Possum Living Part 1 of 3

[jduplechin]

I can grow lettuce on my iPhone.

[myleadmail]

Never mind you that $1,500 in the 70's is more like $8,000 now due to inflation. She wasn't living on nothing, she was living on less. Without a house payment, car payments, and credit card payments most of us could live on $8,000 a yr if we grew some of our food and didn't drive much. It's not that hard at all without debt. Debt is the great enemy to a simpler life, yet sadly young people usually realize this far too late.

[gregry111]

When I read the name Freed I knew you were from Pa. That's where we all originated in this country

[DFDYoung]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[MrBobflipper]

for those comenting on the turtle have any of you ever cleaned one before? i catch and eat plenty of snappers every summer and even after ive managed to cut the head off( no small feat in its own right) it will continue to try and get away and claw me they dont quit just cause they are missing a head and a few limbs.

[suddenlyitsobvious]

The moving turtle is clearly still alive, it's not "reflexes".

[Richardofdanbury]

@suddenlyitsobvious

Actually, the turtle is dead. In most lower animals the nervous system is different and motor activity continues for some time post mortum. If you have ever seen a chicken decapitated it moves about quite freely though it is technically dead and beyond pain.

[suddenlyitsobvious]

@Richardofdanbury

' motor activity continues for some time post mortum'

You mean 15 minutes - half an hour later a dead turtle is still crawling around vigorously? Sorry, I don't buy it.

[MrRobertGulabo]

@suddenlyitsobvious Yeah, it's still alive. He clearly missed. maybe he's nervous in front of the camera.

[suddenlyitsobvious]

@MrRobertGulabo

Thank you. I think the shooting off the turtle in the head is staged for the camera and definitely not a credible way of proceeding for a guy supposedly living off and in tune with nature. Because he's probably never done it before, he missed.

[BelliesAPoppin]

Dolly is hot hot!!! :)

[JonathanBloggs]

I love the way she talks, you don't get girls talking like that any more - there's a gentleness, a serenity to it that has been replaced by something far more plastic

[Richardofdanbury]

@JonathanBloggs

Quite right, Dolly is certainly genuine and that is refreshing in anyone but most especially women. I believe that materialism and consumerism is the reason why many people seem "plastic".

[suddenlyitsobvious]

@Richardofdanbury

'Quite right, Dolly is certainly genuine'

Do you think so? Then how did she end up working for NASA? Face it, everything about this story is pretty fishy and the doc to me looks staged; if you look into the family background you'll quickly find absolutely everything about it is off.

[heroineworshipper]

$1500 wouldn't even cover a fraction of the property tax today, but look how much more independently you can live with those government programs. Wait.

[bigajosep]

is this a real documentary or actors enacting the book?

[Richardofdanbury]

@bigajosep

This is a real documentary from the 1970's detailing the life she and her father lived at that time.

[mrmelkor1]

I have an intense dislike for her mother, not so much passive aggressive as just aggressively annoying

[NoMercyJustCruelty]

She was sexy.

[Engineer245]

Humans lived off the land for tens of thousands of years before they even started tranding between other tribes then ten of thousdands of years before the industriasl age. As it turns out yes people can live a good life like this. Just replace the daily grind of a rat race job with this one. Also, they did not say that they did not work or need money. They said thay worked odd jobs for cash. Their house is too big though. Two people casn live well in less than 500 sq ft but about 650 is perfect

[JSpradley123]

"f you are not "skilled" you are doomed to minimum wage or factory life"

i wouldn't compare unskilled labor to factory labor...most factory workmen have to be quite skilled and generally make pretty good money.

[codi0dio]

@JSpradley123 Skilled and specialized are two very different things.

[festyxfi]

I'm working on an idea in my head to explain how we're now getting it on both ends here in America. There's no good paying jobs anymore to live "straight" and "respectable" but anything that might lend itself to being self sufficent is deemed illegal. Being homeless is more/less illegal since living in your vehicle is illegal in most places. Shooting deer around my current neck of the woods is illegal without an expensive permit (and deer are as abundant as rats here!) etc. etc. revolution yet?

