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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What did the Nearings do with the spring they found in the back of the cellar-hole?
(a) They ran the water to the garden.
(b) They ran the water to the outhouse.
(c) They plugged it up.
(d) They concreted the sides and ran a pipe up to the kitchen sink.

3. What was NEVER used in the compost pile?
(a) Wood.
(b) Worms.
(c) Paper.
(d) Sawdust.

4. How did the Nearings divide their "jobs to be done" on their card index of activities?
(a) By "cash labor" and "free labor."
(b) By "wood and fuel jobs" and "canning."
(c) By "building projects" and "garden projects."
(d) By "clear weather jobs" and "rainy day jobs."

5. What did the Nearings later attach to their first stone building?
(a) A campsite.
(b) A garage.
(c) A visitor's center.
(d) A well.

6. What, according to the Nearings, is the food furthest removed from the soil?
(a) The farmer's market produce.
(b) The produce in your grocery store.
(c) Cooked caracasses of beasts, birds, and fish.
(d) Fresh dairy from a neighbor.

7. What, according to the Nearings, is important about keeping an axe?
(a) Keep it inside the house.
(b) Keep it in the garden so it can be found and used.
(c) Let Helen keep it.
(d) Keeping it sharp.

8. How did the Nearings keep records of their projects at the farm?
(a) In their heads.
(b) On loose sheets of paper.
(c) In notebooks.
(d) On a computer.

9. How did the Nearings decide to "warn" people before they arrived about life on their farm?
(a) They wrote a personal note to each visitor.
(b) They called and talked to each visitor.
(c) They created a form letter.
(d) They discouraged visitors with a newsletter.

10. What kind of furniture did the Nearings use in their new stone home?
(a) Stone.
(b) Built in.
(c) Folding.
(d) Wooden.

11. What political persuasion were most Vermonters?
(a) Independents.
(b) Republican.
(c) Democrat.
(d) Communist.

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

13. What was the Nearing's sugarhouse stack known for?
(a) It was the first concrete stack in Vermont.
(b) It was made out of stone.
(c) It burned hotter than any other stack in the area.
(d) You could see the flame for miles.

14. What did M.B. Kains recommend that farmers serve to their guests when they came for Sunday dinner?
(a) Fish.
(b) Meatloaf.
(c) Corned beef and cabbage, beef stew or hash.
(d) Pancakes.

15. What did the Nearings find that made a perfect base for their house in Vermont?
(a) A 26 foot split boulder.
(b) A level meadow.
(c) A cliff overlooking the water.
(d) A rock ledge over a waterfall.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who did Frederick Van de Water represent during the mail battle?

2. Upon arriving in Vermont, who sold the Nearings milk?

3. What size were the Nearing's compost piles?

4. When the Nearings talked about being vegetarians, which neighbors changed their habits and also became vegetarians?

5. How did the Nearings ask workers how much they wanted for a job on the farm?

(see the answer keys)

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