I recently spent a glorious long weekend on a semi-remote five acres, visiting a dear friend I haven’t seen in years and “helping” her with the chickens and the horses and various other sundry farm animals, meaning that I mostly just stood there while she did all of the actual work. Nonetheless I feel qualified to be a ranch hand now, since I learned all about the care and feeding of horses (they drink an astronomical amount of water) and how to humanely slaughter a chicken. (We didn’t slaughter any chickens, she just explained how the FDA recommends it be done now.)
Exceptional post and exceptional book review!