This Life Is In Your Hands

I am not sure how I felt about this book.  It was written by Melissa Coleman and purportedly she is writing about her life as a homesteader from birth to about 7 years of age, maybe a little older.  So let's face it, her memories of that time have to be pretty sketchy and probably not all that coherent.  And she loses her sister as well, and one would have to believe that was pretty traumatic.

It is ultimately the story of her parents, Sue and Eliot Coleman, who meet at a now defunct college in Franconia, N.H. and decide that they want to live "the good life."  Scott and Helen Nearing had written several books of that title, and they were located on the coast of Maine.  Many "hippies" during the 70's would write letters to the Nearings and ask if they could apprentice for them.  In return for their hard work they were able to learn organic farming techniques as well as preserving food for the brutal Maine winters.  The apprentices, for the most part, lived in tents.  But if the Nearings really liked you, they sold you a chunk of land for $33 an acre and you could homestead on it.  Eliot Coleman is actually still at that farm today, but with a third wife.  All the couples of the 70s broke up -- apparently poverty and hard work are not all that romantic.  Yeah.  I guess not.  Melissa's mother was also depressed and had to spend every minute doing something -- milking goats, preparing food, canning food or working in the garden.  So obviously she wasn't all that happy!  And her father had some thyroid disease that made his body create adrenaline so he could never stop.  Freaky people!

Would I recommend it?  No, not really.  Not a huge page turner.