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- posted by pioneergirl at 12:01 AM

 
1933

- posted by pioneergirl at 11:25 PM

 
"so long as we keep on eating, we don't have to do the dishes"
Yesterday, being International Pancake Day, seemed like a good day to make some buckwheat pancakes. While Laura Ingalls Wilder writes about pancakes in almost every "Little House" books (no pancakes in On the Banks of Plum Creek), readers most often associate them with Almanzo Wilder, who seems to be able to eat enough pancakes in one sitting to feed a family of four. Mother Wilder cooks ten pancakes at a time in Farmer Boy, and the family eats "pile after pile" of them. In The Long Winter, it's learned that Almanzo can make even better pancakes than his mother, and he eats at least twenty-one of them in one sitting. He didn't bother to count the ones he ate while Royal was doing the chores.

Do you know what Mother Wilder's pancake rule was? In the "Little House" books, a rule is the same as a receipt, which is the same as a recipe. In my case, I should have remembered the rule not to run get your camera to photograph pancakes while you still have some on the stove, because that batch will surely burn. The fantastic Little House Cookbook (by Barbara Walker, 1979) contains recipes for both buckwheat pancakes (The Long Winter) and pancake men (Little House in the Big Woods), but here's a recipe for common pancakes, courtesy of Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine, September 1874:

Make a light batter of three spoonfulls of flour, three eggs well beaten, and half a pint of milk, some of which, with the eggs, is to be mixed with the flour; to the other part, put a quarter of a pound of butter melted. Then mix altogether, and put into the frying-pan in a very thin layer. Fry with lard or dripping; but do not put any butter into the pan to fry them after the first frying, as they will give out enough afterwards to keep up the stock. Sugar should be served to eat with them. Or, when eggs are scarce, make the batter with flour, small beer, ginger, etc. Or, clean snow with flour, and very little milk will serve, but not nearly as well as eggs.

A couple of fun pancake trivia bits from the LH books:

In The Long Winter, Pa is invited to eat pancakes and bacon with Royal and Almanzo. There was molasses on the table and the coffeepot was boiling. In the manuscript, the boys send Pa home with a bottle of molasses. Awwwwww!!

In Little House on the Prairie, Laura and Mary wake up to the smell of bacon and coffee and they hear pancakes sizzling. In the manuscript, it's that they could smell bacon and coffee and see Ma frying pancakes. In one version of the manucript, they could see her frying them in the spider over some coals.

I listened hard, and I couldn't hear much sizzling coming from my pancakes.
- posted by pioneergirl at 9:31 PM

 
it's the middle of february and there's no more wheat

At the beginning of Chapter 23 ("The Wheat in the Wall") in Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter, Laura asks what month it is, to which Ma replies that "It is the middle of February." The middle of February was when the Ingalls family ran out of wheat, and soon, all thoughts would be on the effort by Almanzo Wilder and Cap Garland to make the dangerous journey to find more.

While visiting De Smet for Old Settler's Day in the 1930s, Laura Ingalls Wilder also "went looking" for Mr. Anderson, the soddy-dwelling Hard Winter bachelor who not only managed to grow 30-40 bushels of wheat per acre of virgin sod, but also dared to want to hang onto that seed instead of selling it to save the town of De Smet from starvation (pay no attention to those cows in the barn), while Almanzo Wilder was mythologized into a figure of heroic proportions for talking Mr. Anderson out of that wheat instead of parting with his own.

Mr. Anderson's grand-daughter wrote:

While visiting my brother several years ago, he told me about Laura Ingalls Wilder, and three other ladies from De Smet, South Dakota, driving out to my grandfather's farm in North Preston, a rural community North and East of Lake Preston, to verify the fact about the men coming to his sod shanty for the purchase of the wheat, before writing the book. They arrived in an open two-seated buggy, similar to a surrey with the fringe on top. I have heard from many of the old timers and neighbors that my grandfather could and did drive a hard bargain upon occasion and the chapter in the book confirms this fact. This chapter is Chapter 27, For Daily Bread...

It turns out that this Anderson grandfather wasn't even in Kingsbury County during the Hard Winter, nor was her other grandfather, also an early homesteader. But it's interesting to note that Laura went looking for Mr. Anderson in a totally different direction than he is said to be in Pioneer Girl, the Hard Winter manuscript, and in The Long Winter.

Wilder's The Hard Winter manuscript - both the version handwritten in orange school tablets and the typed copy sent to agent George Bye (folder label shown above) - are archived in The Burton Historical Collection of the Detroit Public Library. The manuscript for These Happy Golden Years is also part of the collection.
- posted by pioneergirl at 6:04 PM

 
"what do you say, laura?"

When all the trading was done, the storekeeper gave Mary and Laura each a piece of candy. They were so astonished and so pleased that they just stood looking at their candies... Both pieces of candy were white, and flat and thin and heart-shaped. There was printing on them, in red letters. - Little House in the Big Woods, Chapter 9, "Going to Town"

In the 1860s, Daniel Chase of Massachusetts began printing mottoes on lozenge candy that had been rolled, pressed, and cut into hearts, horseshoes, miniature postcards, or other shapes.

In Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder writes that at the store in Pepin, Wisconsin, Mary and Laura were given candy hearts with sayings on them. Laura's said "Sweets to the Sweet" - Mary's had a whole poem on it: "Roses are red / Violets are blue / Sugar is sweet - And so are you." Popular for weddings, early conversation candies may even have been printed with the saying found in These Happy Golden Years: "Married in black, you'll wish yourself back."

