Of a Family’s Life on the Land

If we had ample means and could choose any kind of life we wished, we would choose what we have chosen.  And when I say we, I mean we.  There are many differences between a man’s viewpoint and a woman’s, even though they may live side by side in the same house year in and year out.  But there must be a profound unshaken unity underneath the difference if they are to make a success of such a life as we have lived, because the things that must be passed by are things that one or the other might consider indispensable.  As for children, I cannot help but think that they gain far more than they lose, in happiness and experience.  By and large, it is the best life for children.  And later, they must make their own choice.

- Gove Hambidge, from Enchanted Acre: Adventures in Backyard Farming (1935)