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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How did the Nearings plant their greenhouse?
(a) Plants below ground level.
(b) Plants at waist level.
(c) Plants on the ground level.
(d) Plants on a sloping hill.

2. How much does an 18-inch walking space take up in a nine-foot greenhouse?
(a) One- fourth of the total floor space.
(b) A tenth of the total floor space.
(c) One-sixth of the total floor space.
(d) 46 percent of the total floor space.

3. How did the Nearings harvest Chinese cabbage in the cold weather?
(a) Wait until cold days and pick them frozen.
(b) Pick them early and can them to add flavor.
(c) Wait until a sunny day with a southern wind and pick them then.
(d) Wait until rainy days and pick them when wet.

4. What does "pay as you go" mean to the Nearings?
(a) Live within your means without credit.
(b) Pay your credit card statements on time.
(c) Pay off your student loans.
(d) Pay off all your bills when they are due.

5. Within 5 weeks, how hot would the compost pile get?
(a) 150 degrees Fahrenheit.
(b) 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
(c) 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
(d) 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

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 size of the garage-workshop-storeroom in Maine?

3. How did the Nearings get most of the clothes they wore?

4. What did the Nearings build in the corner of the walled-in vegetable garden?

5. How high are gardening beds raised off the ground?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what ways did the Nearings use wood from the forest?

2. What was the importance of Bretton Brubaker's work on the house in Maine?

3. What was the Nearing's favorite tool?

4. Why did the Nearings NOT chose a location in Europe for either one of their moves?

5. Why, according to the Nearings, do most people want old buildings?

6. Why did the Nearings believe homesteaders should record everything?

7. What kinds of visitors did the Nearings have at their farms.

8. How was building the pond an exercise in patience?

9. What one regret did the authors have about the stone wall they had to build around the garden in Maine?

10. How did the Nearings make applesauce?

(see the answer keys)

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