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Voices from every direction beckon us, even push us, toward better and faster technology, with the promise of more wealth, more pleasure, and, consequently, more happiness.

But have we become so bewitched by the siren song of material progress that we've lost the ability not just to achieve, but to discern what true happiness is? What criteria do we use to plan for the future, for retirement? At the end of our earthly lives, how will we measure our fruitfulness?

In this book Marcus Grodi discusses what he and his family discovered, mostly by surprise, after moving from the city to twenty-five acres of Ohio farmland. This move involved a radical shift in priorities for all of them, but mostly it helped them to discover some critical truths about our relationship to nature and to nature's Creator that apply regardless of where a person lives. He offers wonderful reflections on his going-back-to-the-land experience as a metaphor for drawing closer to God.

"If we ponder carefully the insights in this book, we can learn how to grow in detachment, simplicity, holiness, and humility."
— Paul Thigpen, Author, Manual for Spiritual Warfare

"This is not an idealized ‘back-to-the-land’ manual. Rather it is about simplifying our lives and rooting ourselves in the good soil of the world even as we reach upward to heaven—the ultimate Real."
— Michael D. O'Brien, Author, Father Elijah

"Read this book and you will receive the riches Mammon cannot provide and reap the harvest of hope and wisdom."
— Joseph Pearce, Author, Catholic Literary Giants

"This book is a hymn of gratitude for the wonder that is creation, which manifests the deep purpose of things."
— Dr. Timothy O'Donnell, President, Christendom College

"Charming anecdotes, a good dose of common sense, and a wealth of scriptural references grace a book that will inspire and guide us to a more human and more Christian way of life."
— John Cuddeback, Ph.D., Author, True Friendship: Where Virtue Becomes Happiness

"Marcus Grodi is turning out to be the Catholic Thoreau of our day. He calls all of us to reexamine our fast-paced, high-tech lives to find a simpler, purer way."
— Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Author, The Romance of Religion

"Grodi not only offers a critique of our materialist American society, but what is rarer, suggests some practical steps by way of solutions."
— Thomas Storck, Author, The Catholic Milieu