Little House series: book vs reality

[Deleted01]

I do. :geek:

I am bound and determined to make a salt rising bread starter that actually ferments. I have to find a way to achieve and maintain the correct temperature. So far, no luck. I need to channel MacGyver. Maybe I'll give a whirl over winter break.

I love good ol' stinky salt rising bread. Unfortunately, I can't find it locally anymore.

I've only tried that Amish "friendship" bread and always end up with moldy slime rather than something useful.

[itsnikki05]

There actually are no Walmarts or Targets in my town. There are three chain grocery stores, an IGA grocery, a Kmart, a "hometown" Sears (small location, mainly appliances, and it really is just a place where you can order online and have it shipped there) and three hardware stores. The hardware stores close at 7, which isn't fun when you realize that there is something that you need after 6:30. (I'm about 10 miles out of town.) Closest Target and Home Depot is about 30 miles away, closest Walmart is about an hour away. I don't shop Walmart, though, and usually just try to get my Target shopping done when I'm in the town where I work.

But I love being able to sit here in the pines and watch my chickens, and look at nature. Even if I am in a battle with the deer and raccoons at times too.

I love looking at the nature around me. Love seeing all the deer, even if I'm hoping they don't decide to cross the road at night as I'm driving!!, love watching our cats and my daughter run around the yard acting silly... it's great. :) We have... two restaurants, which is crazy considering the size of the town... they're both hole in the wall places but still. One is more of a convenience station type place. It sells bait (there's a lake nearby), food, gas (they price gouge big time!), and stuff like that... the other is just a restaurant. And there's a post office. :) But, as I said... we're close to Memphis for "serious" shopping and stuff to do, and we're close-ish to other towns for groceries and such. LOL

[lizziesmom]

I do. :geek:

I am bound and determined to make a salt rising bread starter that actually ferments. I have to find a way to achieve and maintain the correct temperature. So far, no luck. I need to channel MacGyver. Maybe I'll give a whirl over winter break.

I love good ol' stinky salt rising bread. Unfortunately, I can't find it locally anymore.

Are you familiar with this site? http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/21988/ ... ad-starter

[contrary]

I may or may not remember putting my white cotton underwear on my head, like Laura and Mary's sleep caps.

[smittykins]

Someone mentioned TV Tropes and the 'new kids when the old ones age out of the series' trope - could anyone point me to it? I did a Google search and checked the entire list of tropes for LHotP but either it wasn't listed there or I can't read properly.

It's http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CousinOliver, named for the character on the Brady Bunch.

I'm a long-time fan of the book series(the TV show, not so much), and one thing I've always wondered is, after weeks of subsisting on nothing but brown bread and tea during The Long Winter, wouldn't they have had some...digestive issues after their "Christmas dinner in May"?

[PennySycamore]

I may or may not remember putting my white cotton underwear on my head, like Laura and Mary's sleep caps.

[Morton Fan]

It's http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CousinOliver, named for the character on the Brady Bunch.

I'm a long-time fan of the book series(the TV show, not so much), and one thing I've always wondered is, after weeks of subsisting on nothing but brown bread and tea during The Long Winter, wouldn't they have had some...digestive issues after their "Christmas dinner in May"?

I would think so, too ... much like Holocaust victims did once they were freed and had access to normal food again.

[contrary]

DON'T JUDGE ME!

[bellicosebroad]

I would think so, too ... much like Holocaust victims did once they were freed and had access to normal food again.

I think I was about eight when I first read the books and thought, "No one ever has to go to the bathroom. Why not?" Such delicate realisms were not to be included, I guess.

[Deleted01]

I think I was about eight when I first read the books and thought, "No one ever has to go to the bathroom. Why not?" Such delicate realisms were not to be included, I guess.

I remember thinking that, and then as I got older, "No one ever gets their period..." Because I read Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret when I was in 1st or 2nd grade and it made NO sense to me all. Once it did click in my brain, I just assumed that all books with girls that age would mention it since it's such a major part of growing up...silly me.

[WokChop]

Are you familiar with this site? http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/21988/ ... ad-starter

lizziesmom, yeah, I came across that site a while back. Thanks. :) For my trial starters I have used stoneground cornmeal and whole milk. I think the problem lies in finding the right temperature and then being able to maintain that temperature.

I may or may not remember putting my white cotton underwear on my head, like Laura and Mary's sleep caps.

Haha! That's great!

[themadapple]

I remember thinking that, and then as I got older, "No one ever gets their period..." Because I read Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret when I was in 1st or 2nd grade and it made NO sense to me all. Once it did click in my brain, I just assumed that all books with girls that age would mention it since it's such a major part of growing up...silly me.

I've always wondered this, as well as how Ma might have had that delicate discussion about, er, her wifely duties? I was also curious about how that first night with Almanzo would have played out. Considering the time it was written and the audience to which it was written, no surprise that it wasn't included. But nonetheless :lol:

[Mythicwings]

I've always wondered this, as well as how Ma might have had that delicate discussion about, er, her wifely duties? I was also curious about how that first night with Almanzo would have played out. Considering the time it was written and the audience to which it was written, no surprise that it wasn't included. But nonetheless :lol:

For some reason the whole period thing was one of the things I wondered about when she stayed with looney Brewster lady while teaching. I mean she had to have gotten her period while there. That first weekend home, she washed all her "whites" so I assumed that's what she meant :D :lol: but man she got a lot of enjoyment washing those whites! Maybe she was just soooo happy to be away from that person for a couple of days.

