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

2. The Nearings claimed that they were planning not a business, but a __________.
(a) Vacation home.
(b) Functioning homestead.
(c) Working farm.
(d) Useful vegetable garden.

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

4. Why did the Nearings NOT join a communal experience?
(a) They didn't want to move to Europe.
(b) They didn't want to move to the west coast.
(c) There were none available or functioning into which they could have happily and effectively fit.
(d) They didn't want to work with other people.

5. How many people could the Nearing's Vermont stone home hold for a meeting?
(a) Over 50.
(b) Nearly 80.
(c) About 10.
(d) Almost 40.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. At the Nearing's house, what "rounded out" breakfast?

3. Who was the local mailman in the valley in Vermont in 1945?

4. What did M.B. Kains recommend that farmers serve to their guests when they came for Sunday dinner?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. How did the cancellation of the mail route in 1945 affect the valley? What did they do? How was this, according to the authors, a positive event for the community?

2. What happens to flour when it is processed?

3. What was the Nearings' views of an hourly wage?

4. Why was digging a foundation for a building so very important? How deep did the footings need to be and why?

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

6. How did the issue of serving liquor at community events affect the valley in Vermont?

7. How did the Nearings pick the lettuce in the winter to keep it from wilting?

8. Who was this book written for?

9. How did the Nearings trade work with their neighbors? What example can you give?

10. Why did the Nearings decide on New England as a place to settle and not the southwest or other areas of the country or world?

(see the answer keys)

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