[callahan9119]

@festyxfi

There are plenty of jobs, but it is separated by the educated and the uneducated...if you are not "skilled" you are doomed to minimum wage or factory life, which is still good compared to real poverty.

I liked the book, I doubt she would advocate vagrancy, then and especially now considering her current views. You can get a run down house too for cheap, and a hunting license is quite cheap and would pay for itself if you chose to eat a single deer. She now disagrees with much of this

[ideagirlconsulting]

it's 2010 and people are out of work and have no money, I was looking up live free or die hard and came across an article about dolly freed's book Possum Living. I'm featuring all three of your videos, her blog and url to book for people to purchase for friends, family and loved ones. I was excited to see that Dolly's blogging about recipes and wondering when she will do another book?

posting on the idea girl says wordpress - linda randall

[Asydeshow]

American Sydeshow supports your endeavors, TinHouseBooks

[IKillLittlegirls]

catches the turtle,

pulls out a 45,

blows the turtles head off.

if only you could fire a weapon within city limits

[sEweron]

@IKillLittlegirls

Little small recoil for .45, wouldn't you say?

[IKillLittlegirls]

@sEweron he looks like he's had a hard life.

therefore I'm pretty sure he can handle the recoil,

a seasoned shooter and shoot a fourty-five caliber pistol with very little recoil.

[ChuckCh9]

I love it!

[colorsendinginurple]

i would not wanna live with that dude.

[domesticlonghair]

@colorsendinginurple No doubt. He comes across as kind of a dick, doesn't he...

[TheMorbiousStone]

WTF

[angie635]

my ex showed me this videos over like 100 times, i see now that he was SMART.

[slicknicknirvana]

They should show this on MTV after Cribs .

[Markohoppis]

They of course had to get jobs temporarily to afford a home, dishes, clothes, gun and ammo, stove, and so on.

This day and age, people are highly materialistic and dependent on technology in the West while they have no knowledge of how these things work which makes them slaves to the system. Most people would have withdrawal symptoms if their internet and cable were gone for a day.

[ThanksgivingWalk]

Enjoyed the film. Thanks for sharing.

Very thankful to live in a country where we have the freedom to decide what a normal life is and to live it. The daugher's thought about the next door's neighbor's choices were very thought provoking.

VIEWER W A R N I N G - A turtle is shot in the head.

[munkstaven]

nice head shot

[Chewbacc]

I'm sure shooting that turtle in the head was painless, it was still alive after, you could see it moving, frickin' heathens!

[LizardSticker]

@Chewbacc you are a moron. You can obliterate the brain and still most critters will still be twitching for a little while.

[AlexNewton1981]

@LizardSticker Yeah, then it's the turtle's soul feeling pain. You gotta shoot it in the soul.

[gotrevolution2012]

@AlexNewton1981 Tastes yummy!

[barneygrumble]

it helps to have a house that is paid off.

[donnerbrandpear]

Dolly ended up being an aerospace engineer for NASA. "Dropping out" didn't hurt her one bit. She was obviously too sharp for normal school.

[gregry111]

@donnerbrandpear If this was such a great life why did she finally get a regular job?

[FireTamer420]

you guys just dont get it she was saying you dont have to "drop out" and she is living the life she wants to live it may not be your ideal life. but theres nothing wrong with being self sufficient

[conzatorium]

I suppressed my nausea to watch this through. Imagine a 13-y-o girl believing she should have had the guts to "drop out" -- her discomfort with asynchronous development, and parent-enforced dissonance between school life and home life was exploited by her father to get her home to wait on him, distrust of authorities to fear of being caught, when she didn't do any wrong. A few districts over, a few years later (1976) I was offered "gifted pull-out" I refused to go bcs I was sick of "adult crap."

[huijbftujkm]

You can see that the turtle, that they supposedly "humanely" and "quickly" killed, is still moving around in the kitchen sink. Those are not reflexes. And if they supposedly care so much about animals, why do they not have a problem keeping rabbits in a dark basement.

If you want to learn about living simply and humanely, you are better off reading The Good Life by Helen and Scott Nearing.

