will find yourself nodding, laughing, commiserating,  learning and simply enjoying the author’s knack for weaving her experiences, observations and lessons into a page-turner of a narrative. Once I started reading, it was next to impossible to put Pure Poultry down, even when I heard my own geese honking for their supper. And when I finally closed the book, for the last time, I knew exactly why I keep the fowl that I do, I learned some tricks I’d not discovered in the past 35 years and I felt happy!"

-Endorsement from Hank Will, Editor-in-Chief, Grit magazine 

Big news, Pure Poultry fans! I just this morning sent the last few minor manuscript corrections to the publisher, who is poised to send it to press. I've been thinking a lot about all that's happened throughout this process. It's still hard to believe that it's been less than a year since I first met Ingrid Witvoet (managing editor of New Society Publishers) at the Mother Earth News Fair in Pennsylvania last September. You don't mind of I indulge in a bit of a nostalgia trip, do you?

I had first come up with the idea of a book about our experiences with heritage poultry back in 2009. I pulled a book off my shelf that was on a roughly similar topic, found the name of the publisher, and thought, what the heck, I'll call. (This was before, I may say LONG before, I heard the rule that you're not supposed to cold-call publishers. Ooops.) The publisher, I learned, published about 300 new titles a year, so it made sense to me to call and ask for the name and contact information for the editor who handled livestock-related projects.

So I called and left a voicemail. About 15 minutes later (I'm not kidding) I got a call back, spoke to the editor for 20 minutes, and she invited me to send her my proposal. (Another harsh lesson: Don't pitch a book project without a proposal package ready to send.) I agreed, not that I knew anything at the time about what was even in a proposal package.

It took me several months to get it done. Partly this was because I had periodic spells of completely losing confidence in myself. Eventually I did send it in, though, complete with sample photos.

Then I waited. And waited. Every so often I sent a note to the editor, asking for a status update. No response. Seven months later, I finally heard back from her. Unfortunately, by that time, she was working in a different department and no longer dealt with books like mine. So that was that, at least for the moment.

Right around the same time, I got a call from James Duft at Mother Earth News, asking if I'd be interested in doing a presentation on raising turkeys at the Mother Earth News Fair. My first reaction was to decline, having pretty much zero experience in public speaking. My husband David, though, said I ought to do it because it might help with my book project somehow. So I did, repeating to myself right up until I went on stage my favorite mantra: "I only have to do this for the first time ONCE."

Shortly after my first presentation I met Pamela Art, the president of Storey Publishing. She let me pitch my idea to her and then asked me to send her my proposal. I did, and got a note back from another Storey editor saying that it would be a "long shot" for them as they rarely published memoirs.

I was totally taken aback. I know this sounds silly, but at the time I had no idea that what I was writing was a memoir. Sure, I was writing it in first person, and it is entirely based on our own experiences, but I honestly thought it was more of a how-to book.

At that point I felt discouraged, and didn't really know what I was doing with the book. So I put it aside and did nothing with it for about a year. In the meantime, I continued to do presentations at Mother Earth News Fairs.

The third time I went to the Fair, last September in Seven Springs, PA, I did two presentations. After the second one, late in the day on Sunday, I was approached by a woman who introduced herself as an editor from New Society Publishers. She asked me if I had ever thought about writing a book about poultry.

After I got home, I updated my proposal and sent it to her. This was in October 2012. On December 19, after not hearing back from her for about two months, I got an e-mail with a draft contract attached. New Society Publishers wanted to publish my book!

The contract set a date of February 1, 2013, as the deadline to submit the manuscript. I asked for it to be extended to February 15, which they agreed to. I still didn't know if I could do it, mostly because I had no clear idea of how much of the book was already written. I went at it, though, ultimately sending in the manuscript a day ahead of the deadline.

Since then it's been an amazing learning experience. I read somewhere that writers need to know that writing is an art, but publishing is a business. Of course I still have a lot to learn, but the people at New Society Publishers have been so helpful, and patient with my constant questions. I've been included in just about every part of the process, from cover design to proofreading. When all is said and done, it will have been barely a year from when I first met Ingrid to when Pure Poultry comes off the press.

Looking back, I am so grateful that the first publisher I contacted didn't accept my project. I honestly believe it is a much better book now, thanks to another couple of years of experience, a supportive husband and friends, and a publisher who somehow picked me out of a crowd.

I'm 52 now, and although I've had ideas in the past about writing, I never tried seriously to get anything published. Now my first real publishing credit is a book! And the publisher and I have been talking about additional book projects, too.

How much has happened in just a year? For one thing, I now know I'm a writer.

I was going to call it "The Sustainably-Raised Egg and I," but...

What can I say. I've never been very good at coming up with names for things.

However, it is now official: my first book, "Pure Poultry: Living well with heritage chickens, turkeys and ducks," is on its way to being published! The manuscript is now in the capable hands of New Society Publishers, a British Columbia-based company which specializes in "Tools for a world of change, books to build a new society." They have an impressive book list. Take a few minutes to check it out on their web site.

Have you read Betty MacDonald's 1945 classic "The Egg and I"? It's the hilarious tale of how Betty, at age 18, marries Bob, a man 13 years older, whose dream is to run a chicken ranch. He buys an off-grid piece of property in the Chimacum valley, not far from Port Townsend, WA. It's quite an adjustment for Betty, who isn't nearly as thrilled as Bob at having no electricity or running water in the house. She perseveres, though, having been raised to believe that if her husband can do what he really wants to in life, he will be happy and therefore she will be happy too.

