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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 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) At right angles.
(c) North and South.
(d) East and West.

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

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

4. What two farms did the Nearings buy when they got to Vermont?
(a) The Madingly family place.
(b) The Sandusky farm and the Hodges place.
(c) The Vermont farm.
(d) The Ellonen place and the Hoard place.

5. What did the boys serving in the war do to help the valley when the mail was canceled?
(a) Write lots of letters home.
(b) Call their representatives.
(c) Stop writing letters.
(d) Write their representatives.

Short Answer Questions

1. How did the Nearings hold the concrete and stones in place to form the wall?

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

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

4. What did Harold Field feel about working with the Nearings to make sugar?

5. How was the Sunday morning musical events divided?

Short Essay Questions

1. What were Frank Lloyd Wright's basic ideas for building that the Nearings followed?

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

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

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

5. 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?

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

7. What is a whole food? How did the Nearings describe a whole food?

8. 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?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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