Wilder - 9. The Business of Laura

Episode Date: August 3, 2023

Laura Ingalls Wilder probably couldn’t have imagined the multi-million dollar media empire that would emerge from her books. From the television show to prairie chic dresses to dolls to tin cups bearing her name, Laura is a brand, a business and, dare we say it, an influencer. Her stories have spawned industries large and small, both directly and indirectly for nearly a century. How exactly did the simple prairie life get sold to millions around the world? Go deeper: Stay at the Prairie House Manor in De Smet, SDThe Queen’s Treasures Melissa Gilbert’s Modern Prairie Stephanie McNeal on the Nap DressSara Petersen’s Momfluenced Follow us for behind the scenes content! @WilderPodcast on TikTok@Wilder_Podcast on Instagram We want to hear from you! If listening to Wilder has changed your thinking on Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Little House books, send a voice memo to [e-mail]. You might be featured in our final episode ;) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sonora and IHART's My Cultura Podcast Network present Princess of South Beach, Season 2. Did you miss me? The new season of lies, scandals and skeletons in the closet. I am proud to take office as your first openly gay mayor. This season, it's all out in the open. Listen to Princess of South Beach on the I Heart Radio app, a podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.

Out of the shadows is a podcast on America's immigration system told to the eyes of our Latino community. I didn't understand how difficult life was going to be being an adult, I mean, we seen a doctor in that age of 14. I'm Patty Rodriguez and I'm Eric Golindo. Follow us as we tell the incredible true story of a group of young people who

took on the system and changed the course of history. Listen to out of the shadows dreamers on the I Heart radio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm the Wizard of Oz. I'm the one making everything happen. Real Housewife of Salt Lake City Star, Jen Shaw,

is running the scam of the century. I remember one time Stuart lost like about 8 million. Jen was very upset and she came down to the office late at night with Coach. Y'all ain't got a screaming at him. I am asking him where is our money is. Listen to Queen of the Con, season four, the Unreal Housewife on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, Wilder listeners. Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We've been working really hard on this, and we're so grateful for all the feedback you've been sending us. We want to address some of that feedback in a few weeks in the final episode, so please consider this both an invitation and a reminder that if you have thoughts on Wilder, so please

let us know. All of our contact information can be found in the notes to each episode. In the meantime, we're going to bring you some episodes that are a little different, some very special episodes, if you will. This week, Joe is going to be walking you through some of the industry that Laura has inspired. As anyone who listened to her podcast under the influence knows, Joe is the expert in influencers, and Laura is arguably one of the original influencers. Now I'm giving you over to Joe.

Hi, Glenn. Good morning. I'm passing the pig splatter baton. We should get one of those. You know what? I'll bet someone makes one and sells it for like $70. I'm sure if we went on Etsy right now, we would find a number of pigs bladders that were branded with little house.

By the end of the episode, we will find out where to buy a pig's bladder baton. And with that, the business of Laura. Ha ha ha. Oh, just thank you. We have cups, we have t-shirts, of course the books are always goals. And I mean, I've had almost $100 sale today. Really?

When you're on the road going from Laura Ingalls Museum to Laura Ingalls Museum, you're inevitably going to go to a lot of Laura gift shops. There's little horse-ill-in jacked dogs for $10. Oh, there's Laura Ingalls Wilder, Homey's, I might have to get a coffee cup. That's the good one. Yeah. Coffee cup.

We love it, but it's good. I like these too. The shops have everything. They're so. Not just books, but mugs, dolls, bonnets, candy. Pretty much anything you might need to cosplay the prairie lights. I like what the biggest seller in the store. Um, usually tin cups.

Everybody likes it. Oh yes, because you know, that was the very first episode. Laura and Mary got their own tin cups. Okay, I should get some tin cups. When Glynnis, Emily and I were on the road last summer, we spent a lot of money on gifts. T-in cups included. It's a pretty little T-in cups, yeah.

They're cute. Those are one of the most popular and then our slates with a lot of stuff. And it's not just us. Hards of people do this every summer. Over the whole year, we can get up between 10,000 to probably 12,000 a year. We've had 20,000 in one year. They come from all over the world. Look at all of these people today. This is all today. Oh my gosh. Should we name the states they're here today?

