Living the Good Life

Can DescriptionsHelen and Scott Nearing left city life 45 years ago to homestead. This footage is a visit to their farm in Maine. FOR REFERENCE ONLY. NHF cataloguer's notes: Helen and Scott Nearing working in kitchen. Left the city for Vermont in 1932 to homestead. 'Theirs is a success story.' Scott was an outspoken critic of big business in 1920s and 1930s. The two have always supported anti-exploitation causes. Scott gives a speech at University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The Nearings moved to Maine after ski industry came to Vermont. Scott was a great political activist in 1920s and 1930s. Visitors, 30 or so [per year?], come to visit the farm. Scott talks to them about preserving the land. Their home is near Penobscot, Maine. Helen describes how they built the house themselves. Helen talks about their new house, stones and gravel collected by them to build it. Scott compares New York City to a dungeon. A 100 square foot organic garden grows all their food. Food: organic vegetables, legumes, wheat, barley. A modern homestead must have a cash crop for some income: blueberries for the Nearings. Helen plays the flute. Sunday night is music night, all are welcome. Mondays are political discussions, debates. Scott is only one who talks. He talks about rootless youths in America, will eventually decide on a political stance. But, he says, 'we are doing concrete things.' 'At 93 and 74, Scott and Helen are about to start all over.' Helen talks about reincarnation. Helen's yodel echoes on the quiet Penobscot Bay.