[DennisP]

"Close to the land" does not mean "close to that particular land."

[thrdbndndn]

Sorry for being obtuse, I genuinely don't get what that means. Don't almost every single person live close to the land?

[frosted-flakes]

Living "close to the land" means to be familiar and comfortable with, and reliant on, what "the land" (that is, nature) has to offer. The opposite of a city-dweller, basically.

[thrdbndndn]

> "the land" = nature

Thanks for your kind explanation. This is the part I didn't know.

In my defence, I did check the dictionary [1] but didn't find anything to suggest land means nature/rural/etc.

[1] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/land#Noun

[bee_rider]

Carter had a fairly rural upbringing.