Yeah here. Minnesota, Kansas, Nevada, New York, Illinois, Georgia, Ohio, California, North Dakota, Germany, Oregon, Oregon, Norway, Norway, Texas, Virginia. I think we've got all the states right now except for... When Laura Ingalls Wilder set out to write her life story into a little house series, she wanted to be a writer and author, a successful one. Today, almost a century later, between the books, TV show, and the intense tourism culture around her, Laura is undoubtedly a brand. Anyone who writes books today, much like Glynis and I do, know that writers have to become a sort of brand in order to survive, to build an audience, and to sell enough books to

keep their careers going. And the most successful writers spawn entire industries around their stories, industries of movies, television and media companies, magazines, and sometimes even stuff. Goods and services. That wasn't the case when Laura sat down to write. She just wanted to get those books out there. I actually don't believe that she could have even imagined the many products and platforms that she inspired,

both directly and indirectly. If you are struggling with what where this summer, this aesthetic is for you. So I like to call this look clean, romantic, prairie cottage. I mean, I think you can just look at the popularity of cottagecore as a aesthetic on TikTok. First day of school cottagecore. Okay, y'all are going to think I'm crazy, but gone with a bonnet. I think I'm crazy, but going with a bonnet. This dedication to living a very simple,

homespun life, people are getting millions and millions of followers by almost cosplaying as frontiers women. Did you be perfectly honest when this line hit target stores? I was actually a huge fan of it because one, I love Little Hulsam Prairie, I grew up with it and two, I act in love with it. It can easily be argued that brands

like the American Girl Dolls, the Pioneer Woman, Hill House Home, and all of the NAP dresses. All had Laura to thank for laying the groundwork of Prairie Life nostalgia. I think a few brands that come to mind are Christy Don, lots of Calico, cotton dresses, the nap dress by Hill House Home, Doan. Entire home goods companies have been inspired

by Prairie Nostalgia, including one created by TV Laura herself, Melissa Gilbert. It really started out as a retail line sort of, but there's more to it than that. It's a place for women over a certain age. Women like me. From nap dresses, to bonnets, to buttercherns, paper dolls, tin cups, and many, many, many,

spin-off books, there is an entire industry of Laura that she never could have conceived of. Though I kind of bet Rose could have imagined it. And as always, it thrives when times get hard, when people get fed up with their lives and have an urge to look back to a simpler era. We've had, in the past 20 years, two pretty big crises. One was the financial crisis of 2008,

and then of course there was the pandemic that we all lived through. And in each of those cases, the interest in Little House spiked. It is not a leap at all to say that Laura Ingalls Wilder may have been one of the very first influencers. What I wanna know is how did all of this

get so popular? How did the fantasy of prairie life get sold to millions? I'm Joe Piazza, and this is the business of Wilder.作词 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作曲 作 作曲 作曲 作曲 作 作曲 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 作 Hello. What do we have? I'm Glenis. Oh, Glenis and Emma. You're going to be great? I'll agent tomorrow night. I know. Are you from the Spattery Fittarra long time? We just bought the place in Tambiorg. Really?

Oh, I'm excited to hear your experience in your first page in season. That's Glenis and Emma arriving at the prayer hall. Oh, I'm excited to hear your experience in your first page in season. That's Glenis and Emma arriving at the prayer hall. Oh, I'm excited to hear your experience in your first pageant season. That's Glenison Emily arriving at the Prairie House manor Bedden breakfast in Desmet, South Dakota.

I sadly wasn't with them for this part of the trip, and I have a lot of FOMO about that. But when they arrived, they found this very unexpected story. You found Laura's influence, her sphere of influence, in a place that you didn't expect. You found that she had inspired this couple. It was Robin Eric, right? Drink COVID, they'd done a road trip, they'd come to

to SMAT, they had grown up loving Laura Ingalls and decided to uproot their life from Denver and take over a big city. From a big city. From a big city, yeah. Or they'd been for years and had uprooted and come to Dismant and taken over this bed and breakfast. In the heart of Dismant, we had to book into their, you know, months in advance to get that spot to run this. And it was

and when we talked to them, they just went on about how much they loved the television show Laura and the fond memories of being read the books in school and it just, I mean, we know this, but also it never ceased as to sort of amazing surprise at like the reach she has, but also like the level of devotion, right? Like, that's a big life change. There's a huge life change and also a very, you know, kind of TV movie inspiring one. I'm just uprooting my life in the big city to open a little B&B, centered around Laura Ingalls Wilder. So they fled big city life. They bought the prairie manor and now they're running an in together.

