The good life

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randyt

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When I was a kid, I read a book by Helen and Scott Nearing. The book was called he good life or living the good life. I still have the book.

The Nearings homesteaded in Maine. They built slip form stone buildings grew garden, maple sugared for income.

It sounds good. For fun I googled Scotts name. Apparently he was from a wealthy family, had inheirited a very large sum of money. His wife had inheirited a large sum as well.

It made we wonder was is it really homesteading with a few million dollars in the bank.

Another thing that made me wonder he was a socialist/communist. It makes me wonder how someone develops those thoughts. Did he not ever go without? Why did he think it was ok for him to have wealth created by a capitalistic father but others should not have that opportunity. It is puzzling to me.

Made me wonder too has anyone really "lived off the land" in recent times.
 
they were interesting folks for sure. even though they had money its my understanding they didnt spend any of it.but used the little income from their homestead to live on and from book sales and lecturing. part of their farm they sold way back in the day to eliot coleman.he still lives their or did and is quite the famous gardener with books,lectures and tv shows.

after scott died helen was awful lonely and neighbors talked her into get electric and a tv.the tv broke and she was driving to town to get it fixed when she ran out of road or skidded something another and was killed...oh the irony of that !

scott wrote a forestry management book and i only seen one copy and i tried searching for it but was even unable to find reference to it anywhere.it was interesting.but that was a long long time ago in late 70's early 80's.

i am going to post a few little clips. i am looking for one where scott is talking about bankers specifically. its interesting even though they were atheists often several points were points made in bible. like no interest to be paid on money and only a bit of interest on money loaned to stranger/foreigner.

 
eliot coleman and his wife barbara damarash visiting helen. this must be a clip from their gardening tv show from back in the day.


 
There was another neighbor that wrote a book. Maybe it was called living next to the good life. I guess it could be called the rest of the story. I have not read that book though. I may pick it up.

Its not all that important to me but i was surprised they were not who i thought they were.
 
I have owned Scott and Helen Nearing's book for many years. They bought land that was full of rock and stones. They cleared that out and used it to build their fences and buildings with. My back hurts just thinking about how hard they worked.
 
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When I was a kid, I read a book by Helen and Scott Nearing. The book was called he good life or living the good life. I still have the book.

The Nearings homesteaded in Maine. They built slip form stone buildings grew garden, maple sugared for income.

It sounds good. For fun I googled Scotts name. Apparently he was from a wealthy family, had inheirited a very large sum of money. His wife had inheirited a large sum as well.

It made we wonder was is it really homesteading with a few million dollars in the bank.

Another thing that made me wonder he was a socialist/communist. It makes me wonder how someone develops those thoughts. Did he not ever go without? Why did he think it was ok for him to have wealth created by a capitalistic father but others should not have that opportunity. It is puzzling to me.

Made me wonder too has anyone really "lived off the land" in recent times.
There are a couple others along the lines of the Nearings - Ten Acres Enough and Five Acres and Independence. I believe both are available to read for free online as they are both older books. Obviously may things have changed, but much of the information is relevant and questions asked can be asked today- depending upon where one lives and situation, might just end up with different types of answers.
 
There are a couple others along the lines of the Nearings - Ten Acres Enough and Five Acres and Independence. I believe both are available to read for free online as they are both older books. Obviously may things have changed, but much of the information is relevant and questions asked can be asked today- depending upon where one lives and situation, might just end up with different types of answers.

Ive had both those books for many years. And yes they hold a great deal of information. Probly some is out of date, but still applies
 
Ive had both those books for many years. And yes they hold a great deal of information. Probly some is out of date, but still applies
BP - me thinks if I looked at your bookshelf, I could say, “ Read that one, read that one, read that one. . .”
😂. Great minds think alike 😉
 
Scott and Helen got a lot of help and advise from a neighbor named Bill Lightfoot.
I don't know if he is mentioned in their books.
Bill was an illegal immigrant from England.
He first went to Washington state but his crops were destroyed by storms several years in a row.
He then went across country to a hill farm in VT where he remained the rest of his life.
Bill was the great uncle of Gordon Lightfoot.
 
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