Six of us met to discuss A Country Year by Sue Hubbell.  It was a great conversation about being self-reliant and about what kind of person could live that kind of life.  Sue Hubbell raises bees in the Ozarks in Missouri.  (At least she did in the 1980s.)  She lives by herself on a farm and manages over 300 hives.  She fixes her own pick-up when she can and also fells her own trees for firewood for the winter months.  This book was part memoir, part natural history.  You learn a lot about the flora and fauna of her farm.  I highly recommend it if you like reading about getting back to nature.  Her take is realistic without being preachy or star-eyed, which I found refreshing.