Poor Bob.
Although he and his wife live in the country on a few acres, they have
no intention of being farmers.
In
fact, Bob had no intention of having animals in his life at all, much
less having intimate relations with the various and odd assortment of
creatures his wife Linda slipped onto the property.
Starting innocently enough with what are clearly pets: bunnies,
kitties and small hook-bill parrots; the real trouble began with a
phone call from Linda’s sister concerning a rescue duck.
Though the Tartes never progress beyond feathered livestock, their
troubles and victories are very familiar to anyone who shares their
life with all types of animals, and sees the personality of each one
clearly.
From pecking order to special diets, animal housing construction by
the humans to human housing de-construction by the animals, this book
is a shameless confession of lives lived at the beck and call of those
being cared for, where the keepers may be the top of the food chain,
but the critters are holding the ladder.
There is something very telling about a family where the main doctors
are the psychiatrist and the veterinarian.
Clearly, this is not an agricultural How To book. For the family
farmer, this is the sort of book to read in BETWEEN How To books - a
mental palate-cleanser that lets nuts and bolts type stuff settle
deeply in your head while letting your spirit laugh a little.
Like a rainbow during a storm, tadpoles discovered in a mud puddle, a
dragonfly perched on the stalks of drought-killed corn; Enslaved by
Ducks is a quiet reminder that what we’re doing is more than the
serious work of caring for our families and our land. It also has to
do with being connected to the earth, to its other inhabitants, and -
gosh darn it - it’s fun.
Most "normal" people will find this a humorous read.
Those of us who see our animals as more than assets and culinary
ingredients, who not only take pains to raise our food humanely and
fairly, but who on occasion make that sometimes unexplainable extra
leap to make emotional contact with a special few creatures not
normally considered "companion animals", will recognize the weight of
Linda’s seemingly innocuous five words after telling her sister they’d
be willing to take the Muscovy hen rescued from a parking lot...
“I’ve always wanted a duck.”
