The Egg and I

As we packed up and sold our suburban home to move to a rural 7 acre property, my former boss suggested I might want to  read The Egg and I by Betty MacDonald. While I still enjoy such luxuries as indoor plumbing, grocery stores under ten miles away and only a cat as qualifying livestock, author MacDonald effortlessly describes the balancing of a romanticized life of freedom in an open, wild place with the daily realities of endless farm work and isolation. She somehow accomplishes both with quick, detailed accounts of tending to thousands of egg laying birds, canning enormous quantities vegetables, and the dangers at nearby logging operations along with awkwardly hilarious encounters with neighbors and local characters. Like it or not, (and the neighbors apparently did NOT), it was Betty MacDonald who gave the world its first peak at the bumbling Ma & Pa Kettle, based on one of the few neighboring farm families!

MacDonald’s account of her fascinating early life as the daughter of a mining engineer father and an adventure-loving mother in the early years of the 20th century sets the stage as she tells the tales of her first two years of married life with her ambitious husband on a remote chicken ranch on Washington’s Olympic peninsula. Her humor overrides the entire story and was certainly one of the best skills the young bride used in that time and place.

Looking forward to reading more by Ms. MacDonald including, Anyone Can Do Anything, Onions in the Stew, and the children’s series Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.

Author: Mapgirl

I eat. I pray. I read. I write. I share. Here. View all posts by Mapgirl