[DarkAnts]

DON'T JUDGE ME!

I wont judge you. I may or may not have worn a straw hat most of my childhood because I wanted to be like Anne of Green Gables. I also did rag curls.

[themadapple]

I wont judge you. I may or may not have worn a straw hat most of my childhood because I wanted to be like Anne of Green Gables. I also did rag curls.

Hell, I have naturally curly hair and still did rag curls :lol: And as for Little House, I was one of those kids who tried to use fake maple syrup and grungy snow to make candy. Didn't work, obviously.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I may or may not remember putting my white cotton underwear on my head, like Laura and Mary's sleep caps.

Ha. The year I was in a DC elementary school I went on a trip to Colonial Williamsburg and got a proper sleeping cap, I was thrilled with it and you better believe that half the girls in the class were buying them purely because of "Little House."

Ah, the 70's...

FWIW "Anne of Green Gables" (a.k.a. 赤毛のアン) is HUUUUUUGE in Japan. Hordes of tourists go to PEI all the time and the whole bit, there is even a theme park of it in Japan.

[Mythicwings]

Ha. The year I was in a DC elementary school I went on a trip to Colonial Williamsburg and got a proper sleeping cap, I was thrilled with it and you better believe that half the girls in the class were buying them purely because of "Little House."

Ah, the 70's...

FWIW "Anne of Green Gables" (a.k.a. 赤毛のアン) is HUUUUUUGE in Japan. Hordes of tourists go to PEI all the time and the whole bit, there is even a theme park of it in Japan.

Oh cool! What is PEI? I know people who LOVE Anne!

Yeah I got a sleeping cap from Williamsburg, too! It's out in the garage somewhere.

[hagia sophia]

I had bought "The Wilder Life" when it first came out, but hadn't read it. When this thread started I pulled it out and finally read it. Now I come back to post and the thread is 21 pages long. Sheesh! It took me another two days to catch up!

Wendy, the author, spoke of thinking as a child that she'd imaging Laura coming into the present day and how she'd show her around and show her technogy. I did that! I still do it. I just finished reading a book about Thomas Jefferson and thought how I'd like show him around. I even imagined trying to explain Miracle Grow plant food! :lol:

[She Who Laughs]

Oh cool! What is PEI? I know people who LOVE Anne!

Yeah I got a sleeping cap from Williamsburg, too! It's out in the garage somewhere.

I believe she's referring to Prince Edward Island

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Yep, Prince Edward Island :)

[Mythicwings]

Thanks! I never got into Anne of Green Gables but one of my best friends LOVES her.

[Morton Fan]

Hell, I have naturally curly hair and still did rag curls :lol: And as for Little House, I was one of those kids who tried to use fake maple syrup and grungy snow to make candy. Didn't work, obviously.

Ha! Me too. I always tried to make things from the American Girls cookbooks, too (Kirsten especially - another pioneer girl), but never had much luck. I would have to use what my mom kept in the house, so I'd make substitutions like skim milk instead of heavy cream, etc.

[PennySycamore]

I wasn't judging you, contrary. I'm pretty sure my girls did the same thing.

It also brings back memories of Philip Roth's 1969 novel Portnoy's Complaint which was very racy. My parents confiscated my copy. Oddly enough, they did not throw it out.

[Wolfie]

And just the times. People didn't build 5,000 square foot McMansions just because they felt like it (hell, they couldn't have), and they didn't need all that space anyway because there wasn't as much "stuff" to be had, nor the massive consumption of easy to get things. That probably was a huge house for the time. My grandfather was born in a log cabin that was probably 250 square feet if that; I saw it when I was in my 20s and it's basically just a room with a hearth/crude fireplace and a door. He was the first of 12 kids and great-grandpa did eventually build a real two story farmhouse, but not until there were six people (two adults, four kids) living in that little cabin.

The farmhouse wasn't all that big, either, maybe 750 square feet on each floor -- kitchen, "great room" (livingroom), mom and dad's bedroom, and kind of a mudroom off the porch on the first floor, and the second floor had four (I think) small bedrooms. No closets. Hooks all along the walls to hang things. By the time I saw it, there was no furniture in it anymore, but the bedrooms were teeny and I don't know how they jammed beds, armoires and trunks (for clothes storage) in them and slept 12 people besides.

And the bigger house you had, the harder it was to heat in the winter. And more cleaning to do. Both were a lot of work without modern appliances.

My house is 1948 and the original part is about 800 sf. Even then it would have been a typical middle class home. It is in a rural area and was likely not on electricity, and I found where the original wood stove was when doing some work in the kitchen. (the pipe is still in the ceiling) Huge homes for the middle class are a relatively new thing.

[jenny_islander]

My sisters and I did our long hair in dozens of little braids overnight to make it super wavy, which apparently was in the books, although I don't recall where. It actually works really well.