I recently re-read The Egg and I, while I was in the middle of revising the first draft of Pure Poultry. This time, somehow I noticed things about Betty and Bob's experiences that closely paralleled those of David and I. Our farm is off the grid. It's located only about a 45-minute drive from the Chimacum valley. We're surrounded by the beautiful Olympic Mountains. Bob was certainly more knowledgeable about poultry than we were when we got started, but still, like us, he evidently had plenty to learn.

Betty, who died in 1958 at the age of 49, was a very witty writer. Her humor reminds me a lot of Erma Bombeck, whose books I have loved for years. Although she has many moments of feeling lonely on their isolated ranch, Betty has a way of describing the mountains, trees and even the clouds as if they were living things. I love her use of language.

We don't have colorful neighbors like Ma and Pa Kettle here, and our egg operation is tiny compared with Betty and Bob's. Still, there is plenty of humor and real-life experience in Pure Poultry. We certainly share some of the challenges of living off the grid, although I'm thankful to say that our wood stoves don't misbehave like "Stove" in The Egg and I. And in case you're wondering, we do have indoor plumbing and running water.

Pure Poultry is a memoir of our first five years of raising heritage chickens, turkeys and ducks. There is plenty of advice and tips based on our experiences, but I believe that you will enjoy reading it even if you don't raise poultry. It might inspire you to start a little food garden in pots on your apartment's deck. Maybe you'll connect with a friend in the suburbs who has chickens and is willing to barter for fresh eggs. And if you do decide to start raising poultry, I hope that Pure Poultry will convince you to think about choosing beautiful, sustainable heritage breeds.

Ducks in the High-Occupancy Vehicle lane

Farmall tractor at Nash's Delta Farm.

Last Friday we got a call from Scott, who works for Nash Huber of Nash's Organic Produce in Sequim. Scott had been tending a flock of Khaki Campbell and Indian Runner ducks for over a year, and for various reasons decided to shelve the duck project. He offered to give us the ducks, which he said were about 1-1/2 years old. He thought there were about 35 ducks in all.

David and I had already been discussing the possibility of increasing the size of our laying duck flock (we currently have 10 layers and 2 drakes), as duck eggs are becoming more and more popular around here. So after Scott's call, we debated only briefly before calling him back and accepting his generous offer. Although Scott had said there were a number of drakes in the flock, still we figured we would be at least doubling the number of our laying ducks. Also, the thought of bypassing the 5-month process of brooding and raising baby ducks before starting to collect eggs had an obvious appeal for us.

So, this past Tuesday, we folded down the back seats in our Subaru wagon, lined the whole back area with a heavy tarp and a thick layer of straw, and headed down to Nash's Delta Farm to catch us some ducks.

We were so thankful for the dry weather that day (although it was cold and very windy there), because the yard the ducks were in was all down to mud. Ducks move quite quickly, and these were all smallish ducks and good flyers as well. We moved the fence around to create a small corner, on the theory that we would drive a few ducks at a time into the corner, close it off, and grab the ducks.

 

Khaki Campbell and Indian Runner ducks

It worked reasonably well. One thing about ducks, they like to do everything as a group. And these particular ducks were very nervous, understandable since we were obviously strangers to them. Ducks in general truly hate to be handled, so we were pleasantly surprised at how calm these ducks were once we had actually picked them up.

It took nearly an hour and a half to catch them all, but we got them one at a time and put them through one of the back-seat windows into the car. And although it turned out that there were 40 ducks in all, they seemed to have plenty of room back there.

 

Our new ducks in the back of our Subaru wagon.

When we finally got on the road for the 25-minute drive back home, the ducks were understandably a little bit anxious, and they were naturally all quacking at once. All things considered, though, they were fairly calm during the drive. We knew that ducks like to be talked to (and even sung to), and we wanted them to get used to the sound of our voices, so we kept talking. At one point, David said, "Hey, anybody want to stop for ice cream?" A few ducks quacked. David tried again. "How about tacos?" This suggestion also generated some unenthusiastic quacking. To my offer of fried chicken there was no response at all. Finally, David called out, "Who wants some SLUGS?" Suddenly a loud chorus of excited quacking erupted from the back of the car. We just about fell off our seats laughing.

Once we got home, it was nearly dark, and the process of getting the ducks out of the car and into their new coop was quick and easy. We simply set up a ramp at the back of the car, lifted the back door, and once they figured out that the door was open, they all piled out at once. After a bedtime snack and a sip of water, the ducks headed into their straw-lined coop for the night.

We've had our new ducks for 2-1/2 days now, and they are settling in well and noticeably less nervous around us. We expect that by sometime in January, we will be starting to collect eggs, which is good news for the Alder Wood Bistro, the Red Rooster Grocery, and Nash's Farm Store.The Bistro has been buying our duck eggs for over 3 years now, and whatever extra duck eggs we have will be sold at the Red Rooster and Nash's.

It was quite an experience getting 40 ducks into our car and taking them for a ride, but it was well worth the effort. It occurred to us that if we had been traveling on a different highway, we could have used the HOV lane. And not once did we have to say, "Don't make me stop this car!"

Fall colors and winter coats

It's 71 here as I type (uncharacteristically) at 4:00 PM. The birds are showing signs of nearing the end of the moulting season, and showing off their perfect new feathers as they sunbathe. Meanwhile, the trees around the farm are showing signs of the change of season: The leaves of the vine maples are rapidly turning shades of gold, and the black cottonwood leaves flash their silver undersides in the slightest breeze. The trees are already starting to shed their fashionable summer looks. October rains are just around the corner; I'm thankful that this year's early moult has supplied the birds with their new down coats before the winter chill takes hold.