I saw one of the last interviews that she did and she was still a very interesting person...and will they may not have single handedly started the trend...you have to admit that they fueled the fire for a long long time.

I agree, Ruthie.

I admired both of them, even though I would have disagreed, in certain ways, with Scott's political beliefs. They were people who did what they set out to do. Lifelong learners, too. They really did minimize their wants, so that they could be self-supporting mainly from the land.

In a way, a lot of their basic ideas about homesteading were like Ralph Borsodi's. There are a couple other articles in the Wikipedia that may be worth checking out. On the main Wikipedia site, search for Ralph Borsodi and for Back to the land.

J.

OK...I love reading those articles...I always thought that I should have done that sort of thing...I wonder if it was my destiny and I ran afoul or something that should have been...LOL...

Do you mean you should have lived a lifestyle like Borsodi or the Nearings? Or that you should have written encyclopedia articles?

J.

If anybody wants to reopen the threat on the Nearings, let me know. They greatly influenced me to get a farm and homestead. However, I did exactly what they said not to do -- don't go it alone, they said, but I did. Now I am trying to find people who read their books and/or want to live like them too. I can't. SURELY the most popular homesteaders of all time have a big following somewhere on the web. Does anybody know where? I went to their own "good life" links, but there seem to be no blogs or forums there.

GGGF,

I have read all the books written by the Nearings, although I do not agree with all their politcal viewpoints, I think their way of life is facinating. Are you still farm and homesteading? Feel free to contact me at workingmom41@gmail.com.