Living the Good Life, 1954 by Helen Nearing

…from cover to cover on the nine hour plane ride from Portland back to Europe is blowing my mind because it seems so fresh, like it could have been written today, but instead dates from 1954 – about Helen and Scott Nearing’s radical 1932 pioneering escape from the the modern ills and materialistic distractions of New York City to the remote rural Vermont land where they homesteaded for 20 years with an open door policy to any strangers or friends who might want to join them for any period of time; meticulously building their own stone homes and out-buildings; earning a minimal income from maple syrup harvest; growing most of the food they consumed throughout the year during a very short growing season; keeping no animals; living on a strictly whole food vegan diet free of sugar, refined flour, coffee, and alcohol; and trying their best to engage and involve their immediate local community in a cash-free system of bartering and sharing – which has me all excited for my own personal ‘back to the land’ fantasies which I have been plotting for the past few months.

“Many a modern worker, dependent on wage or salary, lodged in city flat or closely built-up suburb and held in the daily grind by family demands or other complicating circumstances, has watched for the chance to escape the cramping limitations of his surroundings, to take life into his own hands and live it in the country, in a decent, simple, and kindly way.”