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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How did the Nearings eat fresh from the garden?

2. According to the author, who defined the "small community"?

3. How did the Nearings keep records of their projects at the farm?

4. How did the Nearings describe the stone wall when it was finished?

5. How, according to the Nearings, can you build whole, living, balanced soil?

Short Essay Questions

1. What were the Nearings' views regarding the roof of structures? What material did they end up using in Vermont?

2. Why were the music sessions a community success? What was different about them that made people want to stay and visit?

3. Why did the American Indians live in Connecticut and not Vermont?

4. Describe how the Nearings made fruit juice as a simple process.

5. Who was this book written for?

6. How did the Nearings plant throughout the winter and continue to eat from the garden?

7. What was the planting season for the Nearings? How did they plant their gardens?

8. Why did cooperative living fail in the valley for the Nearings?

9. What was the Nearings' view about old buildings? What was their solution to old buildings?

10. What did the people drawn to the farm lack? How could diversity have been a good thing for the Nearings?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What was the importance of year-round farming to the Nearings, and how did they handle canning and storing their food?

Essay Topic 2

Why did the Nearings decide to build stone buildings? What were the advantages to this type of building? What were the disadvantage? How did they make the building? Write a short description.

Essay Topic 3

As others viewed life as meaningless and looked for forms of escape after the war, how did the Nearings view life? What did they mean by "urgent?"

(see the answer keys)

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