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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which way should a garden slope to get maximum sun exposure and good drainage?
(a) Tumbling down the west.
(b) Gently toward the south.
(c) To the east for sunrise.
(d) Rolling to the north.

2. How did Bretton Brubaker get from his home in Ohio to the farm in Maine?
(a) Took a bus.
(b) He rode a horse.
(c) Drove his car.
(d) He rode his bicycle.

3. How deep was the stone garden wall in Maine?
(a) 24 to 26 inches.
(b) 62 to 98 inches.
(c) 4 to 5 inches.
(d) 30 to 48 inches.

4. Why did the Nearings want a pond?
(a) For fresh water.
(b) For bathing.
(c) For fishing.
(d) For swimming and ice skating and as a source of irrigation for the garden.

5. How many people visit the farm in Maine?
(a) 10.
(b) Thousands.
(c) 56.
(d) A few.

6. What did the Nearings use to excavate the pond bed with?
(a) A backhoe.
(b) Contractors' wheelbarrows with 16-inch wheels.
(c) Chainsaws.
(d) Post-hole diggers.

7. What was the size of the garage-workshop-storeroom in Maine?
(a) 25 x 25.
(b) 5 feet wide and 9 feet long.
(c) 20 feet wide and 100 feet long.
(d) 25 feet wide and 50 feet long.

8. What should be recorded on paper when a homesteader is working a farm?
(a) Daily food eaten.
(b) A 20 year plan.
(c) Daily receipts.
(d) A plan for each day, week and month.

9. After living in the mountains, where did the Nearings want to live in their new home?
(a) Near the sea.
(b) In the West.
(c) In the desert.
(d) In Kansas.

10. When the Nearings planted their first garden in Maine, what was the first problem they encountered with local animals?
(a) The kittens were eating the seeds.
(b) The deer were eating the seeds.
(c) The birds were eating the seeds.
(d) The racoons were eating the seeds.

11. What were "cold frames?"
(a) Wooden frames glazed by glass near ground level.
(b) Cloth covers over ground plants.
(c) Refrigerators.
(d) Plastic covers over ground plants.

12. What year did the Nearings complete the stone outhouse in Maine?
(a) 1952.
(b) 1973.
(c) 1944.
(d) 1966.

13. What angered Scott about some visitors that came in one morning just before the Nearings decided to move to Maine?
(a) They were children of miners.
(b) They interrupted Scott in his study.
(c) They stayed and did no work and complained about the food.
(d) They tried to buy the land from the Nearings.

14. Who did all the hand hewing of the timbers for the new house in Maine?
(a) Scott.
(b) Bretton
(c) Keith Heavrin.
(d) Helen.

15. What did the Nearings call their formula for the good life?
(a) The living with little difficulty life.
(b) The country farmer.
(c) The urban farmer.
(d) The four-four-four formula.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Maine, what would an average family of 4 or 5 adults and children require to produce a minimum amount of vegetables?

2. What was the subsoil of the pond area?

3. Why is bed gardening considered such a good idea?

4. What are the disadvantages to pit growing in a greenhouse, according to the Nearings?

5. What was the one negative item about the pond?

(see the answer keys)

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