[conzatorium]

Screw the turtle; what about the GIRL! Call us the LOST GIRLS OF PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN FARM CULTURE; "Frank" should have written a book on how to exploit your gifted child into choosing isolation with you by puberty, trying to be the ideal farm wife for daddy, without even having a farm; conflate her actions and thoughts and property with your own, lie around drunk all day while she cracks wheat and is an apologist for the lifestyle of ex-lo-nihilo magic of living off the land. PARENTIFICATION!

[rachelflax1963]

I just heard about her through an article on Jezebel. I just finished watching this film. My first thought when I saw the words, "Possum Living" were, "She probably eats possum and sleeps with her father." I thought they were rednecks but they're not and Dolly is very smart!

[PansWife]

@rachelflax1963

I was commenting on hummusbomb's post (2 below my post). You posted after me so I could not have made reference to your comments. I believe most recent posts are on top unless they get voted down.

[rachelflax1963]

@PansWife Oh, I did not know that. Thank you for the clarification.

[PansWife]

She's no "redneck". She went on to get a college education and worked for NASA. Now she's an advocate for the environment in Texas. She still lives a simple life.

Google "paige williams dolly freed" to see what I'm talking about.

[rachelflax1963]

@PansWife I know, that's why I wrote that I THOUGHT they were. I also wrote, "but they're not and Dolly is very smart." Read comments completely before commenting back.

[coolrayfruge]

She very cute and smart.

They got the right idea..

Thats how I want to live.

[hummusbomb]

rednecks! hahah but seriously, this is a way to live that is TRULY GREEN! not that stupid democrat al gore way

[friendlier]

They're both right. Find a place between those two.

[MrRobertGulabo]

@hummusbomb There doesn't seem to be anything on this video that someone like Al Gore would object to.

[Richardofdanbury]

@MrRobertGulabo

Actually, the big difference is that Al would make this mandatory for the "great unwashed", (read the masses, that's you and me). Dolly and family did it voluntarily. BTW, I know many traditional Catholics who do live close to this but the circumstances vary so it is not exactly the same. This is because they tend to have large families, I'd say on average 6 to 8 children. They live well and avoid the materialism that is so rampant today.

[MrRobertGulabo]

@Richardofdanbury Really? Gore's gonna force everyone at gunpoint, smart guy? Face it, Gore is advocating lifestyles close to this model... natural, back to the earth, farming... except people still keep their jobs. Do you want to keep your gas guzzler today? Have at it, hoss. meantime, the Smart car and electric car owner you laugh at is saving lots of money... You are free to be dependent on the oil cartels or megacorporations. by all means, remain dependent on them. Some people don't want to.

[RubberWilbur]

@hummusbomb THe Al Gore way is to live in a 6 million mansion consuming more while asking everyone else to consume less.

[MrRobertGulabo]

@RubberWilbur How different is that from what the Republicans advocate? More for themselves in tax breaks while you get less and less... first it's the kids... then educators... then now it's retired seniors...

[RubberWilbur]

@MrRobertGulabo The Democrats get paid just as much from the corporations as the Republicans.

[MrRobertGulabo]

@RubberWilbur there it is again... both parties are equally corrupt, is the message. No. One is more corrupt than the other. So today, who is on the side of all this privatization (code for corporations taking over your life)? You bet it's Republicans. And with some Conservative leaning dems with them. It is not equal, ok? Republicans are more pro-corporation than Democrats.

[MrRobertGulabo]

@hummusbomb What makes Gore's way stupid? These people eat organic... they recycle... raise animals sustainably .... It sounds pretty much like this... except you keep your job.

[mrhulot101]

I enjoyed reading Possum Living Years ago and always wanted to see this movie, it was as good as the book was. Dolly and her father suceeded because they owned their modest house and had little overhead and They picked a good area. They also had the courage of their convictions to try and live outside the consumer lifestyle and build a life that suited them. Also, when you are independent it makes working for a living easier to put up with the usual BS. Thanks for sharing this movie.

[hootsmeister]

Thanks for this! It's great!