You can easily make your own "Little House" candy hearts using the same ingredients found in the original: powdered sugar, corn syrup, water and gelatin. They can easily be tinted and/or flavored.

To make the hearts, first: wash your hands! Then measure 1 teaspoon Knox gelatin, 1/4 cup water, and 1 teaspoon light Karo syrup in a microwave-safe bowl. Stir, microwave on high for about 20 seconds, and stir until well mixed.

Pour the gelatin mixture into the bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment. You can mix them by hand but it will be much, much harder. Add powdered sugar - a half cup at a time (you'll need a one pound box, plus a little extra for rolling and cutting) - mixing well after each addition. Stop and scrape the sides of the bowl often. The mixture will go from a watery liquid to a dough that is quite stiff.

Once you've reached the "play-doh" stage, remove the ball of dough to a wooden cutting board dusted lightly with powdered sugar. Knead until smooth and elastic, then roll flat. I used 8mm diameter knitting needles on either side of the dough in order to roll to a uniform thickness. It's best to work in small batches, since the dough immediately starts to dry. Cover unworked dough with a moist towel, or a thin crust will form while you're waiting.

Cut the flattened dough into heart shapes using a cookie cutter, and place candies onto a piece of parchment paper to dry for at least 24 hours before stamping; the ink will run if the candies aren't completely dry. This recipe will make about forty 2-inch hearts.

I used an inexpensive printing kit from the office supply store to make stamps with the sayings from the "Little House" book; use food-safe ink for stamping. You can also write directly onto the dry candies with a food-safe marker. In the past, I've used these stamps to made fimo hearts to use as Christmas decorations; I've also stamped shrink plastic to make tiny hearts to dangle from a ribbon bookmark (make sure you punch a hole in the plastic before shrinking). If you're careful, you can also stamp royal frosting on heart-shaped cookies. And... you can even use them on paper Valentine's Day hearts in greeting cards!
- posted by pioneergirl at 2:14 PM

 
"a kiss without a mustache is like an egg without salt"

How well do you know Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" mustachioed friends and family members? Almanzo Wilder grew a mustache after his marriage, and he apparently sported one for the rest of his life.

Some of these photos are easy to identify; a couple might be new to you. Come back on Monday to see how well you did. xxx and Happy Birthday, Almanzo!
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THE MAN BEHIND THE MUSTACHE: A. Hiram Ingalls (Laura's uncle), B. Charles Tinkham (the "bald-headed furniture guy"), C. Elmer McConnell (Ida's beau), D. Thomas Ruth (the banker who could afford to burn lumber), E. Royal Wilder, F. Cap Garland (he could make the toughest railroader back down), G. Joseph Carpenter (crew of the sailing craft "Edith"), H. Almanzo Wilder, I. Ben Woodworth (lived in the depot), J. Thomas Thayer (Eliza Jane's first husband), K. Johnny Johnson (he slept with the cows), L. Peter Ingalls (Laura's cousin), M. Eleck Nelson (Plum Creek neighbor), N. Jacob Hopp (newspaperman and printer), O. Almanzo Wilder, P. Charley Power (he got up off a pin)
- posted by pioneergirl at 9:35 PM

 
the latest and newest under the sun

Desiring to give a new zest to social gatherings someone not long ago hit upon the device of Wristlet Parties -- so called from each lady invited being required to furnish a pair of wristlets for the occasion; one of which she retained for her own use, its fellow being forwarded to the party committee. On the evening appointed for the gathering, each gentleman-guest before entering the room selected a wristlet from a basket outside; and then proceeded to look up the lady wearing its fellow, upon whom he was bound to dance attendance until the party broke up. - Chamber's Journal of Popular Literature, 1880

In Laura Ingalls Wilder's By the Shores of Silver Lake (Chapter 21, "Merry Christmas"), Mr. Boast's present is a pair of wristlets, knitted in red and gray stripes. Laura doesn't tell us whether these stripes were horizontal or vertical. Ma had made the wristlets for Pa, but "the company must have Christmas presents" (the Boasts had arrived unexpectedly on Christmas eve), and Ma could always knit more. Mr. Boast was pleased with his gift, which fitted him perfectly.

A wristlet was pulled on over the hand and was worn against bare skin and covering the wrist; it added an extra layer of protection between the coat sleeve and the glove. While Mr. Boast's wristlets may have been shaped to flare slightly below the thumb and/or over the muscles of the forearm, they also could have been knitted tubes from four to eight (or more) inches long. The wristlets pictured were knitted of fisherman's wool - 42 stitches around on size 8 needles - with ribbing at each end. They were felted slightly for added warmth.

Wristlets can also be knitted or crocheted with either a thumb-slit or thumb-tube; these are often called "fingerless gloves." They are quite fashionable today, and with fingers and thumb free, they allow for dexterity not possible in full gloves or mittens while still offering some warmth and protection. Today, a small purse with a strap is also called a wristlet, but this was not the item described in the "Little House" book!

It was believed that wearing a warm pair of wristlets was almost equal to an additional garmet for keeping the whole body warm. The blood at pulse points was said to be very close to the surface, and by keeping this area protected, the whole circulation was favorably improved. (American Agriculturist, 1873) Knitted wristlets were worn by young and old, and were often finished at the hand by a narrow fringe, crocheted border, or knitted ruffle.
- posted by pioneergirl at 10:15 PM