It’s not a job you want to take on without a sense of humor. Oops--it’s not a job at all. It’s an all-encompassing life, being a country woman on the ranch or farm, and with wit and equanimity like Gwen Petersen’s, it can be survived. In fact, with Petersen’s help, it can be drop-dead hilarious. A much-loved cowgirl scribe in rare form, Petersen eases us through the rigors of country living, from raising chickens to shoveling manure to cooking Rocky Mountain oysters. You’d think midwifing a calf was no laughing matter--until Gwen steps in with her expert advice. She has wise counsel for sharing the yard with a gaggle of ill-tempered geese; step-by-step instructions for harvesting pig manure; and sound advice for staying cool through haying season and coping with the chaos of Christmas on the ranch or farm.

For good measure, the book includes poems and recipes that will transport you to a country state of mind--whether you hail from the city’s busiest streets or the ranch’s quietest gravel roads. Equal parts handy how-to advice, rural humor, philosophy, and fond farm nostalgia, How to Shovel Manure and Other Life Lessons for the Country Woman

Small Farm Today, Sept./Dec. 2007

“These personal stories are told in a hilarious and sometimes touching way … This book ties country women together with a sisterhood of stories that tell of their courage, stamina, and character revealed in the trials, tribulations, successes and satisfaction of being a country woman.”

The Prairie Star

“This rollicking work features down-to-earth advice, poetry, down-home recipes and original limericks, all bubbling with Gwen’s wry sense of humor.”

Iowa

When you contemplate country life, do you imagine sipping lemonade on the front porch and spending quiet Sunday afternoons watching the corn grow? Think again, and let Gwen Petersen set you straight.

Gwen is the Erma Bombeck of the farmhouse and the Ann Landers of the barnyard. In How to Shovel Manure and Other Life Lessons for the Country Woman

For Gwen Petersen, the seeds of country living were planted during youthful summertime visits to her grandparents’ Illinois farm and hours helping her mother raise chickens in their city backyard. When Gwen married a rancher, her background as an occupational therapist for the bothered and bewildered helped her some in figuring out how to cope with country life. After thirty-five years of muddling through--and living with an assortment of cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens, cats, dogs, horses, and a gaggle of particularly nasty-tempered geese--she’s starting to catch on. Today Gwen lives on a small place in Montana where she raises miniature horses and works on her attitude. Her humorous writings on barnyard foibles include magazine columns, cowboy and -girl poetry, and her book, The Greenhorn’s Guide to the Woolly West