living the good life . . .
by mulberryshoots
I’ve just finished reading “Loving and Leaving the Good Life,” a memoir written by Helen Nearing after the death of her husband, Scott Nearing (at the age of 100.) She died in 1997 and their books remain classics of the “back to the land” movement before others lived a life of self-sufficiency in a modern culture.
Their books are not just a chronicle of hard labor to be self-sufficient, theirs is a story of a deep partnership between two individuals who also happened to be married. Together for fifty years, they homesteaded in Vermont, building nine stone buildings and maple sugaring for income. She selected and placed the stone while he mixed the concrete to hold them together. Then, they relocated in Maine along the Penobscot Bay where they raised blueberries as a cash crop.
In today’s fast-moving culture, brutal politics and anything-goes environment of people wanting their 10 minutes of fame, it is refreshing just to READ these books, “Living the Good Life” and “The Good Life.”
Makes me want to think about what’s really good about our lives and to value it by improving relationships, simplifying food, playing and listening to music and reading books.
mulberryshoots 