The pantry in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s book By The Shores of Silver Lake sustained the Ingalls family during the winter of 1879-1880.

Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family spent the winter of 1879-1880 in the Surveyor’s House located in DeSmet, South Dakota. Wilder wrote about that long ago homestead pantry in her 1939 book By The Shores of Silver Lake. The description of their homestead pantry supplies and the food stores the surveyors had stocked for the winter on the frontier, in a place and a time when the occupants of the house would be far from any stores in which to resupply over the winter, are fascinating to read. The pantry was stocked in the fall for the winter ahead and recalls the food stored away for the winter in our post on the Little House in the Big Woods.

The first description of the homestead pantry in the Surveyor house is from Laura’s point of view as she explores the house for the first time on page 144:

Surveyor House homestead pantry

“Softly Laura opened the middle door.  She was surprised.  Steeply up in front of her went a stair, just the width of the door.  She looked up, and saw the underside of a slanting roof high overhead. She went up a few steps, and a big attic opened out on both sides of the stairs.  It was twice as big as the large room downstairs. A window at each gable end lighted the whole empty place under the roof.

That made three rooms already, and still there was another door.  Laura thought there must have been a great many surveyors to need so much space. This would be by far the largest house she had ever lived in.

She opened the third door. A squeal of excitement came out of her mouth and startled the listening house. There before her eyes was a little store. All the walls of that small room were shelves, and on the shelves were dishes, and pots and pans, and boxes, and cans. All around under the shelves stood barrels and boxes.

The first barrel was nearly full of flour. The second held corn meal. The third had a tight lid, and it was full of pieces of fat, white pork held down in brown brine.  Laura had never seen so much salt pork at one time. There was a wooden box full of square soda crackers, and a box full of slabs of salted fish. There was a large box of dried apples, and two sacks full of potatoes, and another big sack nearly full of beans.

The wagon was at the door.  Laura ran out, shouting. “Oh, Ma, come quick and see! There’s so many things— And a big attic, Mary! And a stove, and crackers, soda crackers!” Ma looked at everything and she was pleased.  “It’s very nice, I’m sure,” she said.  “And so clean.  We can get settled here in a jiffy. Bring me the broom, Carrie.”

Surveyor’s House is now a historic site in DeSmet. Image via Public Domain, Link

First dinner in the Surveyor House

There is some more about the pantry supplies and stores during the supper on page 146, as well as a mention of washing the dishes in the “handy pantry” further in:

“Supper was a feast.  The surveyors’ pretty dishes made the table gay. Little sour cucumber pickles, from a jar the surveyors had left, made the warmed-over roast duck and fried potatoes taste different.  And after they were eaten, Ma stepped into the pantry and brought out— ”Guess what,” she said. She set before each of them a little dish of canned peaches and two soda crackers! “We’ll have a treat,” she said, “to celebrate living in a house again.”

It was fine to be eating in such a large place, with a board floor, and the glass windows glittering black against the night outside.  Slowly, slowly they ate the smooth, cool peaches and the sweet golden juice, and carefully licked their spoons.

Then the dishes were quickly cleared away and washed in the handy pantry. The table’s leaves were dropped the red-and-white checked cloth spread, and the bright shining lamp set on its center.”

Sourdough starter

And there is also a wonderful description of how to make starter and sourdough biscuits on pages 195-196 when Mrs. Boast comes to visit the family for Christmas:

“Mrs. Boast was great fun. She was interested in everything, and eager to learn how Ma managed so well.

“When you haven’t milk enough to have sour milk, however do you make such delicious biscuits, Laura?” she asked.

“Why, you just use sour dough,” Laura said.

Mrs. Boast had never made sour-dough biscuits! It was fun to show her. Laura measured out the cups of sour dough, put in the soda and salt and flour, and rolled out the biscuits on the board.

“But how do you make the sour dough?” Mrs. Boast asked.

“You start it,” said Ma, “by putting some flour and warm water in a jar and letting it stand till it sours.”

“Then when you use it, always leave a little,” said Laura. “And put in the scraps of biscuit dough, like this, and more warm water,” Laura put in the warm water, “and cover it,” she put the clean cloth and the plate on the jar, “and just set it in a warm place,” she set it in its place on the shelf by the stove. “And it’s always ready to use, whenever you want it.”

“I never tasted better biscuits,” said Mrs. Boast.”

For more on how to make sourdough starter from scratch visit King Arthur Baking  https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/sourdough-starter-recipe

What are you storing in your pantry for a long winter ahead?  Read our Fall Pantry staples for some ideas.