Mergath Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 has got to be reading Little House in the Big Woods and Farmer Boy. We just finished up the former and are partway through the latter, and good lord, all she talks about is food. I haven't stopped baking things since we started them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momacacia Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Yep. Too Many Afternoons Cuddled in Bed with Read-Alouds=Too Little Exercise for Mama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgiana Daniels Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Yeah, let's go with that! It's better than blaming it on my supreme lack of self control when hubby brings home 5 pies and I-can't-even-count-how-many ice creams and thinks I won't eat it all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 You mean it's not the Nutella? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truscifi Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 You mean it's not the Nutella? Surely not! That's healthy! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
besroma Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErinE Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Farmer Boy makes me drool every time I read it. When I was kid, this was my favorite cookbook to browse through. I remember the recipes were kinda meh, but the idea of all that food.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forget-Me-Not Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 I'm always stunned at the amount of food Almanzo eats in Farmer Boy! I guess it must have been the long, long hours of hard physical labor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sisyphus Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 I have the cure, get the little house cookbook. We did years ago when the kids were little and...yuch.:ack2::ack2:no sugar, or not enough. Everything I thought would taste great? Didn't! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 I'm always stunned at the amount of food Almanzo eats in Farmer Boy! I guess it must have been the long, long hours of hard physical labor. I was stunned! Then I woke up one morning with teenage boys and reality set in with a bang! :glare: Seriously, all three are Almanzo Wilders. I don't even know where they put it...hollow legs or something. Two are slightly underweight for their height, and one is medically off the charts low for his height (currently 5' 8.5" and weighing in at 90.2 lbs. :001_huh:) It's a good thing we stopped having children. What if we'd had more and they were, gasp, male eating machines???? :willy_nilly: The book sounded great as a kid, but now that I'm really weary of fixing meals, I don't know if I should feel compassion for Mrs. Wilder, or should feel or rage towards Laura for even putting all of that on paper! Mergath, so what exactly are you baking? Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arstephia Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 We listened to Farmer Boy on audio while on a long car trip on vacation a few years ago. With all of the food talk we snacked on our entire snack stash - which should have lasted a few days - all in the 8 hour trip! So I totally agree with your theory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 If you go on a tour of the Wilder house in upstate NY they address the food issue. Laura grew up so hungry. She experienced real deprivation. I am hardly 5' tall, and I was told I would tower over Laura. Almanzo grew up with a relatively wealthy family. They never went without and often had more than many. His adult life was very difficult though. The thinking is that Laura heard stories from Almanzo about the food he ate when he was a child and was just amazed. The historical society in charge of the house is of the opinion that she was fantasizing a great deal. The meals she describes were all the sort of thing a family might serve for a major holiday, but really not for every day. It just isn't realistic. So, enjoy the story and think about a hungry girl making up the most delicious food she could imagine. And, I saw the kitchen, pantry and store room myself and they were tiny! There really wasn't enough room to store all those pies, breads etc. From a logistical standpoint it would have been very difficult. It is a great tour and I highly recommend it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 I'm always stunned at the amount of food Almanzo eats in Farmer Boy! I guess it must have been the long, long hours of hard physical labor. Yeah, we were just listening to Farmer Boy -- my kids were like, "Almanzo had pie AND doughnuts AND oatmeal for breakfast on the same day!" I think the cure is to read The Long Winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 If you go on a tour of the Wilder house in upstate NY they address the food issue. Laura grew up so hungry. She experienced real deprivation. I am hardly 5' tall, and I was told I would tower over Laura. Almanzo grew up with a relatively wealthy family. They never went without and often had more than many. His adult life was very difficult though. The thinking is that Laura heard stories from Almanzo about the food he ate when he was a child and was just amazed. The historical society in charge of the house is of the opinion that she was fantasizing a great deal. The meals she describes were all the sort of thing a family might serve for a major holiday, but really not for every day. It just isn't realistic. So, enjoy the story and think about a hungry girl making up the most delicious food she could imagine. And, I saw the kitchen, pantry and store room myself and they were tiny! There really wasn't enough room to store all those pies, breads etc. From a logistical standpoint it would have been very difficult. It is a great tour and I highly recommend it. That's VERY interesting. Were the Ingalls girls tiny from genetics (it didn't sound like Ma was a big woman and she seemed to come from a more financially stable family) or was there enough malnutrition in their younger years to stunt their growth? Except for the Long Winter, and that initial period of time on the prairie when they ate mostly salt pork and some grains, I never though of them as going hungry. Did she pad her stories to make it seem that they ate far more than they did? In the Big Woods, she made it sound as though they really had a LOT of food put up for the winter and were successful at providing the basics. I'm wondering just how much of that was fluff in order to sell the books as children's literature during an era in history when people were much more conservative about what their children read in terms of real hardships, suffering, and death. Hmmmm.... Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 has got to be reading Little House in the Big Woods and Farmer Boy. We just finished up the former and are partway through the latter, and good lord, all she talks about is food. I haven't stopped baking things since we started them. Wait till you get to the one where they're starving in the blizzard. I have read others' views that she really gets into the food in Farmer Boy (food she never ate!) as almost a dream or fantasy compared to her own life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 (edited) I think in the past people who had lots of food, like Almanzo's family, ate huge breakfasts. They worked very hard outside all day long. The big breakfast really would keep them going. Edited October 9, 2012 by melissaL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GailV Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Wait till you get to the one where they're starving in the blizzard. I have read others' views that she really gets into the food in Farmer Boy (food she never ate!) as almost a dream or fantasy compared to her own life. I'd heard that, too, that she was sort of obsessed with the food due to having gone without so much. I assumed she and her sibs were tiny due to lack of food. The second time through the blizzard (that is, the second time we read the series aloud) I decided her sister was gluten intolerant. But maybe she was simply starving at a critical time in her development. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasider Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 :lol::lol::lol: And if you read it in the WINTER, double gain! It's just too much comfort food! But ya know what? No high fructose corn syrup... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted October 9, 2012 Author Share Posted October 9, 2012 Mergath, so what exactly are you baking? Faith The day before yesterday, I baked a pumpkin pie completely from scratch. Yesterday, I baked a huge loaf of bread. And an apple galette. And we made a big pot of homemade apple sauce. I was going to bake another pumpkin pie, but dh was looking at me with a good deal of fear in his eyes, so I stopped. Still have that last pumpkin to use up, though... ;) Also, since finishing Big House in the Little Woods I keep having the urge to smoke large quantities of meat out in the yard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted October 9, 2012 Author Share Posted October 9, 2012 Except for the Long Winter, and that initial period of time on the prairie when they ate mostly salt pork and some grains, I never though of them as going hungry. Did she pad her stories to make it seem that they ate far more than they did? In the Big Woods, she made it sound as though they really had a LOT of food put up for the winter and were successful at providing the basics. I'm wondering just how much of that was fluff in order to sell the books as children's literature during an era in history when people were much more conservative about what their children read in terms of real hardships, suffering, and death. Hmmmm.... Faith :iagree: We just finished that one not too long ago, and there is food in every. Single. Chapter. They're either smoking meat, or butchering a hog, or storing massive amounts of vegetables, or baking for Christmas, or eating themselves silly at a dance, or... Yeah. Based solely on the book, I'd never have dreamed they went hungry at that point in their lives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Also, since finishing Big House in the Little Woods I keep having the urge to smoke large quantities of meat out in the yard. :smilielol5::smilielol5::smilielol5:Post the pics please! Faith - kicking herself off the boards to finish getting ready for houseguest and force her sons to write essays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted October 9, 2012 Author Share Posted October 9, 2012 :smilielol5::smilielol5::smilielol5:Post the pics please! Faith - kicking herself off the boards to finish getting ready for houseguest and force her sons to write essays. We really could have done it last year- we used to have a big smoker out in the yard, but someone stole it. :glare: I'll have to see if I can find a hollow tree and a box of nails. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trresh Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 (edited) If you go on a tour of the Wilder house in upstate NY they address the food issue. Laura grew up so hungry. She experienced real deprivation. I am hardly 5' tall, and I was told I would tower over Laura. Almanzo grew up with a relatively wealthy family. They never went without and often had more than many. His adult life was very difficult though. I remember reading somewhere that Almanzo was only 5'4". I wonder if genetics affected his height. Edited October 9, 2012 by Trresh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allearia Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 We are just about to start reading this with my younger ds, I thought he would love Farmer Boy. I have read all of them over and over. I think we should get a donut jar and keep it well stocked as a project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 has got to be reading Little House in the Big Woods and Farmer Boy. We just finished up the former and are partway through the latter, and good lord, all she talks about is food. I haven't stopped baking things since we started them. Do you own the Little House Cookbook? It is literally on my nightstand :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 I think we should get a donut jar and keep it well stocked as a project. Genius! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwallowTail Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 You are *not* kidding, especially Farmer Boy. The pies, the doughnuts, the yummy smells wafted through the pages, I swear. My dd and I had to have long talks about why it wasn't too bad for them to eat the way they did. They were physically active all day long, even in the middle of the night, and it was coooold. They needed sustenance. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Do you own the Little House Cookbook? It is literally on my nightstand :D I just recently ran across this and have been reading it. It is fascinating! One of the things that really struck me about it is just how new and uncommon white sugar is in human history. Another is how relentlessly less sweet things must have been in general, historically. For instance, even jams were made with half ripe and half unripe fruit, on purpose, so that the pectin from the unripe fruit would make them firm up. So they really sound more like savory sauces than like jams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momacacia Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 My husband cries through Farmer Boy. I thought it was his relating to Almonzo winning the state fair prize and other boyhood accomplishments ... Now I realize it's probably the food! "if only my wife would cook for me like this I'd be a truly happy man!" :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted October 9, 2012 Author Share Posted October 9, 2012 Do you own the Little House Cookbook? It is literally on my nightstand :D *snort* Like I need MORE recipes. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted October 9, 2012 Author Share Posted October 9, 2012 My husband cries through Farmer Boy. I thought it was his relating to Almonzo winning the state fair prize and other boyhood accomplishments ... Now I realize it's probably the food! "if only my wife would cook for me like this I'd be a truly happy man!" :lol: :lol::lol::lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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