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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How old, according to the Nearings, were they when they decided to move to Vermont?
(a) 68 and 69.
(b) 70.
(c) In their 20s.
(d) Approaching fifty.

2. How much did the Nearings save by building with the stone system they used?
(a) 99 percent of the cost.
(b) 1/2 of the cost.
(c) 1/3 of the cost.
(d) 3/4 of the cost.

3. What did Walter Twing do on Saturdays?
(a) He collected sap from the trees.
(b) He tended his horses.
(c) He did not work.
(d) He worked in his garden.

4. What size were the Nearing's compost piles?
(a) 10 x 10 feet square.
(b) 10 x 16 feet rectangle.
(c) 5 x 5 feet square and deep.
(d) 8 x 8 feet square.

5. How much heat does an old-fashioned fireplace allow to go up the chimney?
(a) 99 percent.
(b) 10 percent.
(c) Nine-tenths.
(d) 3/4ths.

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

7. How did the Nearings get stones to build their buildings?
(a) They brought them home from their travels abroad.
(b) They bought them from a gravel company.
(c) They cut them from large slates of granite.
(d) They collected them around their farm.

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

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

10. What did the Nearings use as silverware?
(a) Sterling silver silverware.
(b) They fingers.
(c) Chopsticks.
(d) Plastic silverware.

11. How much did the Nearings pay for the hand concrete mixer?
(a) $20.00.
(b) They traded for it.
(c) $150.00.
(d) $15.00.

12. What did the Nearings use to cook in?
(a) Pottery only.
(b) Granite pots.
(c) Stainless steel, enamel, pottery, or glass vessels.
(d) Tin pans.

13. What kind of events were held on Saturday nights in the small Vermont town?
(a) Square dances.
(b) Bar dances.
(c) Swap meets.
(d) Movies.

14. What direction do the rows in a garden need to be planted to assure maximum sun to the roots?
(a) Not in rows, but in pods.
(b) East and West.
(c) North and South.
(d) At right angles.

15. According to the author, who defined the "small community"?
(a) The state.
(b) Arthur E. Morgan, Baker Brrownell, and Ralph Borsodi.
(c) Frank Lloyd Wright.
(d) The Nearings.

Short Answer Questions

1. What happened when someone went out to work in the garden after lunch?

2. How did the Nearlings choke out the weeds around berry plants in Vermont?

3. What level was the kitchen garden in Vermont?

4. How did the Nearings light their home?

5. What was served nearly every day for lunch at the Nearings?

(see the answer keys)

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