This book is about keeping chickens, but it is also a feather-clad soap opera of primal urges. Written from firsthand experience, its pages are filled with the quest for absolute power, sex, death, jealousy, and huge vet bills. Beyond all the intrigue and drama, however, there are even some practical lessons to be learned about what not to do when keeping chickens.

Martin Gurdon’s hilarious “chicken memoir” relives the highs and lows of chicken ownership. The relationship between birds and humans is by turns heartwarming and bewildering, but it is always entertaining.

Rediscover the taste of home and introduce a bounty of new recipes to your dinner table with the exclusive Home Cook Cookbook Set! We have paired two of our classic cookbooks together to create a bundle that is sure to make any home cook smile. Whether you are just beginning to break in your oven or have been preparing your own dinner for years, this set will provide you with hundreds of mouthwatering recipes to keep things fresh in the kitchen and you out of the fast-food line.  

This set includes:

Comfort Food Cookbook

Bring tasty, old-fashioned comfort food to your table at every meal with the updated Comfort Food Cookbook, a collection of 230 recipes from the archives of the long-running country lifestyle magazine, Grit

Open up the Comfort Food Cookbook and discover how easy it is to make delicious comfort food with a few wholesome ingredients that will bring the whole family together. Home cooks from all across the United States have contributed their best recipes to this collection – cooks who grew up on the farm, eating waffles after chopping firewood and picking the peaches that filled that evening’s pie, as well as cooks with vivid memories of Mom’s chicken and dumplings and Dad’s bachelor casserole.

Mother Earth News: Bread

Roll up your sleeves, warm up your oven, and find a new favorite bread with help from the recipes in the updated cookbook, Mother Earth News: Bread!

From intense, chewy sourdough to light, airy focaccia, many of today's most popular breads are best when fresh from the oven. Then again, that's always been true.

The timeless allure of fresh bread has been part of Mother Earth News magazine since 1970, when they published their first issue. In Bread, the editors have collected their very best recipes and techniques. You'll find all the classics, including rustic white, whole-wheat sandwich bread, and sourdough. There are plenty of quick breads and page after page of country and holiday favorites, such as skillet cornbread, Irish soda bread, and fruit- and nut-filled harvest breads.

Go beyond the traditional and try your hand at flatbreads, boiled breads, naan, bagels, pizza crust—even gluten-free breads. With more than 150 tried-and-true recipes to choose from, you're sure to find new loaves to love.

Recipes included:

• Almond Muffins
• Huckleberry and Honey Scones
• Finnish Flatbread
• Cast-Iron Skillet Pizza Crust
• And so much more!

Plant Science for Gardeners empowers growers to analyze common problems, find solutions, and make better decisions in the garden for optimal plant health and productivity.

Most gardeners learn by accumulating rules – water once a week, never dry out snowdrop bulbs, prune lilacs after flowering, plant garlic in October—the list is endless.

Rules take years to learn, leaving you floundering when the unexpected strikes and plants look unhealthy, produce poorly, or die.

There is a better way.

By understanding the basic biology of how plants grow, you can become a thinking gardener with the confidence to problem-solve for optimized plant health and productivity. Learn the science and ditch the rules! Coverage includes:

• The biology of roots, stems, leaves, and flowers
• Understanding how plants function as whole organisms
• The role of nutrients and inputs
• Vegetables, flowers, grasses, and trees and shrubs
• Propagation and genetics
• Sidebars that explode common gardening myths
• Tips for evaluating plant problems and finding solutions.

Whether you're a home gardener, micro-farmer, market gardener, or homesteader, this entertaining and accessible guide shortens the learning curve. It gives you the knowledge to succeed no matter where you live.