Locally Laid

December 1, 2015
One family's attempt to get out of the rat race and into the poultry race. For years, former Reader's Digest Association editor and Minneapolis Star Tribune contributor Amundsen and her husband, Jason, were just a normal, educated middle-class couple with middle-class lives in the middle of America. Despite this, readers will root for them because they dreamed of something other than being--well--in the middle. They decided to vacate a seemingly underwhelming existence and embark on a journey through "middle agriculture," those farms situated between factory farms and boutique operations. The idealism of Amundsen's husband became the fulcrum on which their lives began to pivot. Driven by decency and principled morals--and perhaps the likelihood of suffering a "boredom aneurysm" in their "Beige Rambler" Amundsen considered her "forever house"--Jason proposed to start a midsized, commercial, pasture-raised egg farm even though their main experience in egg farming consisted of caring for a few pet hens who lived in their garage. The book opens with a scene of their first shipment of commercially raised chickens that don't quite know how to be chickens ("until today, they have NEVER SEEN THE SUN"). As we soon learn, the Amundsens don't quite know how to be chicken farmers. The author's skepticism and her husband's optimism collide to create a laughable, empathetic tale of re-education for (wo)man and beast. Behind the humor, however, Amundsen reveals the complex and sometimes-alarming methods by which farms operate in the U.S. The author ably synthesizes a large amount of detailed information, including the important differences among pasture-raised, organic, and cage-free eggs. She also shows how her family's struggle in the amorphous landscape between big agriculture and small-scale farming is not unlike the struggle of the American middle class in general. Don't let Amundsen's self-deprecating humor fool you into taking this book lightly. In between capers, she makes a nuanced plea to respect local farms and the animals that populate them.

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January 1, 2016

In this honest, chronological memoir, Amundsen shares her knowledge and wisdom as co-owner of Minnesota-based Locally Laid Egg Company, and how her family came to start and run a midsized, pasture raised egg farm. The author uses her firsthand experience to demonstrate that sourcing and selling eggs regionally strengthens rural economies. She also presents the argument that in an industry in which 91 percent of chickens that lay eggs are caged and housed in mass warehouses, a more sustainable, healthier, and humane alternative exists: eggs derived from pasture-raised chickens. Her first-person narrative makes her experience as a business owner in this industry informative yet accessible while also including humor. VERDICT This book will appeal to those who enjoy business and entrepreneurship memoirs as well as readers interested in the principles of local agriculture. Included are family and farm photos. Best suited for public libraries.--Nathalie Reid, Univ. of California, Los Angeles

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2016
Lucie Amundsen had already changed her life for her husband, Jason. They left their unsold Minneapolis house and moved into a rectory in Duluth, in which they shared their bathroom with parishioners. She gave up a writing and editing career and was going back to school when they took on a small flock of five backyard hens that had not yet laid an egg. Then Jason announced he wanted to start a farmspecifically, a commercial-scale, pasture-raised poultry ranch. The Amundsens' quest to create the Locally Laid Egg Company was definitely not a smooth one, entailing acquiring two-thousand commercial chickens without regular chicken instincts, trying to keep them alive and laying through a harsh Duluth winter, and learning to actually run a business that falls somewhere between backyard and factory agriculture. The personal journeys of the entire family hold as many highs and lows as the professional journey, but Lucie and Jason face it with humor, tears, and the strength of a true farming family.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)