All of us lucky readers who have been able to find and enjoy the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, will never forget them.
The classic Little House books introduced us to a little pioneer girl on the American frontier. As she lived through those turbulent times, facing grave hardships and innocent pleasures with her family, we were spellbound by the stories of a different and now almost forgotten America.
Laura Ingalls Wilder is a writer famous for enchanting the world with her nine Little House books which told the
stories of her life as a pioneer girl. She was born in the Big Woods on February 7, 1867. When she was still a baby her parents decided to leave the Big Woods.
They moved to a farm near Missouri and a year later they moved to land on the prairie in Kansas. Two years later they had to leave their little house on the prairie as it belonged to Indians. They went back to the Big Woods and again lived in the same house that they had left!
As they shifted from one house to the next, Laura and her sisters Mary and Carrie, and a little brother called Charles Frederic had many amazing adventures and dangerous mishaps! But it was only when Laura Ingalls Wilder was in her fifties that the stories came pouring out of her memories.
Laura’s original manuscripts were handwritten on paper tablets!
If you have read any of the Little House Books you will love to find The World of Little House written by Carolyn Strom Collins and Christina Wyss Eriksson. These two writers had read these books as children, and as they lived very near the world of the writer, they dived into it to discover many new stories that Laura had not written about!
Their book has nine chapters, each packaged around one of Laura’s nine Little House books, telling us more about the stories, houses, foods, activities, and pioneer life that fascinated the world so much. One exciting chapter tells us about events of Laura’s childhood that are not in any of the books! You can learn to make homemade butter, fried apples ‘n’ onions, Pulled Molasses Candy, or play the thimble game!
The World of Little House by Carolyn Strom Collins and Christina Wyss Eriksson, HarperCollinsPublishers is available at Amazon.com.
Another place to find such rare books is at second hand book stores and at book fairs. The book fair now running in Bangalore should yield many such treats for you if you search for treasures.
Let us learn to make the Geraniums in Decorated Tin Cans! In Laura’s days the pretty tin cans came from the general stores of those days. You too will find pretty tin cans from your mother’s kitchens.
1. You will need: one geranium plant in a pot, one tin can that is a little larger and taller than the pot, with all labels removed, permanent markers or acrylic paint, gravel.
2. Using acrylic paint, draw your favourite designs on the tin can. You can paste a lovely piece of fabric around the can, or glue small beads or shells on it. You can find pretty, waste cut pieces in tailor’s shops.
3. When the can dries, put a layer of gravel about two inches deep in the tin can.
4. Set the geranium plant, in its pot, in the can so it rests on the gravel.
5. You can even try out some other favourite plant, like an African
violet, a begonia or even a chrysanthemum, or a golden
yellow marigold.
6. Find a sunny spot for it, water the geranium or the marigold, often to keep the soul damp. But do not wet it too much. Pick off the dried blossoms.