They have a business that is directly based on Lord. It seems surreal sometimes like when we come back from the grocery store and I see the house I'm like wow that's ours. Rob and Eric are just you know the tip of the iceberg in terms of families who've tapped into their love of Lord one way or the other and turned it into a huge business like we met Ann last she runs the homestead site and her family bought that in the late 90s and she talked about growing up being read the book. My parents and my brothers came on vacation in 1996 and it was for sale and it had been farmed for many years and the family that was farming at that time, they were older and wanting to move on and sell it and stuff. And so that's really how we came across it.

So we purchased the homestead in 1997 and then have, over the past 25 years, kind of built it up into what it is, and welcomed thousands and thousands of visitors over the years. It's amazing to me that there is not just one, but two, and probably many more of these kinds of stories, that Laura's draw is so strong that just one vacation can uproot an entire life. And it's worth reminding us that these towns are very, very small. Laura isn't just a business in these places.

She is the main industry. Let me put this in perspective for you. The town of Dismant has about the same population now as the time when Laura lived there. Bur oak, where the ingles worked in the hotel, isn't even a town anymore. It's an incorporated community. But it still gets visitors and foot traffic

because of Laura. And remember from our very first episode, how we told you that walnut grove seemed like a ghost town until we got to the gift shop? It's businesses like that in the summer pageants that genuinely help the town's yearly bottom line. It is an economic boost. As pageant director Bill Richards explained to us. We use a lot of local people for supplies, for lumber, for concrete, for construction work,

electrical plumbing, all of that kind of stuff. The businesses that get the biggest boost would be probably the convenience store, Nellies Cafe, and the bar, and things like that. The other ones are more, I would call, secondary effect, where, because you have people that we hire out here, that has a multiplier effect as well. Those houses, museums, and stores are all independently run. But then they also sell and profit off the things they're licensed from the books. The books themselves, and the many, many sequels and offshoots of them that came long after Laura passed away.

And what I keep thinking again and again is whether or not Laura would have actually wanted this. How did little house go from just a book series to a brand that can actually be licensed? Of course, I had to talk to Glenis because she is the expert on all things Laura. had to talk to Glynis because she is the expert on all things Laura. All right, so we're looking at the big business of Laura, all of the stuff that's being sold, all of the TV shows, the extra books. Do you think that this is what Laura would have wanted for her legacy? It's so hard to say because Laura haven't envisioned any of this as a question I wonder. Could she even visioned the books having this impact

and having this legacy? We know that she wanted to leave a significant part of the Little House rights to the local Mansfield Library. And that feels though like, fairing keeping with Laura, like sort of a small vision for her afterlife. So to speak of like, these could be a nice thing for the local library and the town that I've lived in for decades that she didn't even really leave after the books.

She thinks she left once after the books sort of became successful. So that feels like a small sweet vision of her giving back. And that's definitely not a description as we know of what has actually happened to the legacy. And that didn't happen because Rose ignored those wishes and granted the literary estate to Roger Lee McBride. Yeah. I mean, this has to be one of the great random inheritances in literary history. I mean, Roger Lee McBride's fate intertwining with Little House is wild. And even as a kid, I would be like, this is Roger Lee McBride person that keeps getting mentioned on the back cover of the book.

Laura never met him, which is incredible, don't you think? It's incredible. Yeah, it's wild. And at the same time, we know from all the episodes we did that Lauren Rose's life, emotional, financial, everything life was so enmeshed. So maybe Rose thought that she had not just permission, but the right to do what she wanted with it. I mean, who knows?

And it was Roger who ended up selling the rights to the friendly family. Yeah. I mean, we know that Laura and Rose had turned down offers from radio to serialize the books. This is sort of before TV was such a huge thing. And we know they had consistently turned it down. So as soon as Rose dies, almost immediately, Roger does a 180, takes it to Hollywood, to meet with Disney and then fate intervenes and he ends up selling it at Friendly, which is how we have Michael Landon.

