There is so much to be learned from the Little House books! As I read through the books I’ve been inspired by the heroic (in my opinion!) acts and the bravery of the pioneers. This collection of articles envelopes my thoughts on specific parts in the Little House on the Prairie book series. Many articles here are about how we at Little House Living relate to sections in the book and how you can be encouraged by these brave men and women.
Little House in the Big Woods
Little House on the Prairie
Farmer Boy
Baking Day
Bargaining
Contentment = Thrifty
On the Banks of Plum Creek
Expectations
Country Girls
Giving
By the Shores of Silver Lake
Mosquitoes and Pests
Trees
No Measuring Cups
Sourdough
Food Storing Containers
Free History
The Long Winter
Being Determined
Heroes and Cowards
Grinding Grains
Progression
Having Extras
Prepping
Setting Limits
Signs of Winter
Little Town on the Prairie
Wants Versus Needs
Always Something Good
Battles and Thankfulness
Time
These Happy Golden Years
Failure
Managing
Homesteading and Skills
What You Really Need
Take Them As They Come
Shiny Things
Luck
Wanting Your Needs
I love your newsletter! 🙂
I love your website. There is so much I have learned from it. Thank you!
Wow this is great! I want to buy all the Little House books for my baby daughter – and now reading your comments regarding them makes me want her to grow up faster so she is old enough to enjoy them!
Love everything I have read so far.
I just finished the Living Like Little House posts and enjoyed them so much! I would love to see more of your reflections on this wonderful book series!
Found you through a pin on Pinterest and all I can say is I am completely hooked. I am from a very small country town and am also a little over half Cherokee, so I have always been into everything earth, natural, raw organic. Such a cute, yet very informative blog you have here. Love it!!
Thank you! I’m glad you found your way here!
Hi, just wanna say Thank You for this wonderful website 🙂 I’ve read all the Little House books and much of the background stuff about Laura and her family.
Would love to be able to live like that in my country, but I’ll try to use some of your ideas 🙂
I love what your website has to offer. I have owned the entire set of ‘Little House’ books for many years now and enjoy them. Every year or so I pull them out during the cooler months and read each one of them. It never gets old.
Question for you or anyone reading this. Although I love LH books I was wondering if there were any similar books out there but from an adult perspective? Reading thru the eyes of a child was great, but to read thru from another “homesteader”, would be great. Anyone have any suggestions?
Lauraine Snelling’s RED RIVER OF THE NORTH series is wonderful! It is the perfect “adult” version of the Little House books. I have read the Little House series numerous times and have begun my second reading of the Red River series. Hope you enjoy them.
I love your website and newsletter, myself and about 10-12 persons I know are going to try to be ready for hard times. we all go threw these every year no matter how much planning is pre done.. the cost per person or household will go down for buying in bulk and same with canning all persons have been given your website link so they can see what I see…
I read my daughter the entire Little House series – twice! She loves it, and so do I. I’m new to your site, but I look forward to learning a lot. Thank you!
Love your site. Blessings to you and yours.
I love your site and appreciate all that you put into it for us. As for the mean people…. they can only lift themselves up by pushing others down. I’m sending virtual hugs for all your ‘down’ moments and a willing hand to help you up. God bless you and your family. ♥
This is absolutely the best website I have seen. I love it! Your hard work is so very appreciated.
I just wanted to thank you for your blog Merissa. I found it searching for “simple living” and “frugal living”. I wanted to find others who felt like me – & it’s just what I needed 🙂 It’s like a drink of fresh, clear water – sustaining and motivating and REAL.
I too feel a very strong pull to living life slower and with more simplicity. I can’t stand watching TV commercials and all the “noise” and illusion of marketing. We truly are brainwashed to buy buy buy. I have reduced my work outside the home to 3 days/week and aim to later go to 2 days. So many people are caught up in this consumer-madness. I was too in the past but I now feel like I just don’t need that anymore. Simple, frugal, quiet, reflective, nature, home… that’s what sustains me. So thank you for your blog! ~ Adrienne
I’m glad you found your way here Adrienne!
So happy to have found your blog (especially after looking at this particular page! My daughter is going to freak out when I show her this tomorrow!!). Found you through a search for “rag rugs” ^_^ We loved your simple method for that and will be trying it out as one of our winter projects (winter is on it’s way here in Australia ^_^). Thanks so much for all the information you have on here, and for the Breakfast eBook which is awesome. God bless you ^_^
I just want to tell you how enthused I am with your site. I’ve been on it for hrs. And can’t stop reading it. You are amazing. I want you to know how you have affected my life. I am in a very deep depression. I love sewing & any kind of crafts out there. My wonderful husband took our guest room and turned it into a whimsical studio for me in hoping that would get me motivated again but to know avail. But your site has opened my heart, mind & soul to just how blessed I am & how there are so many ways to get motivated to live a frugal life as the Ingalls did. Little House is one of the best shows I have ever read and watched on TV. We still watch them every day of the week that they are on. I would tell my husband how I would love to have had the opportunity to live as they did and have the love they did for each other. Even though a struggle for them, all the little things you are sharing with us will make me feel a part of their lives and I want and needed this guidance desperately, in regards to finances being the cause of my depression. I am so excited to get started and try the Mystery Shopper, something I’ve read about but was afraid it was a scam & girl, that’s right up my alley. I’ve been is office work mostly but I worked retail part-time also. Thank you so much. I feel as though one of my prayers have been answered. I hope you get to read this, sorry it’s so long, I have still more to say but I’m not going to do that to you. God bless you Melissa.
