I was first introduced to Laura via the Little House on the Prairie television show. I had no idea there was a Minnesota connection until one day they were talking about going to Mankato. I remember being amazed…Mankato was in Minnesota!. And so is New Ulm, Sleepy Eye, Minneapolis and St. Paul! It seems like they were always running off to Sleepy Eye, New Ulm, Mankato, and even Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Repeat episodes of the show were on Channel 9 every day at 4 o’clock, I never missed an episode. The show was filmed in California, and I was very surprised to find out years later there are no mountains in southwestern Minnesota.
In third grade I figured out that the series was based on books, and checked out “On the Banks of Plum Creek” from the library. This was my first “big book” and it took me two weeks to get through it, but I was hooked. “Little House on the Prairie” was next, and I soon worked my way through all of Laura’s books, as well as the Donald Zochart biography that was out at the time.
I checked the Little House Cookbook out from the library and I made the ginger water Laura drank while helping Pa with the hay in “The Long Winter” (I never made it again). I begged my Mom to make Almanzo’s favorite dish from “Farmer Boy,” fried apples ‘n onions (they are surprisingly good and go well with roast pork.) I also tried Almanzo’s popcorn in milk trick.
We went on vacation in Wisconsin one year and I made my parents drive through Pepin on the way back so I could go see the “Little House in the Big Woods” wayside. Since then I have been fortunate to visit her home sites in Burr Oak, Iowa, Walnut Grove, Minnesota and De Smet, South Dakota. I have a sunbonnet and wore it while wading in Plum Creek just like Laura did. I really want to go to Mansfield, Missouri to see her final home as well as Independence, Kansas. Seeing Almanzo’s home in Malone, New York is a little far-fetched but it is on the list…you never know.
I still own the series of books and will occasionally read one at random. Every winter I read “The Long Winter” to remind myself that the Minnesota winter is not that bad in modern times. It’s hard to pick a favorite because they are all unique and I love each book for a different reason, but if I HAD to pick one it would be “Little Town on the Prairie.”
With the recent publication of “Pioneer Girl,” the annotated biography of Laura, there has been resurgence in popularity of all things Laura. There is an excellent blog titled "The Pioneer Girl Project" about how Pioneer Girl came to be, and snippets of the book will be discussed on occasion: http://pioneergirlproject.org/
If interested in learning more about Laura, some good biographies have been published in recent years. William Anderson has published some great books that provide great depth to the Little House books: http://www.williamandersonbooks.com/.
Pamela Smith Hill was editor of Pioneer Girl to life. She has also written "Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Writer's Life" : http://www.pamelasmithhill.com/#!laura_ingalls_wilder/cavs. I have also had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Hill and driving her to her hotel room when I attended the first Laurapalooza in Mankato.
Another good read is "Laura Ingalls Wilder the Woman Behind the Legend by John E. Miller: http://press.umsystem.edu/catalog/productinfo.aspx?id=1768&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1.
It’s exciting to see the interest in Laura again, hopefully this will drive visits to the home site museums and bring them some revenue. Following are the websites to the home museums, give them a visit if you can, and if you are close by consider a visit.
Little House in the Big Woods: http://lauraingallspepin.com/
Little House on the Prairie: http://www.littlehouseontheprairiemuseum.com/
On the Banks of Plum Creek: http://www.walnutgrove.org/
By the Shores of Silver Lake, The Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, These Happy
Golden Years, and the First Four Years: http://www.desmetsd.com/desmet/visitors/laura-ingalls-wilder
Farmer Boy: http://www.almanzowilderfarm.com/
Not in the books but connections to Laura:
Burr Oak, Iowa: http://www.lauraingallswilder.us/
Mansfield, Missouri: http://www.lauraingallswilderhome.com/
