The New Pioneers
(Page 7 of 8)
September/October 1971
By David Gumpert
About $200 went for new gardening and construction tools, and another $200 went for household items like kerosene for lamps ($14 for a year's supply), windowpanes and soap. Other purchases included books, seeds, food for their three goats and dental bills. Clothing expenses are minimal; they are still wearing clothes from their pre-homesteading days, and Sue sews what else is needed.
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This year Eliot hopes to take another step toward self-sufficiency by selling $800 worth of vegetables and fruit. That will mean he and Sue will still have to earn about $1,200 to meet their $2,000 budget. Eliot regrets having to take on odd jobs, however, because "the time I put in doing that I lose here (working on the farm)," he says.
He is especially wary of both himself and Sue being gone at the same time. One day last year when both of them were away, one of the goats got out of the small corral behind the house and ate a whole patch of lettuce. "That set us back a month and a half," says Eliot. "It was a real disaster."
After Sue has washed the lunch dishes, swept out the house and taken a short nap with Melissa, she joins Eliot in the garden and helps plant the seeds. To Eliot, the time he spends in the garden is probably the most fulfilling part of any day. "It's a beautiful feeling when I'm out here with a hoe and I think that this is something man has been doing for 4,000 years," he says as he turns up clumps of earth. "We could have the TV and refrigerator if we busted our tails and planted every square inch of our 40 acres, but that wouldn't be any fun."
That's not to say, however, that the Colemans don't have some expansionary plans. Besides clearing more ground for farming, they want eventually to build a larger house and turn the small one into a workshop. Sue is a potter and Eliot a skilled woodworker. They haven't had the time or the facilities to practice their crafts since moving here. But they believe that once the farm is in the shape they want it, they—like the Nearings—will have ample time for "avocational pursuits."
"WE'RE JUST SO HAPPY"
At about 5 p.m. Sue goes in to begin preparing dinner, and by 6 p.m. Eliot's 12-hour day has ended and he comes in to wash from a large bowl of hot water. Then he flicks on the radio to catch the weather forecast for the next day and sits down to a bowl of rosehip soup (the family's main source of vitamin C), which is made from the fruit of the rose plant. Next comes a tossed salad of lettuce, kale, grated beets, carrots and chopped onions, all grown in their garden. The main course is oatmeal topped with natural sesame oil and steamed kale. Dessert is apples.
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