Good luck with everything Brenda! That studio your hubby made sounds amazing and like a great space. And I hope you have fun getting into mystery shopping, it can be a great way to get out there and do something a little different.
You are such a lovely and smart lady, sending love from croatia
Hi Merissa, I have enjoyed my visit here tonight. I was just thinking of reading the Little House books again. I also adopted 25 years ago. I joined your email list, and plan to visit again.
Hello Merissa! I just stumbled across your blog and love it. We began re-reading the Little House books just yesterday (it might be the third time now) and I agree with you– there is so much to learn from them.
Found your blog searching for some homesteading ideas/info. We live in the city and are sick and tired of all of it. We long to pack up and move our homeschooling family out into the country for a simpler more joyful life. Your story is very inspiring. You have a beautiful outlook on life and a joyful, perseverant spirit. What a blessing for all of you to have adopted those fortunate children. I wish you all the best and will keep visiting your blog. Thank you!
Welcome Karen! I’m glad you found your way here.
Hi Merissa,
I recently found your blog, and have really been enjoying this series of posts. Will you be adding more to your Living Like Little House series anytime soon?
I want to tell you, and your readers, about a really sweet book that I loved reading when my kids were growing up (they are all 18 and older now). Not many people seem to know about it, which is too bad because it is so lovely. It’s called Apple Tree Christmas. Here is the link to it.
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Christmas-Trinka-Hakes-Noble/dp/1585362700/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425432085&sr=8-1&keywords=apple+tree+christmas
Thank you for your blog!
Hi Merissa! I love your blog. I was at the library today and checked out the first four of the Little House books to begin re-reading the series. The last time I read them was when my girls were small. Now we are mini-homesteading on our little acre, with a garden, goats, and chickens. I find lots of useful info on your site, and I think it will be fun to re-read the Little House books with my new homesteading mindset! Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
I just found your website from the Money Smart Family website and I’m so excited. I love the Little House books and have red my set several times. A few years ago we were able to visit Laura and Almonzo’s houses in Missouri as well as the museum where we saw Pa’s fiddle and the wooden desk where the $100 bill they planned to use to buy their farm and thought was lost but has just slipped down in the lining and was found. We’re planning to visit South Dakota (we live in Idaho) this summer and hope to visit the Ingalls locations. I’m so happy that I’ve found your website and looking forward to spending time reading more of your articles about simple living and homesteading. We love on five acres and raise chicken for eggs and meat as well as have a large garden.
I have gotten addicted to these books! We live on an off grid farm, in a tiny cabin. I switched a few months ago from listening to the radio all day, to listening to these in audio book form. I find that I frequently switch back and forth between Little House in the Big Woods, and The First Four Years. That one rings true to me so often. I even managed to get my husband to listen to that one, one rainy afternoon.
I love the little house series! Me and my 7yr old are reading through them for our summer reading! She loves them such important values to teach.We do 3 chapters at a time and then she will write a summary for each and make a picture about it.At the end of each book she will have her own little book!
Hi Merissa,
I’ve just found you through a Pinterest pin – what an original, informative and beautiful blog. Although I live in the North of England I remember the Little House series very well from my 70’s childhood and how my best friend Alison and I used to love to snuggle up in front of the coal fire to watch it at my grandma’s house. I might just have to seek out those books now!
Thrifting was something I was very used to – my parents had been small children when WWII broke out and rationing began – and they have kept the make do and mend mind-set throughout their lives. I learned sewing, knitting, preserving and home repairs at their knees. My father was a coal miner and during the miners’ strike of 84 we had to make the most of every last thing we had. Yet Christmas that year is still the best one of my memory. They still live simply but their careful ways has meant they can be comfortable in their retirement. There is a lot to be said for a simple life. The materialism that we face today is so vulgar and damaging to the individual and society as a whole – I hope more people turn to living simply and being content with what they have.
Keep up the good work!
p.s. Have you ever seen the old BBC sitcom ‘The Good Life’? If not you must seek it out. It’s from 70s but I think you’d enjoy it xxx
Thanks for the tip, I will have to look up that series 🙂
You are seriously my hero right now. I happened upon your blog a couple of weeks ago and thought it was a really cool idea, because I loved the Little House books when I was a kid (ok, still do). I was busy that day so didn’t have much time to look around and get a feel for the site. Well, just few days ago my boyfriend and I decided to finally make our dream of full-time camper living a reality. I reached out to the internets for a little confirmation that we aren’t crazy and BOOM Little House Living. Everything on your site is such an inspiration and I was amazed to see how many other people are living this lifestyle. I am really excited to see where this journey will take me, best wishes to you and everyone else on the journey to live more simply!!
–B
Hi Merissa, I found your treasure of a blog from the 2016 Crew Blog Roll. What a blessing it is to find your blog! I’m taking a break from the Crew this year, but I still wanted to say hello and share how excited I am to find your lovely blog! We are doing the Prairie Primer this spring and I’m thrilled to have your blog as a resource! Thank you for all the precious resources you have shared here! I’ll be hanging around a bit if you don’t mind. *Ü*
So excited i found this, every time i read these books i am inspired to live simpler and with purpose. I drive my family crazy with all my stories of how Laura lived.