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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How did the Nearings keep records of their projects at the farm?
(a) In their heads.
(b) In notebooks.
(c) On a computer.
(d) On loose sheets of paper.

2. What did most friends of the Nearings dub their guesthouses?
(a) The "homeless inn."
(b) The "Waldorf."
(c) The "uncomfortable bed inn."
(d) The "free inn."

3. How did the Nearings eat fresh from the garden?
(a) By picking produce early and letting it ripen off the vine.
(b) By canning early in the season.
(c) By eating with the seasons.
(d) By freezing food.

4. How did the Nearings divide their "jobs to be done" on their card index of activities?
(a) By "building projects" and "garden projects."
(b) By "cash labor" and "free labor."
(c) By "wood and fuel jobs" and "canning."
(d) By "clear weather jobs" and "rainy day jobs."

5. At the Nearing's house, what "rounded out" breakfast?
(a) Cereal with milk.
(b) Coffee.
(c) A handful of sunflower seeds.
(d) A handful of cranberries.

6. Who taught the Nearings to make maple syrup?
(a) Harold Field.
(b) Walter Twing.
(c) Nobody. They researched it and learned from books.
(d) Zoe and Floyd Hurd.

7. Where did one enter the Nearing home in Vermont?
(a) Through the door in the kitchen.
(b) Through a double front door.
(c) Through a side door from the garage.
(d) Through the cellar.

8. What was NEVER used in the compost pile?
(a) Paper.
(b) Sawdust.
(c) Worms.
(d) Wood.

9. What newspapers got on board to help the citizens of the valley then the mail was canceled?
(a) The Brattleboro Reformer and the Bennington Banner.
(b) The Chicago Tribune.
(c) The New York Times.
(d) The Kansas City Star.

10. Under optimum conditions, when should wheat be ground if you are baking?
(a) 1 month before you bake.
(b) 1 week before you bake.
(c) Right before you bake.
(d) 3 days before you bake.

11. When the Nearings started their first garden in Vermont, what caused a quagmire and nearly ruined the garden?
(a) A sinkhole the size of a large truck.
(b) Deer that kept eating the apples.
(c) A spring on the high side of the garden.
(d) The threat of fire.

12. How long had Jacklight foot lived in the valley?
(a) 35 years.
(b) 20 years.
(c) All his life.
(d) 10 month.

13. Whose ideas of design did the Nearings follow when building their stone homes?
(a) Frank Ghery.
(b) Frank Lloyd Wright.
(c) Louis Sullivan.
(d) Robert Louis Stevenson.

14. Why did the Nearings like stone buildings?
(a) They were not as pretty as wood, but more solid.
(b) They were like a fortress and kept visitors away.
(c) They were cheaper to maintain, would not burn and were cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.
(d) They were easy to build with.

15. What, according to the Nearings, do white flour products do to a person's health?
(a) It hurts the liver.
(b) Nothing.
(c) It hurts the heart.
(d) It lowers intestinal health and harms lower nerve centers.

Short Answer Questions

1. What kind of schedule did the Nearings keep on Sunday?

2. What direction do the rows in a garden need to be planted to assure maximum sun to the roots?

3. What two farms did the Nearings buy when they got to Vermont?

4. What was inserted into the compost pile to help break down matter?

5. What level was the kitchen garden in Vermont?

(see the answer keys)

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