Well, which is how we really have the business of Laura because the Friendly family took on the copyrights and they've created a massive industry around Laura and Little House that I don't think she ever could have imagined. I mean, I don't know that I could have imagined it as a child so much of this is internet fueled too, I think I would just like try and make these clothes

for myself as a kid or like staple brown yarn braids to everything I owned. And now you can go to Etsy or to Amazon and buy all of this stuff and it all exists. And not I think is like the collision of fandom legacy licensing, the internet. It's just, it's so accessible now. When we get back from the break, it's just, it's so accessible now.

When we get back from the break, we are going to talk to the family that ended up with the rights to all things little house. How'd they get it? And what's their intention with Laura's legacy? And finally, what kind of stuff is being created from it. And speaking of closets, I am proud to take office as your first openly game mayor. This season, it's all out in the open. What color are your pants? Okay, maybe not everything. These people look like they're mixed up in some really dangerous stuff. Starring ex-mayo, Danny Pino, Andy Bustillos,

Raúles Parasin, Gines, Alan Eisenberg, and more. Keep up with the most notorious family in Miami, unravel the mystery with this new season of Princess of South Beach. Listen to Princess of South Beach as part of the Mycultura Podcast Network, available on the IHerDWAD, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm the Wizard of Oz, I'm the one making everything happen. Real housewife of Salt Lake City Star, Jen Shaw, is running the scam of the century. We probably will never be able to be retired, but we're working to work anymore. Living a fat million dollar lifestyle on the backs of thousands of elderly victims. She turned up their lives for what a fake Fendi bag? Congrats, girl. When you have her confronted, instead of stopping, she finds ways to be sneakier about it and keeps going.

I remember one time Stuart lost like about 8 million and General was very upset and she came down to the office late at night with Coach yelling at him, asking him where their money is. Would you call her a con artist? I would just call her a con. She's not very much of an artist. Listen to Queen of the Con, season 4, the Unreal Housewife, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Out of the shadows is a podcast on America's immigration system told through the eyes of our Latino community.

I didn't understand how difficult life is going to be being an undocumented person. I mean, I've been undocumented at age 14. This season is about our dreamers, undocumented students who challenge Barack Obama to pass DACA or deferred action for childhood arrivals. I'm Patty Rodriguez. And I'm Eric Galindo. Follow us as we tell the incredible true story of a group of young people who took on the system and changed the course of history.

The way to survive in the United States as an undocumented immigrant was to be invisible and that changed completely with the dreamers. The movement pushed Obama and his administration to create DACA because otherwise we would just kept supporting all of us. Sometimes in order to survive you need to step out of the shadows. Listen to out of the shadows dreamers on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. My father and friendly acquired the rights to Little House books from a man named Roger Lee McBride. That's Trip Friendly. You heard from him in our TV episode telling the story of how his father created the Little House television series. These days, Roger Lee McBride's daughter still owns the copyrights on the Little House books, but the friendly family owns the licensing

for products and media. Friendly Family Productions owns film television, merchandising theme arc and other rights to the classic books by Laura Engels-Wilder as well as to the Little House on the Prairie trademark. When that television program was first broadcast on NBC in the 1970s and early 1980s, my father created a licensing program which included lunch boxes, dinner plates, beverage ware posters, puzzles, board games, counters, costumes, McCall patterns, and many other items. The friendlies take their role very seriously.

They know that Laura holds sentimental value for a lot of people. None of us know how Laura would feel about these products today, but the things that are licensed definitely feel in line with the wholesome cozy nature of Laura's children's books. We've worked with a selective group of licensees that we believe reflect the values of the little house on the Prairie brand, in which we hope would resonate with families and fans today. So, simple joy, optimism, charm, and craftsmanship, I would say are interval parts. We would probably reject any increase that are not consistent with the brand values or our quote unquote our rated such as alcohol, gambling,

other sort of vice products. How much impact can a product actually have when it comes to the legacy of Little House? There's so much stuff that I wanted to find an example of a company truly manufacturing in the spirit of Laura Engelswilder. The Queen's treasures in particular has been a long time licensee and they continue to expand their line of dolls and doll accessories. That's Rebecca Friendly, trips daughter and one of the driving forces behind continuing Laura's legacy. They have some beautiful 18 inch dolls.

We started with Laura, then Mary, and most recently Nelly. They, of course, each have a variety of outfits and accessories, and there are some amazing doll-side scenes. So, we have a obviously a Laura doll and Laura actually comes in a night gown with a cap like they used to wear and her box turns into a bit so even the box can be used. That's Joanne Cartiglia, the president of the Queen's Treasures toy company.

