Three Acres and Liberty

I just finished reading Three Acres and Liberty, by Bolton Hall.  This little book was first published in 1907.  The folks at Kindle were kind enough to republish the 1917 revised version.  It was a fun and interesting read, chock full of great advice on how to make the most of a little piece of land.  However, I was surprised to find so much philosophy intertwined with practicality.

Here are the quotes which touched me most:

We are not tied to a desk or to a bench; we stay there only because we think we are tied. In Montana I had a horse, which was hobbled every night to keep him from wandering; that is, straps joined by a short chain were put around his forefeet, so that he could only hop. The hobbles were taken off in the morning, but he would still hop until he saw his mate trotting off. This book is intended to show how any one can trot off if he will. 

A sower went out to sow and he sowed that which was in his heart - for what can a man sow else.  (From the Game of Life).

To cultivate is to watch the soil as you watch your cooking and tend your crop as you would tend your animals.  The crop is as alive as the stock....

If you have a backyard, you can help the world and yourself by raising some of the food you eat. 

..think of the cleansing influence of all this.  Light and air and labor - these are the medicines not of the body only, but of the soul.  It is not ponderable things alone that are found in the gardens, but the great wonder of life, the face of nature, the influences of sunsets and seasons and of all the intangible things to which we can give no name, not because they are small, but because they are outside the compass of our speech.