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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 is the definition of disease, according to the Nearings?
(a) Illness.
(b) Something that causes death.
(c) The absence of health.
(d) Sickness.

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

3. What happened to the fords that the Nearings built when they first moved to Vermont?
(a) They cracked and broke.
(b) They worked great.
(c) They heaved and came out of the ground.
(d) They did not drain the water.

4. In Vermont, what did the Nearings NOT use to keep food cold?
(a) An icebox, refrigerator, or freezing unit.
(b) Storage bins covered with leaves.
(c) Canned goods stored in an underground cellar.
(d) The cellar.

5. What did the Nearings have to do to pick their sweet peas?
(a) Stand on a stool or ladder.
(b) Hoe the row and pull them out.
(c) Put at ladder up in a tree.
(d) Bend and kneel on the ground.

Short Answer Questions

1. What became a big problem for the town when discussing social events that nearly ripped the town apart?

2. What does healthy soil teem with?

3. How was each work day divided up?

4. What did some people think of the Nearings when they visited them in Vermont?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What kind of visitors came to stay at the farm? Who were successful, and who were not and why?

2. What about the Nearings baffled the neighbors the most?

3. How much time did it take for the Nearings to provide food for the year, furnish their house and fuel, and provide needed repairs on the farm? What were the positive outcomes of their system?

4. 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?

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

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

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

8. What, according to the Nearings, was the value of compost and mulch?

9. What was the Nearings' view of keeping animals? How far did this belief system go?

10. When others thought the Nearings were self-punishing, how did they view their life?

(see the answer keys)

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