When I grow up I want to be Ruth Stout

I have read "The Ruth Stout No-Work Gardening Book" probably dozens of times, and it has a permanent spot on my bedside table. I am always a sucker for anything promising reward without effort, so it is no surprise that this book would be one of my all-time favourites. Except it's not so much the content as her anti-authoritarian and very funny attitude. Ruth Stout was not intimidated by experts, and she seemed to have a reasonable suspicion that most experts were guilty of complicating things unnecessarily. This book is a collection of articles written for Organic Gardening and Farming magazine in the fifties and sixties, so maybe not her best book, but it is the only one I have. Whenever I see old books for sale, I always look for anything by her.

Ruth Stout was the mother of permanent deep-mulch gardening, and she was very adamant that it was the solution for practically everything in the garden. I don't mulch religiously, because sometimes I just find it easier to weed a bit, and I plant stuff so close together that mulching between plants is plain too hard. I don't dig very much, but I do sometimes because it's the easiest way to get out perennial weeds, which sorry to say, do still grow through deep mulches. And I compost, contrary to Ruth's opinion that it's easier to just bury everything under mulch. I don't think it's more work, and I have a winter's worth of chicken manure to deal with every spring. I plant potatoes her way, by just tossing them onto the ground and covering them with lots of straw (though she would use hay, and I can't bear the thought of adding that many weed seeds to the garden). So I'm certainly no faithful disciple of her methods, but I think the main thing I've learned from her is to pay attention to my garden and trust my observations. 

A few weeks ago, over at The Duck Herder's blog I saw a documentary called "Ruth Stout's Garden" that is now on YouTube and I fell in love all over again. Not to put too fine a point on it, but when I grow up, I want to be Ruth Stout.

I think you should watch this movie, too.

What the world needs now is... more possums

I just re-read the book Possum Living: How to Live Well Without a Job and With (almost) No Money again this morning and I think I will do it every year or so until I have it memorized and then I will read it just for fun. Dolly Freed, who was in her late teens when she wrote the book in 1976 or so, seems to have an amazing knack for distilling (literally and figuratively) the essence of what is necessary for a good and reasonable life. And the secret is: just have a little stuff and be happy with it, be suspicious of experts, feel secure based on your own abilities rather than your bank balance and have some moonshine if you wish. I've made it sound rather dry, but Dolly's version is smart and funny and I encourage you to read it yourself.

Dolly left school in grade 7 long before there were homeschoolers or unschoolers on every block. She doesn't seem to suffer from the angst that most teen unschoolers I know experience. The feeling that they should be doing more or accomplishing something or becoming Somebody. I would strongly recommend this book to any teenager, in school or not.

If you've ever snuck a peak at my site meter at the bottom of the page, you'll find that visitors to the Shack are a very select group of web surfers. Recently, more than half of them are here because they did a google search for Dolly Freed or Possum Living or some combination thereof. I'm not sure if there has been some media attention given to Dolly recently because of the re-release of her book this month, but my old post "I Love You Dolly Freed" is the most popular post on my blog. I've got links there to a couple of videos and the answer to whatever became of Dolly Freed (it's probably not what you think). It's encouraging to see that there are so many aspiring possums out there.

Members of the Dolly Freed fan club should check out possumliving.net for book excerpts, a couple of old newspaper clippings, the documentary and even an email address. A blog is promised.

* Update Jan. 8 - I know what became of Dolly Freed! There's a wonderful article about her which you should definitely read at www.paige-williams.com.

* Update Jan. 28 - Another interesting interview with Dolly is here. Thanks to Sara for that link.

I love you, Dolly Freed

I've been a huge fan of Dolly Freed since reading Possum Living: How To Live Well Without A Job and With (almost) No Money a few years ago. Dolly wrote it when she was 18. She describes her life since dropping out of grade 7 and living with her dad on a half-acre lot outside of Philadelphia, raising and foraging much of their food. I knew there had been a documentary made about her but had not been able to find it at the library or online, until today (Oh, happy day). Unfortunately, the free download of her book is no longer available*, but there is a new updated version being released in January.

I was very interested to see what Dolly and her family and house look like, and I have to say they are all much more normal than I expected. She even looks like me (er, what I looked like when I was 19). I would love to know what became of Dolly, and I suppose I will have to read the updated book to find out.

Dolly and her dad don't quite live within the letter of the law, and certainly don't comply with modern building codes, and they have chosen to live without a lot of stuff, but appear to be more content than most with their lives. They're more hillbilly than hippie, but in full possession of their teeth, and with a very deliberate approach to living. Dolly was an unschooler before the term was even invented.

If you google Dolly Freed or Possum Living you'll find she has a lot of admirers and folks who see her approach as reasonable. I expect lots of people will be forced into a possum lifestyle over the next few years as we start really hitting limits and some might even enjoy it.

Update: I did find a video online which shows a much more recent Dolly giving some tongue-in-cheek outdoor tips. She doesn't look quite like I expected.

Update (2): I found the following paragraph from the new introduction to the updated version of her book, which is on the publisher's web site.

Following her success as an author, Dolly Freed grew up to be a NASA aerospace engineer. She put herself through college after she aced the SATs with an education she received from the public library. She has also been an environmental educator, business owner, and college professor. She lives in Texas with her husband and two children.

*Update (3): The older version of the book is actually still available at the Internet Archive online here and I've updated the link in the text above. Thanks to commenter Anonymous for the tip.

So now you know what became of Dolly Freed.