Books: The Good Life (that is, the Nearings)
The first book is
The Good Life by Scott and Helen Nearing, published in 1989. It is the single volume edition of Living the Good Life (originally published in 1954) and Continuing the Good Life (originally published in 1979). And not unlike Carla Emery's book, it is really about EVERYTHING. And we learned so much from them, a whole lot of it NOT in this book. But this book was the start.
They were the original back-to-the-landers (in 1934). They grew food (and cooked and preserved and ate), they built their own houses, they wrote and spoke and were artists. They traveled. Bullfrog made a film about them. They asked big hard questions and didn't give themselves a pass. Yes, in thinking about them, one of the things I really admire about them is how they didn't give themselves a pass. They were, I believe, hard to get along with. It seems to me that anyone worth their salt who is doing real stuff is likely somewhat challenging. This isn't fluffy, cushiony, comfortable work.
They were INCREDIBLY interesting people in their own rights. He was an economist, a communist, charged with sedition for speaking out against WWI. She was a musician, a girlfriend of Krishnamurti who had traveled the world. Sometimes I think having lived a lot makes it easier to live simply because you know you aren't really giving anything up. Your 15th trip to Disney World isn't really going to improve your life any, and certainly not anyone else's.
This was only the first book about the Nearings that we read. We sort of made a study of them. In so many ways their contradictions make them all the more interesting, certainly less monolithic. They claimed to be vegans but actually ate a lot of dairy; they claimed to live on a "cash economy" but were rich and actually traveled quite a bit; they were "self-sufficient" but had a crews of help from people; Helen actually put Scott in a nursing home for a short while -- he didn't justdrift off happily shortly after his 100th birthday.
The truth of the matter is that not bumping their asses financially gave them the room to ruminate on bigger questions. But it is also true that living simply means you need a whole lot less money or income to have that room.
Highly recommended further study:
Living the Good Life (Bullfrog Films)
Meanwhile, Next Door to the Good Life (Jean Hay Bright)
Free Radical (Ellen LaConte)
On Light Alone (Ellen LaConte)
and if you want more from the Nearings themselves:
Loving and Leaving the Good Life (Helen Nearing)
The Making of a Radical (Scott Nearing)
They were the original back-to-the-landers (in 1934). They grew food (and cooked and preserved and ate), they built their own houses, they wrote and spoke and were artists. They traveled. Bullfrog made a film about them. They asked big hard questions and didn't give themselves a pass. Yes, in thinking about them, one of the things I really admire about them is how they didn't give themselves a pass. They were, I believe, hard to get along with. It seems to me that anyone worth their salt who is doing real stuff is likely somewhat challenging. This isn't fluffy, cushiony, comfortable work.
They were INCREDIBLY interesting people in their own rights. He was an economist, a communist, charged with sedition for speaking out against WWI. She was a musician, a girlfriend of Krishnamurti who had traveled the world. Sometimes I think having lived a lot makes it easier to live simply because you know you aren't really giving anything up. Your 15th trip to Disney World isn't really going to improve your life any, and certainly not anyone else's.
This was only the first book about the Nearings that we read. We sort of made a study of them. In so many ways their contradictions make them all the more interesting, certainly less monolithic. They claimed to be vegans but actually ate a lot of dairy; they claimed to live on a "cash economy" but were rich and actually traveled quite a bit; they were "self-sufficient" but had a crews of help from people; Helen actually put Scott in a nursing home for a short while -- he didn't justdrift off happily shortly after his 100th birthday.
The truth of the matter is that not bumping their asses financially gave them the room to ruminate on bigger questions. But it is also true that living simply means you need a whole lot less money or income to have that room.
Highly recommended further study:
Living the Good Life (Bullfrog Films)
Meanwhile, Next Door to the Good Life (Jean Hay Bright)
Free Radical (Ellen LaConte)
On Light Alone (Ellen LaConte)
and if you want more from the Nearings themselves:
Loving and Leaving the Good Life (Helen Nearing)
The Making of a Radical (Scott Nearing)
(also, visit The Good Life Center)
not on my favorites list but we have it:
The Making of a Homesteader (John Saltmarsh)
not on my favorites list but we have it:
The Making of a Homesteader (John Saltmarsh)
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