Nearing Enough: Simple Living Lessons

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Scott Nearing tends the productive organic garden he and Helen made at their final Forest Farm homestead on Cape Rozier, Maine.
Scott Nearing tends the productive organic garden he and Helen made at their final Forest Farm homestead on Cape Rozier, Maine.
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Helen Knothe and Scott Nearing in 1931.
Helen Knothe and Scott Nearing in 1931.
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The Nearings built homes and garden walls of stone in both Vermont and Maine using slipform masonry. To learn more about this sustainable building technique, see
The Nearings built homes and garden walls of stone in both Vermont and Maine using slipform masonry. To learn more about this sustainable building technique, see "The Art of Slipform Masonry" video on MOTHER's Bookshelf, page 120 in this issue.
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The Nearings simple-living philosophy us reflected in the wooden bowls and plain foods they prepared.
The Nearings simple-living philosophy us reflected in the wooden bowls and plain foods they prepared.
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At ages 68 and 89, Helen and Scott began building these stone buildings and garden walls to make their last homestead, which is open to the public today as a testament to a life of simple living.
At ages 68 and 89, Helen and Scott began building these stone buildings and garden walls to make their last homestead, which is open to the public today as a testament to a life of simple living.
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The beginning structure of the Nearings final homestead.
The beginning structure of the Nearings final homestead.
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Helen Nearing, pictured outside of her Harborside, Maine, home.
Helen Nearing, pictured outside of her Harborside, Maine, home.

Learn more about homesteaders Helen and Scott Nearing and their simple living lessons of self-sufficiency.

Simple Living Lessons From the Nearings

By candlelight and snuggled away under quilts in a cozy, slant-ceiling guest room one winter’s night long ago, I read Helen and
Scott Nearing’s Living the Good Life, which had been left on the bedside table for me by my host.

The Nearings wrote, “We maintain that a couple, of any age . . . with a minimum of health, intelligence and capital, can adapt

  • Published on Oct 1, 2003
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