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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How did the Nearings light their home?

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

3. What did the Nearings NEVER buy?

4. What color did the Nearings paint their roof?

5. What kind of events were held on Saturday nights in the small Vermont town?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What made the Vermont community shrink even as the Nearings lived there?

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

5. Why were the music sessions a community success? What was different about them that made people want to stay and visit?

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

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

8. 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?

9. Why did the American Indians live in Connecticut and not Vermont?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why did the Nearing find the question "Who is your family doctor?" so strange? What did they think of doctors? How do the Chinese view doctors? How is this similar to the Nearing's attitudes toward health professionals?

Essay Topic 2

How important was documentation? How did the Nearings document their farming experiment?

Essay Topic 3

Why did the Nearings decide to build stone buildings? What were the advantages to this type of building? What were the disadvantage? How did they make the building? Write a short description.

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This section contains 778 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample