by Sandra Merville Hart

I recently read On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Her family moved to Minnesota when she was seven and first stayed in a sod house built into the creek bank. The details of everyday life in the 1870s fascinated me.

The Ingalls family was very poor. They had moved into the sod house too late to plant crops so finances were tight. The author described the family’s Thanksgiving meal.

Cooking was challenging because there wasn’t a fireplace in the sod home. Their small stove didn’t have an oven.

Her pa had shot a wild goose for their supper that her ma cooked into a stew. She also made dumplings that were cooked in the gravy.

The family ate mashed potatoes and corn dodgers (hearty cornmeal bread similar to corn muffins) served with butter and stewed dried plums. Milk was their beverage.

What grabbed my attention is what they did to remember the humble meal of the Pilgrims before the Native Americans helped them.

Three grains of parched corns sat beside each tin plate, a tradition that reminded them that’s all the Pilgrims had to eat on the long-ago day. How their new neighbors changed the course of their lives that day! There was much to be grateful for.

Laura considered the corn a treat as she thought of the Pilgrims. It was crunchy and brown. The sweet taste crackled on her tongue as she ate it.

I love learning about long-forgotten holiday traditions. Some of them find a home in my historical novels. 😊

Sources

Wilder, Laura Ingalls. On the Banks of Plum Creek, HarperTrophy, 1971.