Letters from the Country Omnibus

Julie Rekai Rickerd is a Toronto-based broadcaster and public-relations
consultant.

Marsha Boulton, a former editor at Maclean’s magazine, traded “her
high heels for Wellington boots” as she changed her life from
sophisticated city slicker to “Shepherd/Author” in the Ontario
countryside. This is the third collection of the documentation of her
wonderful new lifestyle, the first of which received the Stephen Leacock
Medal for Humour in 1996. Boulton’s 20 years of rural life have
provided her with endless anecdotes. From a neophyte whose “eggs came
in cartons and chickens were vacuum-sealed,” she became a seasoned
sheep farmer after having left her urban surroundings on impulse.

Farm life is a constant series of crises totally unfamiliar to
urbanites. There are the animals to care for and understand, acreage to
plant and harvest, and skeptical bona fide farmer neighbors to impress.
Farm protocol must be learned and followed. Boulton describes her
misadventures with honesty and self-deprecating humor. She obviously
loves her country existence and her family of dogs, cats, horses, sheep,
chickens, and—she found out how to deflate them—capons. Her
pickle-growing episode is priceless; the dog stories, bittersweet.
Visits from city friends add to the antics. This delightful series of
tales of life on the farm informs and inspires with amusement and
constant surprises.