We lived this book.
Dear Readers,
We read this book together as a family many years ago. We loved it so much we lived it. We moved back east, being modern day pioneers. On the way we visited Laura Ingalls Wilder museums in the different locations.
We moved to rural KY, bought 25 acres, and waited for money to build. We lived on the land, carried water, built our own house with our own trees when we got around to it.
It's just amazingly wonderful to understand that one CAN live without modern stuff for awhile. When reading the books, we can see that they had an actually fine, comfortable, life with family togetherness, singing together. When the year 2000 came around we were finally living in our second, BIGGER debt-free house, but the birds were still flying through. We had not yet gotten indoor plumbing. We were still using candles and kerosene lanterns because the electricity wasn't completed. We sent out Christmas greetings that said, "We are 1900 compliant."
We hear cayotes. We used a home made ladder. We had seven kids and two parents. We started with a covered wagon (well, two covered wagons: a 1988 Ford Van, and a 1954 Airstream trailer.) and came across the country from OR.
Read the book to see how the real, original "Pa" Ingalls pioneered in 1872 or so in Oklahoma Territory (later Kansas). It's nothing like the TV series.
This book is more like a how-to than a TV drama, "This is the recipe we cooked, this is how we did the garden, this is how we watched the Indians. This is what we sang." It's all from the eyes of a very young Laura. It's a true story, but the publisher made them call it historical fiction for some reason.
It's actually not the first book in the series. First you could read, "Little House in the Big Woods." There are seven books in this series. The best version is written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and illustrated by Garth Williams.
Now we have all of the conveniences. That was just for a time.
Sincerely,
Barbara