Queen's Treasures makes pretty much every accessory that you could possibly imagine for a little house doll set. Mary comes dressed in a pretty blue dress and she has a lunchpale, which has the typical things that she would have brought to lunch. She's a hard boiled egg, a little molasses cookie, a biscuit, that kind of thing. And she comes, of course, with a little chalkboard.

We have a black cook stove. We have clothing. We're actually working on a Olsen's mercantile, which is really going to be cool. That kids can open up and they can play shop. Joanne started her toy business in her garage in 2003 by making doll trunks and accessories. Eventually, she started focusing on Laura because she thought that story would be inspiring to young kids. We wanted to do women who changed the world. And Laura Ingalls Wilder was literally the first novelist I became obsessed with.

I have reread those books, I can't tell you how many times. It just transports you to a place where, for me, looking back, children don't go now. Every child you see has something electronic that they're obsessed with and staring at and they don't have any sense of what what history is, but Laura, she's just resonates with me. She resonates with our customer base. I think people are looking for a simpler time for children. Joanne's goal isn't just to tap in a demand for Laura and Little House, but to use those stories to influence people.

Small people, children. We put these Imagine This cards in with each product that says, Imagine Life over 100 years ago when there was no electricity and to cook on a stove you had to bring in wood and wait for the stove to heat up and And, you know, we just go through scenarios that maybe children wouldn't even think about today. We have a lot of homeschoolers that love our products. So we really do try to keep it in an educational vein. Laura was all about language, if you think about it.

And for me, she was, I believe, 64, Vayne. Laura was all about language if you think about it. And for me, she was, I believe, 64 when her book got, I'm hoping I got a few years for that. Not that many. I'm hoping it's 64. Something really crazy goes on with this company too. But until then, I'm going to still keep developing and designing toys and trying to bring inspiration to children and try to get them to read and play and pretend they need their own voices

now. So, it's my mission. It's not just the kids who are learning from these dolls. Joanne told me herself that she's felt way more connected to Laura and the lessons of the Ingles and Prairie Life while she's been building this brand. I feel a little bit like a pioneer, if you will, you know, persistence and being able to face a problem

and move on. They had so much adversity that happened in their life, and they still smiled at the end of the day and appreciated what they had. It's the simplicity that we keep coming back to. The urge to go back to basics, have real concrete experiences, get offline. We hear it over and over and over again in our increasingly connected digital age. Now so far in this episode, we've been looking at businesses that start with Laura,

but a lot of them go way beyond her. They spin the wholesome cozy feeling of the books in our modern world in ways that you might not even notice. After the break, we're getting into the products and trends that are catching fire all over the internet who owe their success to promising all of us a taste of the Prairie lifestyle. And I heart my Gultura Podcast Network, present. Princess of South Beach, season two. Guess who's back? Did you miss me? The Calderons are back with a new season of lies, scandals, and skeletons in the closet.

And speaking of closets. I am proud to take office as your first openly gay mayor. This season, it's all out in the open. What color are your pants? Okay, maybe not everything. These people look like they're mixed up in some really dangerous stuff. Starring ex-Mayo, Dani Pino, Andy Bustillos, Raúles Parasin, Ginadores, Alan Eisenberg, and more.

Keep up with the most notorious family in Miami, unravel the mystery with this new season of Princess of South Beach. Listen to Princess of South Beach as part of the Microdura Podcast Network, available on the IHR Radio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm the Wizard of Oz, I'm the one making everything happen. Real housewife of Salt Lake City Star, Jen Shaw, is running the scam of the century. We probably will never be able to be retired black working to work anymore. Living a fat million dollar lifestyle on the backs of thousands of elderly victims.

She turned up their lives for what a fake Fendi bag, Congrats Girl. When you have her confronted, instead of stopping, she finds ways to be sneakier about it and keeps going. I remember one time, Stuart lost like, like about 8 million, and General was very upset and she came down to the office late at night with Coach, yelling at him, asking him where their money is. Would you call her a con artist? I would just call her a con. She's not very much of an artist. Listen to Queen of the Con, season 4, The Unreal Housewife, on the I Heart Radio app, Apple

Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Out of the shadows is a podcast on America's immigration system told through the eyes of our Latino community. I didn't understand how difficult life is going to be being a doctor in the first. I mean, we've seen a doctor in that age of 14. This season is about our dreamers, undocumented students who challenge Barack Obama to pass DACA or deferred action for childhood arrivals. I'm Patty Rodriguez. And I'm Eric Galindo.

