Land of Laura: the Podcast

In 1974, Ed Friendly created the Little House on the Prairie TV show with Michael Landon. Creative differences spurred Ed to leave the show early on, though he still produced it.This July, a new Little House on the Prairie comes to the small screen. It's executive produced by Friendly Family Productions, where Ed's son, Trip, is the CEO. Today Trip is our guest on Land of Laura, along with his daughter, Rebecca, COO of the company. They're both excited for the new Little House on the Prairie, and want to share how this new adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books came to be.

Author Nancy McCabe listened to several episodes of Land of Laura and heard the guests share their origin stories. She thought: what about Sandra Hume's origin story? In this episode Nancy turns the tables on Sandra and asks what brought the podcast host into the world of Little House. Sandra shares her history with creating the Homesteader newsletter, co-founding the Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association and its LauraPalooza conference, publishing the Land of Laura travel guides to the Wilder homesites in the upper Midwest, starting the Land of Laura podcast, and writing her young-adult novel, No Shade on the Prairie, about a Little House road trip.

Historian Michelle Marie Martin, PhD, was with the Little House on the Prairie Museum at Independence, Kansas from2008-2015, the last four years as executive director of the site. In this episode Dr. Martin shares the history of the site, the complicated history of the Osage land, how living history can be a tool for learning, and why the African American doctor who cared for the Ingalls family, George Tann, is so darn interesting.Every August the Little House on the Prairie Museum hosts Carrie Days in honor of the August 3rd birthday of Carrie Ingalls, who was born at the site.www.lhopmuseum.com 

Erin Blakemore is a journalist, historian, and author of the book The Heroine's Bookshelf. Here's part 2 of her interview where she details the magic of listening to the Little House books on audiobook for the first time. Erin shares several of her revelations, including how she feels Laura Ingalls Wilder used horses as a vehicle to communicate sensuality and sexuality when she didn't have the words to do it otherwise. Also, in the midst of narrator Cherry Jones' brilliance, the few things she got painfully wrong.

Erin Blakemore is a journalist, historian, and author of the book The Heroine's Bookshelf. Recently after brain surgery she turned to the the comfort of her beloved Little House books in a way she never had before: by listening to them on audio. Erin's first time listening to Cherry Jones' masterful narration of the entire Little House series was transformative. In the first of two episodes, Erin shares that experience with Land of Laura's listeners and offers commentary of her own on the enduring impact of Laura Ingalls Wilder's stories on our collective cultural history. https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-heroines-bookshelf-erin-blakemore?variant=44503652106274

With fully half of the books taking place there, De Smet, Dakota Territory — South Dakota today — is the pinnacle of Little House homesites. By the Shores of Silver Lake, The Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, and These Happy Golden Years are all grounded in the tiny town of De Smet.From the Surveyors' House to the house Pa built on Third Street to a robust collection of Ingalls and Wilder artifacts, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society is responsible for overseeing and preserving the bulk of what visitors get to see in De Smet.This week's Land of Laura welcomes Mary Jo Wertz, Executive Director of De Smet's Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society. Learn how she came into the position, what it's like to head up the Society as a former pharmacist, and what visitors can expect in 2026 and beyond — including a few unexpected surprises. (Really!)www.discoverlaura.org