Hard Times in Paradise

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It's an idea everyone has had at least once: give up the job, give up the home in the burbs, buy some land and live the good life in the country. Can it really be done? David and Micki Colfax did it. And in this fascinating book they tell how they did it--from their decision to try a life of self-sufficiency in the redwood forested mountains of northern California to the process of building their own house, from the demands of teaching their four children at home (three out of the four children went on to attend Harvard) to living without electricity, a phone, or a steady income. The Colfaxes, urban professionals whose backgrounds were in teaching and academia, moved to forty-seven steep acres of trees and hard ground in Mendocino County in 1973. They had no experience with homesteading and none of the do-it-yourself skills it would require. They learned by doing, plunging into their new life with enthusiasm, a limited amount of cash, and high hopes. By the time the first winter snows came bursting through the walls of their still uncompleted home, the Colfaxes were finding out just how challenging the good life could be. Everything took longer than they planned. The work was hard--bone-numbing hours upon hours of clearing the brush, burning stumps, hauling water, fixing the truck, and preparing food over a gas stove. The land, although breath-takingly beautiful, was harsh. In describing the setbacks, money woes, and disasters, the Colfaxes show how their new life and their Shining Moon Ranch slowly took shape: how crops began to grow, how the house was finally made weather-tight, and how their children learned to read and write at the same time that they learned to raise prizewinninglivestock. The Colfaxes have written a personal history that is as instructive as it is entertaining. Hard Times in Paradise is the story of a modern pioneer family--funny, sad, and, most of all, uplifting. As David and Micki Colfax and their four sons discovered, the ultimate meaning of being a pioneer is to rely on--and to cherish--one another.