Author bids his Subaru sayonara

0 Comments | USA TODAY, March, 2008 | by Carol Memmott

When Doug Fine isn't chasing wily coyotes away from the chicken coop, keeping his goats out of the vegetable garden or just breathing a sigh of relief that he survived the latest hailstorm or flash flood, he's kicking back and feeling good about life.

"It's kind of like I'm living in a carbon-neutral paradise -- or getting there," says Fine, 37, who recounts the trials and triumphs of living "green" on a small ranch in New Mexico in Farewell, My Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living (Villard, $24). "Now," Fine says, "I can look back on the carnage and laugh about it."

Two years ago, Fine set two goals: to "get oil out of my life and find out if it's feasible to live that way while maintaining all the American comforts."

Fine started his...