Helen Knothe Nearing | |
|---|---|
 Nearing in the 1920s | |
| Born | Helen Knothe (1904-02-23)February 23, 1904 Ridgewood, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | September 17, 1995(1995-09-17) (aged 91) Harborside, Maine, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Author, simple living advocate |
| Spouse | Scott Nearing (1947-1983) |
Helen Knothe Nearing (February 23, 1904 – September 17, 1995) was an American author, advocate ofsimple living and a lifelongvegetarian.
Helen Knothe was born on February 23, 1904, inRidgewood, New Jersey, the daughter of Frank Knothe, who had a clothing business.[1][2] She grew up in an economically comfortable family oftheosophists[3] and was a lifelong vegetarian.[4][5] She graduated fromRidgewood High School and studied the violin internationally.[2] As a young woman, she had a romantic relationship withJiddu Krishnamurti.[3]
She andScott Nearing started a relationship in 1928 and were married by a Unitarian minister while visiting Los Angeles CA nearly 20 years later, on December 12, 1947, when she was 43 and he was 64.[6] In 1934, the couple left New York City forWinhall in ruralVermont, where they had purchased a rather large forest tract for $2200 and a moderate-sized farm for $2500. They aspired to live a more "purposeful" life and improve their health while disassociating from modern society. At the homestead, they lived a largelyascetic and self-reliant life, growing much of their own food and putting up nine stone buildings over the course of two decades. They earned money from producing maple syrup and maple sugar from the trees on their land and from Scott's occasional paid lectures.[7][2][8] In her bookMeanwhile, Next Door to the Good Life, Jean Hay Bright said that the Nearings were both subsidized by inheritances that supported theirforest farm. In 1934,[9] around the time they purchased the Vermont property, Helen inherited between $30,000–$40,000 from former suitorJ. J. van der Leeuw. Louis Nearing’s six children, including Scott, split the inheritance from the sale of their father's estate. “I’m sure it was one million bucks” in 1947, Scott's son Robert said of the estate's value. Scott's inheritance would have been well into six figures. “Scott kept his share to write a book.” He remembered his Aunt Dorothy commenting that Scott’s “writing a book was the last thing Papa would want” to have happen with his money.[10]
Helen and Scott Nearing left the Vermonthomestead in 1952 after the area saw an increase in ski tourism, moving to a homestead inBrooksville, Maine, onCape Rosier, where they continued growing much of their own food usingorganic farming practices.[2][11] They cultivatedblueberries as a cash crop.[12] In 1954, the couple publishedLiving the Good Life which inspired many young educated Americans, and others in countries like Australia, to endeavour to create simpler, more self-sufficient rural lifestyles and theback-to-the-land movement of the 1960s and 70s.[8] In 1994,Mother Earth News called Nearing the "mother of the back to the land movement." The magazine did first interview Nearing in 1971.[13]
Nearing was a speaker at the World Vegetarian Congress held inSweden in 1973 and inOrono,Maine, in 1975 and hosted by theInternational Vegetarian Union.[14]
In 1980, Nearing published her vegetarian cookbookSimple Food for the Good Life.[15][16] In 2016, 20 years after her death, thePortland Press Herald reported: "The book, which is still in print, contains the ultra-simple recipes for which she was known (such as Simple Celery Soup, made with celery, oil, one potato, water, salt and nutmeg). It was here she famously called herself "a far-from-enthusiastic and qualified cook.""[4]
In the summer of 1991, Helen and Scott were inducted into the Vegetarian Hall of Fame of theNorth American Vegetarian Society.[17]
Helen Nearing died in 1995 as the result of a single-car accident inHarborside, Maine.[18][2][19]
The Maine estate was left forThe Trust for Public Land which established the Good Life Center[20] to continue the Nearings' legacy. The resident stewards who live on site must maintain a vegetarian diet on the property.[4] The resident steward position has drawn participants from across the country and others have cited Nearing as inspiration for starting their own homesteads.[21][22] The Thoreau Institute acquired the papers of the couple.[23]
Co-authored with Scott Nearing
