The Road Home

About the Book

When life becomes overwhelmingly complex, we yearn for a simpler existence and often ask ourselves: What is truly important? What burdens can be eliminated? Would a simpler life be more satisfying?

In this account, Jane Marsh takes The Road Home, tracing memories of her family’s unconventional life during the 1970s and ’80s. As society was increasingly pursuing the American Dream of modernization, mechanization, and luxury, her family was pursuing a different dream.

They moved to a peaceful rural community and embarked on an experiment in living the simple life. They provided life’s most basic needs for themselves. They built their own home, grew their own vegetables, and raised their own beef. Being removed from the distractions and conveniences of modern society, they formed a closer connection to nature. They confronted unique challenges and found equally unique solutions.

Years later, children grown, the experiment ended. The farm was sold, and the family returned to urban life. So what was there to be learned from the years of simplicity and self-reliance?

The journey to answer this question is recounted here with stories that will make you laugh, cry, and perhaps even assess for yourself what is truly important.

About the Author

If you simplified your life, when it was ending, would you feel you had lived? This is one family’s attempt to find out.