Day 3 - Desmet, SD

Day 3 of our trip was a visit to Desmet, SD, the childhood home of Laura Ingalls Wilder. We visited the Ingalls Homestead which was the land her Pa was given to farm. It consisted of 157 acres. Laura Ingalls based many of the stories she wrote on this land.

Look how beautiful the surrounding prairie is.

Inside the visitor's center, they had a short film explaining the "Homestead Act" and how Pa Ingalls came to acquire all of this land.  It was fun and educational for all.   Of  course we had to buy traditional bonnets for the girls.  Surprisingly Katie was excited to wear it (Usually she won't wear anything that's not blinged out a little).

Check out the kids sitting in a prairie wagon and playing on old fashioned playground equipment.  It's amazing sometimes how they can keep themselves entertained without electronics.

Next up were two different types of homes built back in those days (at least if you were the Ingalls and not the Olsons). They wanted you to visit both and decide if it would be better to live in a Sod house or a Shanty.

Sod

Shanty

I decided on Shanty, even though it is much, much hotter, I couldn't stand not having any light and having dirt with bugs as my walls.  John and Sam would've chosen the sod house and the girls wouldv'e chosen the Shanty as well.  What would you have chosen?  Next up was the barn.  They even had a baby calf inside.

Next the kids got to try their hand at pumping water by hand from a well.  Not easy work.  It takes a lot to fill a bucket.

Next the girls got to learn what it took to do laundry by hand.  One day every week was devoted to laundry and one day was devoted to ironing.  What a lot of work.  Plus they were using soap made from lye.  It didn't smell good at all.

This is another house on the property where the tour guide talked about cooking, sewing and everything necessary to keep the home.

Next the kids tried their hand at roping a "cow". It was a lot harder than it looked

The kids got to ride a small pony.

Next came a ride in an old fashioned wagon across the prairie just like the Ingalls used to do.

The wagon took us over to the old fashioned school where they got to dress up and sit in old fashioned desks. 

The girls learned how to make corn cob dolls.

And Jack and John learned how to make flour out of wheat.

The kids also got to make their own ropes.

And here they are trying them out while jumproping across the prairie.

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And here's Jack checking out an old time potty.

And finally.

Then we headed to the Corn Palace.  See the next blog.