Helen and Scott Nearing moved to Maine the year after I was born. Yes, that would be more than 50 years ago! Their work and commitment to sustainable living is part of our history and as we work on the Route 1 project and consider the general condition of our planet, it is clear that they were visionary in their understanding of what was coming.
I became a “back-to-the-lander”, as it was called, back in 1970. We purchased a one-room schoolhouse in Atkinson, Maine for $500 and lived off the grid for five years growing our own food, foraging for wild berries and digging clams etc. We visited the Nearings in Harborside, Maine during that time and read their books.
I currently live in the Northeast Arts District in Minneapolis and have an urban garden on my tiny front yard. I have a tiny Macintosh apple tree (miss those Maine apples), high bush blue berries, strawberries, red and black raspberries, pole beans, tomatoes, peppers, Australian cukes (trellised), Kale, chard and zukes. I live two blocks from Edison high school where 47 different languages are spoken and the neighbors had a pool going on when I would have the first tomato splatted on my front window. They all lost their money to me. Not a one. AND, I am happy to report…three of those neighbors now have their own Urban Gardens. I was delighted when Minneapolis passed a chicken waiver a few years ago! ( Alas, no roosters, but that may come next).
What, you may be asking yourself, does this all have to do with Helen and Scott Nearing? I am happy and surprised to report that there is quite a greenie movement in the Twin Cities and I hear Helen and Scott’s name often. Minneapolis is 1500 miles away from Maine. I think this indicates how influential the Nearings were and ARE.
I visited The Good Life Center in July 2014 and met Nancy and Warren Berkowitz who moved to Maine inspired by the Nearings’ book, met, married and are instrumental in keeping this important part of our history alive.
Please click here to learn more and support the effort to keep the legacy of the Nearing’s alive.
I have invited them to join “The Route 1 Project .
Stay Tuned.