by Sarah Lagrotteria

in our love of Laura Ingalls Wilder (see Why A &O? on our homepage).  This made me very, very happy.  The wannabe writer in me has always remembered and loved the line Wells picks out for how gracefully it expresses a child’s understanding of the rhythms of farm life- “And that was the end of the pig’s tail. There would not be another one till next year.”

I confess that while reading these books as a child I had a hard time connecting the pig slaughter and the tree tapping episodes to actual food.  As a little girl I was more interested in “dress up”-specifically Laura’s Aunt Ruby putting on her garnet earrings and brushing her hair for a dance party. Cue Pa’s fiddle! -than I was in food production.  Not that I’m the only one.  As a country, we weren’t much for the process of farm-to-table in those days.  It’s nice to watch things change.

xoxosl