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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 should greenhouses be connected to the existing building?

2. Other than the wood on the land, what other sources did the Nearings use for wood?

3. How much does an 18-inch walking space take up in a nine-foot greenhouse?

4. How many hills of corn did the Nearings usually plant?

5. How many days was frost possible on the Vermont homestead?

Short Essay Questions

1. What were the Nearings thoughts on cold-weather planting?

2. Why, according to the Nearings, do most people want old buildings?

3. Why did the Nearings decide to move from Vermont? What had happened to the community they had lived in for 20 years?

4. How did the Nearings can fruit?

5. How did the Nearings lay out a garden?

6. What kinds of visitors did the Nearings have at their farms.

7. How were the Nearings gardens like Japanese gardens?

8. Describe the house in Maine.

9. How was the homestead in Maine to be different than the one in Vermont? What were the Nearings looking for when they began their search for a new home?

10. To bring the point home to her husband about the increasing number of visitors, how did Helen handle visitors who came to the door just before the move to Maine?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At the end, the Nearings thought they had only "scratched life's surface." What did they mean by that?

Essay Topic 2

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

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the "four-four-four" formula for life. What is the final four in this formula? Why did the Nearings wait until the end of the book to reveal this formula? Is this formula the key to life for the Nearings?

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This section contains 787 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample