\nenjoyed reading all of your comments thus far about Dolly Freed’s Possum Living<\/a>. The 9-to-5 grind<\/a>,
\nraising and slaughtering your own meat<\/a>—stimulating threads.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You know, I
\ncouldn’t help but notice how often Freed talks about the basis for her and her
\nfather’s lifestyle choice being that they are lazy. Tending a garden, raising bunnies,
\nforaging for found edibles, distilling liquor, canning and preserving food,
\ncooking, running, fishing, chopping wood, reading—to me, that doesn’t sound
\nlike laziness. What are your thoughts? Why do you think Freed considers herself
\nto be lazy?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In that
\nsame vein, Freed’s father “thinks compulsory education is a fraud—nothing but
\nglorified babysitting,” allowing her to quit school in seventh grade. Freed
\ncomes across in the book as a confident and bright, if a bit rough around the
\nedges, teenager, and we know that she went on to ace the SATs, put herself
\nthrough college, and become a NASA aerospace engineer, environmental educator,
\nbusiness owner, and college professor. However, do you think her father did her
\nan injustice by allowing her to drop out of school? Or did he give her a
\ngreater gift than a conventional education?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
For me, it <\/p>\n And <\/p>\n Learnedly, Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n Americans eat more processed food than, well, anyone<\/a><\/p>\n Farm saved by community featured on CNN<\/a><\/p>\n Ask Umbra’s Book Club: Is eating animals eating you?<\/a><\/p>\n
\nwas reminiscent of the Paskowitz family, whose story was detailed in the 2007
\ndocumentary Surfwise<\/a>. Dorian and his
\nwife, Juliette, raise their nine children in a small camper—the kids never
\nattended school and were forced to adhere to a strict diet and surfing regimen.
\nI had a difficult time discerning whether the now-adult children were better or
\nworse off for their unconventional upbringing. How about Dolly Freed? What do
\nyou think?<\/p>\n
\nspeaking of learning from our elders, what was your take on the Law chapter? Were
\nyou pleased to see as a footnote (in the newest edition) that an older and
\nwiser Dolly Freed no longer agrees with what she wrote in this chapter?<\/p>\n
Umbra<\/p>\n