Logan Ward

Logan and his wife, Heather, decided to leave their jobs and lives in New York City and take their 2-year old to Virginia to buy and live on a farm. Not only that, they were going to renovate the house to make it so that they would be living in the year 1900. They wanted to live this way for a full year.

I find these so interesting! There was a British tv show (which gave Logan and Heather the idea) called The 1900 House. Not long after, in Canada, there was a tv show called Pioneer Quest that took two couples and did pretty much what Logan and Heather did, except they went back a few years earlier to the 1880s, and they had to build their homes from scratch.

That being said, I found this really interesting. At the same time, considering the tv I’ve seen with similar topics, I wasn’t surprised at how difficult it was, as well as a huge reliance on (unpredictable) Mother Nature. It was nice to see the community and neighbours come together to help them out. The only thing is that I would have liked more in the epilogue – how much of hat they did/learned during that year did they continue with when they returned to the current day?… (mais)

Logan Ward and his wife and two year old leave Manhattan to embark on an adventure where they try - as much as is possible - to live like dirt farmers in rural Virginia in the year 1900. They grow and preserve their own food, raise and milk a pair of goats and some chickens, and deal with a somewhat disdainful horse as their mode of transportation. What they didn't expect to necessarily find was such a supportive community, especially since they were newcomers to the area, and Yanks at that.

I really liked this book. I just wish there was more! I'm still really curious what happened to them after they rejoined the 21st century. Gonna have to see if Ward has a blog. :) It is in the same vein as Better Off, but the writing of See You in a Hundred Years is infinitely better and the book has much better structure. The only thing I wished for was a "cast of characters" because it got confusing which neighbor raised/did what and who was attached to whom. Other than that, I highly recommend this book to anyone who ever wanted to throw it all away and just be a subsistence farmer. A bonus is hearing about their two-year-old, Luther, who is hilarious.… (mais)

Excellent. Great story about one family's "project" of living the way Americans did at the turn of the 20th century for one year. I'd recommend to anyone who values simple living or makes everyday, or even occasional, attempts at it. Heck, I wish a lot of the people I know who *don't* value simple living would read this book.

Of course, the whole tone of "See you in 100 Years" reflects the chronological nature of the project. As such, it's not so easily strung together under various themes or storylines, though the author tries to do both--particularly themes, which makes the story feel choppy. Sometimes I wanted to tell Ward, "Just let it FLOW!" because this book, at times, doesn't.

Besides that, though, I really like the Ward family's whole undertaking, and heartily approve of the way it unfolded. Obviously these two were New Yorkers, because I, a country girl by birth and at heart, could tell how bad they were at relaxing from the start. Happy to learn that they mastered its art by the end.… (mais)