The Pullet Surprise

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

There’s a light, almost ephemeral quality to this book, yet the
impression it leaves in the reader’s mind is substantial.

As a sheep and chicken farmer, Kluckner presents himself as a
nonexpert. He brings to his small, old-fashioned farm a strong respect
for the knowledge and skills “real” farmers need to their carry out
their undervalued occupation. Also, he is fascinated by his animals’
personalities and behaviors and introspective about his own attitudes to
the slaughter of his animals for meat.

Kluckner uses his sense of humor and his artist’s eye for the essence
of a situation to separate himself, psychologically, from the farm.
Although he is physically involved in the hard work of farming—whether
mucking out pens, delivering lambs, or gutting chickens—emotionally
and intellectually, he is an outside observer. When he needs information
on farming practices, he does his research in the medieval classics or
in quaint publications from the early 1900s. He struggles to position
his venture into self-sufficiency into the centuries-long continuum of
agriculture and husbandry.

The very readable text is philosophically introspective, blended with
selected accounts of the practical side of farm life. The Pullet
Surprise is interesting reading but it is Kluckner’s watercolor
illustrations that make the book exceptional. Each miniature masterpiece
captures the soul of a typical small-farm moment.