MacDonald, Betty: The Egg and I, v1, 9 March 2010.
 

Betty MacDonald [1908?–1958]
The Egg and I [1945]

An amusing account of the author's experience as a poultry farmer in Washington State, which became a huge bestseller, and was later filmed.
Sourced from Project Gutenberg Canada.

Thank you, Patricia. I absolutely loved this.

I just found out that one of her neighbors in the story (and some others) was the basis for the Ma and Pa Kettle movies I watched when I was younger (although, denied in the lawsuits)

It's written as though she is telling the stories and is easy to picture the situations. It could be that, since I have some familiarity with the various endeavors and have seen the Ma and Pa Kettle movies, that I was able to vividly picture the situations.

This is one book that I would love to have on my shelf. It is very true to the era and situations (according to my parents). We also had chickens, rabbits, etc when I was young, and I can relate to some of the endless everyday chores.

I must say that I admire farmers. They just can't pull a sickie or have a lie-in, with animals that need tending.
I had heard about the book, though didn't read it until I did the conversion. I also enjoyed it a lot.

Yeah, Majorie Main and Percy Kilbride first appeared in the movie version of The Egg and I as Ma and Pa Kettle. They proved to be so popular that they were given their own movies.