Possum Living - A Book Review

Dolly Freed wrote Possum Living in the 1970s when she was a young woman.  The book details her adolescent life where she and her father used almost no money.  They survived on the food they caught and grew.  Surprisingly, she and her father were able to do this while living in suburbia on a very small plot of land.  They were able to keep up the appearance of relative normalcy to the outside world while keeping up a high and enjoyable standard of living.  This book is equal parts "how-to" and story telling with a bit of Philosophy included.  

There were a lot of great tips and thoughts from the book such as: Buying your grain whole sale from a feed mill ( I have not tried, but may in the future). And a lot of the things her family did was very time intensive.  However, she and her father would rather spend time doing things such as cleaning fish or gardening than in a job.  There were also some less than idealized parts of the book.  Her father (and presumably Dolly) would fish out of season, or take "justice" into their own hands.  The book outlines her reality, and while I don't like these parts of her reality, I appreciate that she included it in her story.  Later in her life, she wrote a forward to the book.  She states that she regrets and does not condone much of the unscrupulous activity about which she wrote.  

I recommend this book to anyone wanting to be more self-sufficient.  It was enjoyable and inspirational, even if I found some ideas less than moral.  I got this book from the library, but would actually like to add it to my home library at some point in time.