Homesteading: Flight From the City: An Experiment in Creative Living on the Land

This book follows the Borsodi Family in the experiment living on a homestead in the 1920s. After the Great Depression, there were a number of families seeking a simpler way of life that was away from the hustle and bustle of city life. With today's uncertain economic times, this book is as relevant today as it was when it was written. Although a few of the techniques may be outdated, there is still an abundance of information contained within these pages. " In the summer of 1920--the first summer after our flight from the city--Mrs. Borsodi began to can and preserve a supply of fruits and vegetables for winter use. I remember distinctly the pride with which she showed me, on my return from the city one evening, the first jars of tomatoes which she had canned. But with my incurable bent for economics, the question "Does it really pay?" instantly popped into my head. Mrs. Borsodi had rather unusual equipment for doing the work efficiently. She cooked on an electric range; she used a steam-pressure cooker; she had most of the latest gadgets for reducing the labor to a minimum. I looked around the kitchen, and then at the table covered with shining glass jars filled with tomatoes and tomato juice. "It's great," I said, "but does it really pay?" "Of course it does," was her reply. "Then it ought to be possible to prove that it does--even if we take into consideration every cost--the cost of raw materials, the value of the labor put into the work yourself, the fuel, the equipment." "