Minnie Rose Lovgreen’s Recipe for Raising Chickens – book review

I’ve just read the quaintest little book on chicken raising that there ever was! Minnie Rose Lovgreen’s Recipe for Raising Chickens is a must have for any poultry keeper, young and old, or even those just interested in the ways of the chicken.The book includes “Simple, economical ways with eggs, chicks, broody hens, laying hens and general chicken care.”

With more and more cities creating chicken keeping ordinances all the time many families are exploring ways to keep this “old fashioned” hobby alive. After being out of print for 20 years the 3rd edition of Minnie Rose Lovgreen’s Recipe for Raising Chickens was released in May of 2009 so that a new generation could benefit from Minnie’s 60 years of chicken keeping experience!

About the Author: (Exert from Press Release) In one of those remarkable twists of fate, young Minnie Rose was scheduled to sail across the Atlantic Ocean on the Titanic in 1912, but she grew restless when the ship wasn’t ready to sail, and she hopped on another boat.  She moved to Bainbridge Island, near Seattle, in 1920 where she married Danish-born Leo Lovgreen, had a family and raised lots of chickens on what grew to become a thriving 170 acre dairy farm for 30 years.

When Minnie Rose Lovgreen died in 1975, little did she know that her practical, no-nonsense advice for raising happy chickens would help feed many thousands of people years later.

Nancy Rekow, a Bainbridge Island neighbor and friend explains. “Minnie Rose, a chicken lover and gifted storyteller, had always wanted to write a book on raising chickens, but was always too busy. Then in Nov., 1974, soon after her 86th birthday, she was diagnosed with cancer. So I took the ferry into Seattle, appeared in her hospital room with a tape recorder, and said, ‘Minnie Rose, now we’re going to write your book.’” And they did.

“Here is the legacy of an amazing woman,” says Ms. Rekow, who hand-lettered and enlisted the support of neighbor Elizabeth Hutchison Zwick to illustrate the book that Minnie Rose dictated to Nancy shortly before her death at the age of 86. “Over 23,000 copies of the book have been sold.”

As a lover of all things chicken I’ve really enjoyed the down-to-earth advice and wealth of information this books shares. Everything from the manilla-envelope colored cover to the line drawn illustrations add to the 36 page book’s charm. Reading the hand lettered passages will make you feel as if you were having a conversation with the Author. Each chapter is focused on a different area of chicken raising and gives you enough information to be successful at it. I wholeheartedly agree with Minnie’s tagline:

“The main thing is to keep them happy.”

Anyone who has ever kept chickens knows the truth of that statement! For an unhappy chicken (at least mine!) will let you know it with her annoyed cackle or by not laying regularly.

Certainly once you keep your own birds you’ll seek out many other books on the subject but I truly do love this one for the practical way it’s delivered and the true-to-life images and humor Minnie’s chicken tales bring to mind. I highly recommend this book as a starting point for anyone thinking of raising their own backyard flock. It will surely make your thoughts into a reality once you realize how fun, economical and easy it is!

Want It? The 3rd edition of Minnie Rose Lovgreen’s Recipe for Raising Chickens is Available in bookstores nationwide and online. For more information visit www.nwtrilliumpress.com. At $13.00 it would make a wonderful gift!

~Nancy Rekow would like everyone to know that if they would like an autographed (Nancy Rekow) 3rd Edition at a special price of $11 (reduced from $13) they can call (206) 842-6908 and have a copy shipped very quickly. Thanks Nancy!