The Farm Report

Working with farm animals can be challenging. Anyone who has worked with them can certainly agree. There is always that one chicken that escapes and that one sheep that always finds the hole in the fence. In her "Farm Reports", Susie Crosby collected stories of her experiences on her little farm in which the main character is Rosie the cow, assisted by a motley collection of other farmyard animals.  The collection of stories contains many recognisable aspects for anyone who has (or had) to deal with farm animals. Stories that will be relatable for the reader who has experience with animal keeping, and perhaps sound unbelievable by those who have never had the pleasure of chasing escaped sheep, having a conversation with a cow or having to fight a chicken for her eggs.

I enjoyed the book immensely, it made me laugh out loud from the very first chapters. The accessible language and smooth writing make the book (and the other books in the series) not only enjoyable for English speakers, but also non-native speakers will be able to read the stories with ease. The funny drawings further brighten the pages. I don't know what age group the author was aiming at when she penned her stories, but I think both young adults and adults can genuinely enjoy the short pieces. It is not high-level literature with complicated statistics, but heartfelt stories straight from the barnyard. Exactly what I needed to relax these past few days after rather stressful workdays.

"THE FARM REPORT - Confessions of a Single Farmer's Wife" started out as a weekly article for a  local newspaper. As a single lady, Susie Crosby tries to keep order in her yard. Something that is greatly complicated by a gang of farmyard animals, which provide plenty of material for Susie to pen down in her reports. After encouragement from several people, she collected her stories and released them independently in book form. She had enough material to make 3 books. I've only read and enjoyed the first volume, but "The Farm Report; More Confessions of a Single Farm Lady" and "The Farm Report: Confessions of a Determined Farm Lady" are definitely on my reading list!

Do you have an interesting book about agriculture, written by a woman, for us to review? Let us know! 

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