Reddit reviews The Good Life: Helen and Scott Nearing's Sixty Years of Self-Sufficient Living

American Flatbread in Waitsfield.

Backcountry skiing, pretty much anywhere.

4th of July parade in Moscow.

Winter time sunrise hikes on peaks that are not on the Long Trail. (The Worcesters and anything in the Northeast Kingdom really come to mind.)

At least visit if not purchase your food from a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)...If this is not an option and growing a batch or two of food in the summer is, try that out. If you're really into this, you might check out this book.

scott and helen nearing, former neighbors of mine, moved to an old farm in new hampshire, wrote a book about it, way back before it was cool.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Good-Life-Nearings-Self-Sufficient/dp/0805209700

also my sister moved to new hampshire, married a lumberjack for awhile, has a day job but also a christmas tree farm, sometimes sheep or chickens, lived in a trailer while building her cabin (i think they've moved tho), raised a couple of good kids. my two other siblings are making their first million and i'm a bum who spends too much time on reddit.

This probably isn't exactly what you are looking for, but I did want to give you my three favorites that relate to self-sufficiency and off grid living.

• The Good Life by Helen and Scott Nearing.
  I really like this book as a sort of "what to expect" instead of "what to do." It chronicles Helen and Scott's decision and life to live a self-sufficient life.
  
  
• The Encyclopedia of Country Living. This is a great resource. It covers EVERYTHING from gardening to raising chickens. It also covers cooking and canning with what you raise. It is primarily a consolidation of 40 years worth of a homesteading magazine.
  
  
• The Foxfire series. This series is quite long and comprehensive. However, it is an attempt to chronicle the oral knowledge of rural Appalachia. Everything is essentially about self-sufficiency (including moonshining), homesteading, and living life "the old way." It is truly a fascinating series and a wealth of knowledge.
  
  I am not familiar with the books you listed, but I do love the three I mentioned above.

I'd say probably after graduating from college we either had to comply to be part of the 9-5 rat race or...figure something else out.

We did the 9-5 thing and a few jobs we really enjoyed. We had a cute little house we rented and then when those jobs ended we were faced with..."well, what now? We are dependent on making money constantly just to stay afloat". So living a simpler, less expensive lifestyle was a no-brainer for us. And giving much thought to growing your own food and building your own house and then all of a sudden a huge chunk of your income is not going directly out the door.

We then read the book "The Good Life" by Helen & Scott Nearing. Mainers that moved up here from NY & VT in the 1930s to leave behind a high brow lifestyle to live a new way. It was inspiring life changing for us!

Speaking of Vermont, I'd suggest that OP pick up a copy of Scott and Helen Nearing's Living the Good Life, and possibly it's sequel, to see how one married couple approaching their fifties gave up the rat race and moved to the country in 1932. They lived another fifty years pursuing a meaningful life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_and_Scott_Nearing

Living the Good Life by Helen and Scott Nearing

> This one volume edition of Living the Good Life and Continuing the Good Life brings these classics on rural homesteading together. This couple abandoned the city for a rural life with minimal cash and the knowledge of self reliance and good health.

Womb liberation!! That is a hysterical phrase. :)

Also, I would kill to have this book. Used is fine. :)

I'm going to second all the book recommendations, especially the encyclopedia of country living. I'd like to add:

https://www.amazon.com/Five-Acres-Independence-Handbook-Management/dp/0486209741/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499822776&sr=8-1&keywords=5+acres+and+independence

and

https://www.amazon.com/Good-Life-Nearings-Self-Sufficient-Living/dp/0805209700/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499822872&sr=8-1&keywords=the+good+life+nearing

Peace

edit:
totally forgot the most important book I own: https://www.amazon.com/Public-Works-Handbook-Self-Reliant-Construction/dp/082563041X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1499823155&sr=1-1&keywords=public+works
Was a gift from my FIL when we told him what we were planning on doing (moving out to nowhere and living as self-sufficiently as possible).

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0805209700/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_6qFiDbFHGCNAD

Helen and Scott Nearing were self-sufficient for decades.

Have you read "The Good Life" about the Nearings? Fascinating stuff. I sometimes fantasize about doing something like this. Then I realize my fat ass wouldn't last a week in that lifestyle.

Found this in some more browsing on Amazon. I am only about 50 pages in, but enjoying it so far...
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Life-Nearings-Self-Sufficient-Living/dp/0805209700