THIS LIFE IS IN YOUR HANDS One Dream, Sixty Acres, and a Family Undone

Melissa Coleman, the oldest daughter of the famous organic farming pioneers Sue and Eliot Coleman, has a complex and moving story to tell of growing up on Cape Rosier, in mid-coast Maine, in the 1970s. Her parents, devotees and neighbors of Scott and Helen Nearing, attempted—and for a time achieved—life completely off the grid in a cabin they built themselves, farming without chemicals or power tools, eating only the vegetables, fruit, and dairy their farm produced. As we now know, many millions have come believe they were right about organic farming, but their lessons and life choices came with high personal price tags. Coleman’s writing is vivid and lyrical, her emotional wisdom hard earned. Her mushy diction serves her powerful story poorly, alas. B.G. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2011]