At Crossroads with Chickens
In 2012, my husband, Carl—a trombonist-wanna-be-a-farmer—and I—a writer-what’s-this-pitchfork-for?—built an off-grid, solar-powered house in Jaffrey, New Hampshire. It was to be a weekend, getaway place. That December, with our cats–Nick and Nora–and six newly adopted chicks, we drove up to Jaffrey from our home in Providence, Rhode Island. Just for the winter because we didn’t want our new pipes to freeze . . . and because Rhoda Red had turned out to be Big Red, and roosters are outlawed by Providence city regulations. Big Red couldn’t go back. Thus, neither did we.
Survival of the fittest. Natural selection. Soul evolution. We named our 193-acre home “Darwin’s View” for a reason.
From full-time weekenders to organic gardeners, our tale braids with my mother’s battle with Parkinson’s Disease. Mother and Mother Nature both spiral. Chicken kerfuffles might lighten the mood but this story is born of heartbreak, yearning for the great beauty of the world as it used to be as opposed to what it has become. Add the sun, the wind, a cock-a-doodle-do and you have the recipe for a perfect storm of personal growth rippling out to effect transformation in the bigger picture.
Buy the Book
At Crossroads with Chickens is available at all the usual outlets books are found—but please order it through your local bookstore or direct from the publisher.
The All Cooped Up Book Tour
At Crossroads with Chickens came out on Bauhan Publishing press in June 2020. Just in time for the pandemic. Instead of the planned cross-country drive in our electric vehicle book tour, I walked across the driveway to the chicken coop. There I held readings with the chickens for the All Cooped Up Book Tour.