Recent News

The Good Life Center continues its Monday Night Meeting speaker series with Margot Anne Kelley, author and photographer from Port Clyde. She will lead a discussion on the history of Homesteading from 1880’s to the present. The meeting will begin at 7 pm, free will donations are accepted. Come early to enjoy wondering the garden and grounds of the Nearing ...» Read More

Our Monday Night Meeting series continues with another great presentation on the important issues of our time with Mimi Sheller, author and professor at Drexel University, will discuss her 2 books: “Mobility Justice” and “Island Futures: Caribbean Survival in the Anthropocene”The doors open at 6:30, arrive early to walk the Good Life Center grounds and gardens. Free will donations accepted.» Read More

Maine Dept of Agriculture’s 30th Annual Open Farm Day is coming up and The Good Life Center is once again one of the featured farms! Our highlighted speaker for the day’s activities is author and homesteader Kirsten Lie-Nelson of “So You Want To Be A Modern Homsteader?”. She lives & works on Hostile Valley Farm In Liberty Maine. There will ...» Read More

The mission of the Good Life Center (http://goodlife.org/) is to perpetuate the legacy of Helen & Scott Nearing through our programming and preservation of the historic Forest Farm homestead, advocate for simple and sustainable living skills, social and economic justice, organic gardening and the non- exploitation of animals. Located in Harborside, Maine, Forest Farm includes the home, library, garden and ...» Read More

Hands on apple pruning on the Nearing Apple Orchard. April 7th 2019, 10 am to NoonLed by Phil Norris, Arborist and Blue Hill Tree Warden No registration necessary, just come with questions and your own clippers! Call Warren Berkowitz with any questions 207- 374-5386» Read More

The Board and the Stewards are gathering as we do every year to talk about the past season and prepare for the ongoing future of the Good Life Center. This past Season was another great one with many visitors and our Resident Stewards jumped into the Good Life with gusto.  The board has been working with a nonprofit consultant Gary ...» Read More

The Good Life Center was so fortunate that our 2018 Resident Stewards, Carole Crawford and Chris Morrison, from Portland, Maine will be back next year as Resident Stewards again. We look forward to their energy and positive interactions from last year to our next season from June through October 2019. If you never got a chance to meet them, here ...» Read More

The Good Life Center Opens for the Season Thursday, June 21 Forest Farm, the final homestead of Helen and Scott Nearing, the prominent back to the land proponents and authors of “The Good Life” will open for the season Thursday, June 21. You can tour the Nearing’s stone house with their extensive library, stone walled gardens, greenhouse, and grounds. Visitors ...» Read More

NEARING RESIDENCY – Description & Application Process Remarkable and unique opportunity on the Maine coast for responsible couple. Live at Forest Farm, historic homestead of Living the Good Life authors Helen and Scott Nearing, on spectacular Cape Rosier peninsula overlooking Penobscot Bay and the Camden Hills. Located near Blue Hill and Deer Isle, Maine, an hour from Acadia National Park ...» Read More

It’s the little moments that guided me to my homesteading journey, and it’s the same type of little connective moments that keep me here. My first memory of homesteading is with my little dolls. The tiny moss-covered caves, inside the rock wall marking the property’s edge, is where they wanted to live—barefoot and with leaves for their handmade clothing, with ...» Read More

  Dear Friends of Forest Farm, Here at Forest Farm, 2017 has been a wonderful year. The house and gardens show the care and attention of many loving hands. Hundreds of visitors have spent time at The Good Life Center and been touched both the beauty of the farm and the continued importance of Scott and Helen’s message of simplicity ...» Read More

While we may not agree with what she says, we in academe should defend her right to say it, argues Jonathan Zimmerman. By Jonathan Zimmerman September 14, 2017 In 1915, the University of Pennsylvania fired economist Scott Nearing. He had supported a law barring child labor, which got him on the bad side of several businessmen on the university’s Board ...» Read More

HARBORSIDE, Maine — Decades ago, when eager back-to-the-landers from all over the country came to Helen and Scott Nearing’s home to meet the couple that wrote about and helped to define a new idea of the good life, they often would spend some time helping in the garden and then share a meal with the Nearings. Read the full story ...» Read More

Each generation has had one common desire: to live a more honest, ethical life of self-sufficiency and oneness with nature.» Read More

Currently hailing from Portland, Oregon, Jeanie and Alex are absolutely thrilled to spend summer 2017 caring for and carrying on the Nearings’ legacy. Married on Cape Cod in 2016, as part of their ceremony Jeanie and Alex made a pact to maintain an adventurous and spontaneous spirit. The coast of Maine is calling! Jeanie Kirk, a would-be 14th-generation Cape Codder, ...» Read More

We will be open Thursdays thru Mondays, 1 pm to 5 pm, June 22nd thru Labor Day. Saturdays & Sundays, 1pm to 5pm from Labor Day thru Columbus Day. For group visitations and individual appointments, please call WB at 207-374-5386.» Read More