In article ,
George Cleveland wrote:

Jeez, I don't see that at all. The guy is keeping his day job. He can do it
from home via a satellite link up. He just wants to know what he would need
to keep himself in food and off the treadmill of consumerism. Noble goals,
although the slant towards isolation is a bit worrying. I have no idea
what to tell him other than it probably won't take much land and if he does
it right it shouldn't involve an excessive amount of work. It seems he
wants to mimic a Walden experience, not the one that lives in the popular
imagination of going into the woods and being a hermit, but the one of
Thoreaus true intention, i.e. "I wished to live deliberately, to front only
the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to
teach, and not, when I die, discover that I had not lived."


g.c.

Back in the 30's and 40's, Helen and Scott Nearing did this in Vermont (I
think). They wrote several books on the subject, most of which are out of
print I suspect but you might still be able to find them. They were kind
of anal about their style of living but they raised all their food in a
couple of gardens on their property AND did it on a rigidly defined ration
of a half days work. The rest of their time was devoted to their cause.

It might be that not many people could do it their way, but they did and
this fellow might. I think the basic book was "Living the good Life" but
it's been a while since I read it so the title may be bogus.

Has anyone mentioned the US Department of Agriculture yearbook, "five acres and
Independence"? That would be a good reference.

Ted (who lives on the cash economy and wishes he didn't)