Dirty Chick

Adventures of an Unlikely Farmer

By: Antonia Murphy

Narrated by: Antonia Murphy

"One month into our stay, we'd managed to dispatch most of our charges. We executed the chickens. One of the cats disappeared, clearly disgusted with our urban ways. And Lucky [the cow] was escaping almost daily. It seemed we didn't have much of a talent for farming. And we still had eleven months to go." Antonia Murphy, you might say, is an unlikely farmer. Born and bred in San Francisco, she spent much of her life as a liberal urban cliché, and her interactions with the animal kingdom rarely extended past dinner. But then she became a mother. And when her eldest son was born with a rare, mysterious genetic condition, she and her husband, Peter, decided it was time to slow down and find a supportive community. So the Murphys moved to Purua, New Zealand - a rural area where most residents maintained private farms, complete with chickens, goats, and (this being New Zealand) sheep. The result was a comic disaster, and when one day their son had a medical crisis, it was also a little bit terrifying.

Dirty Chick chronicles Antonia's first year of life as an artisan farmer. Having bought into the myth that farming is a peaceful, fulfilling endeavor that allows one to commune with nature and live the way humans were meant to live, Antonia soon realized that the reality is far dirtier and way more disgusting than she ever imagined. Among the things she learned the hard way: Cows are prone to a number of serious bowel ailments, goat mating involves an astounding amount of urine, and roosters are complete and unredeemable assholes. But for all its traumas, Antonia quickly embraced farm life, getting drunk on homemade wine (it doesn't cause hangovers!), making cheese (except for the cat hair, it's a tremendously satisfying hobby), and raising a baby lamb (which was addictively cute until it grew into a sheep).

©2015 Antonia Murphy (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Love it!

I totally wrote a review for this wonderful book in the 'audible app review'-- whoopsy! Love this book, heartwarming, inspiring, and thoughtful. Antonia you are beautiful:)

great book!

great book! loved it. I even laughed out loud a few times. some cursing but that doesn't bother me. definitely recommend this.

Perfect Audible Listen!!

One of the most enjoyable books I've heard in years(and I've been an Audible listener for a decade). Funny, trashy, captivating, and thoroughly engaging. American couple go to New Zealand Zealand on their sailboat and then start farming with animals and gardens, totally unaware of what they will encounter. The story is glorious with lots of serious parts (son with special needs) but tons of barnyard humor that will leave you laughing outloud. Loved it!

A New Zealand experience similar to that of James Harriat in the Yorkshire Dales

Dead pan comic Antonia gets down and dirty with her tales of her spontaneous, hectic and hilarious life on land.

A real woman after my own heart

At first it sounded as if the author was full of herself. And then as the story went on I got used to her tone and she was quite like any of my friends, laughing and living a crazy life and loving her crazy kids. Great REAL look at life while enduring craziness AND embracing dreams.

Second Time Listening to It

Loved it the first time when I reviewed it for Hippocampus Magazine several years ago & listened to it again recently because I had enjoyed it so much.

Move Over Erma Bombeck

What made the experience of listening to Dirty Chick the most enjoyable?

The legitimacy of the story. It tells the truth, mostly, and does not glorify the farm life or the city wannabe farmer, but lays it out well.

What did you like best about this story?

The honesty. I did not like the lead character. But she did not care. She is clearly a self centered soul who used the people around her . Not in an evil way, just a human way. But she doesn't varnish it up or hide it, you actually sense some growth in the person and towards the end there is some level of giving back that has a subtext of redemption. The book carries all of this through the anecdotes, both funny and sad.

Which character – as performed by Antonia Murphy – was your favorite?

She mad Magnolia and Skin into people I liked. She could have written this book from the perspective of Skin, an old biker guy (not the American drug running gun nut biker, but more the legendary type). These characters, and the thread they wove through the book made it truly enjoyable.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The overt attempt to gross the reader out in the first chapter almost made me put it away. But once she got that out of her system, she truly told a story I liked. I've known the rooster Jabberwocky, with his spurs and attitude. I will say with certainty, not all roosters are like that, but enough are. The ability to blend all of the stories into a cohesive narrative is well done.

Any additional comments?

As a narrator, she surprised me. She is one of the best women narrators I've heard. Many women have trouble doing men's voices. She does a textbook perfect job of it.

Could be funnier...

.... with a better narrator. The narrator sounds too angry at times.
I guess she's the author but with a professional narrator the story could be really more funny.
There were times when I wanted to shut it off and not finish it, but that is one thing that's hard for me because then I'll never know how it ends so I suffer through bad books or narratives

fun listening

Fun listening!
I do not have thirteen more words to add!!!!! word word word word

Loved this book

This book made me laugh out loud. Antonia is a gifted story teller with a wicked sense of humor.