BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 7, 2025
The small farm in Brooksville where homesteading icons Helen and Scott Nearing lived has drawn thousands of people, inspired by their model of “living sanely and simply in a troubled world,” even decades after their deaths. Jordan Humphrey and Lucy Marcus, who started work as traveling farmsitters during the pandemic, were hired to serve as its stewards this year. They were initially drawn to the job by the Nearing example of responding to troubled times by working hard, growing food and building, along with their principles of pacifism, vegetarianism and self-reliance. But in recent years, the politics of homesteading has expanded to the right to include more libertarian and conservative views. A new presidential administration has embraced a politically charged approach to healthy living that’s challenged the stereotype of the lifestyle as a mostly left-leaning pursuit.