Follow us as we tell the incredible true story of a group of young people who took on the system and changed the course of history. The way to survive in the United States as an undocumented immigrant was to be invisible. And that changed completely with the dreamers. The movement pushed Obama and his administration to create DACA because otherwise we would just kept deporting all of us.

Sometimes, in order to survive, you need to step out of the shadows. Listen to out of the shadows dreamers on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Oh, let's go into the don't start. Well, isn't it don't start? Have you ever heard of it? It's like, you know, it's flowery prairie dresses that I wear all the time. Yes, I do.

Uh-huh, yeah. This is where it all happens. This is where it's the end of me. That's me and my co-author, Christine Pride, on our Book Tour in LA. We had some time to kill, and naturally I felt myself drifting towards a store that sold prairie dresses. I'm just like, you know, I'm gonna buy you another overpriced prairie dress. Oh, yep, I see what you're talking about.

You see? You see what I mean? You see what I mean? They're cute, so? No, no, they're like a real cute. You could totally see Laura wearing these, right? Yeah. It's lavender.

I have that, actually. Yeah. Wow. Beyond the official Little House products, there is so much in our world that seems to be influenced by Laura. Her DNA exists in brands all over our social media feeds and in the real world.

I fall for it all the time, and maybe you do too. I bring this up to Glynnis a lot, a lot, a lot. So now I wanna talk about things inspired by the prairie aesthetic. And so I'm thinking the pioneer woman, do you remember her? Redrum and yeah. Her network is according to the internet, something like $50 million.

She has built a TV show, a magazine, a massively successful digital empire based off her prairie life, which I would argue is a direct continuation influenced by Laura Engels Wilder. I mean, absolutely. It's hard to see how it's not. And then you have things like the American Girl Dolls, Kirsten, the Prairie. She was my American Girl Doll, my first American girl doll, and her life on the prairie, again, not directly based on Laura's life, but definitely influenced by the prairie nostalgia that is in these books. And more recently, you've got the Napdress phenomenon.

Napdresses and Cottage Corps. And you know what, Napdresses are? They're just nightgowns. They're just nightgowns. And like these mommy prairie dresses that spiked in popularity on social media in the past few years, which I have nine of, nine of them. Wow. Yeah, I looked in my closet and I have been suckered into buying nine, nine of these flowery you tell me what's the appeal there. I don't know because I've been influenced by cottage core on social media and it makes me feel like a beautiful lady running through the prairie. It's but and I'm not the only one. I talked to social media and branding experts, Stephanie McNeil, about the fact that during the pandemic, Hill House mapdresses, Hill House is the big

mapdress company. This is. We're selling over a million in inventory in something like 12 minutes. Hill House is really interesting because the mapdress is a very kind of cottage core look. They're definitely capitalizing on it. That's the author and reporter Stephanie McNeil. She covers influencing, branding, and marketing on social media. I called her up because I wanted to run the theory by her that cottage core is fueled by longing

for a simpler, cozy time, just like life on the prairie. I could definitely see that. I think it's also the idea of unbridled femininity, that I think you see a lot in cottagecore as well, where this embrace of a time where women could be very frilly and dressed up. Stephanie has a few theories on why these trends persist. It's never just one thing. I think that kind of is behind a lot of these trends that are based around identity and personal style and lifestyle, is I think people are really just looking for connection. And I think sometimes it's easier to be, I'm going to go in on a cottage core and connect

with people online who are really into cottage core that it is to, I don't know, go to a gym class and find a friend. Again, we circle back to the idea that these prairie inspired trends are just a longing for a perceived simpler time, a false nostalgia and a desire for connection in an over-connected world.

But you all know, from listening to this podcast, that Laura's life wasn't actually that simple. Her family lived in poverty. She experienced so much trauma as a child. Her ode to a simple, happy, cozy life is mostly fiction. But that fiction continues on social media today. Often, you look at these accounts and it's moralizing and prioritizing a type of simplicity that is actually quite expensive and quite inaccessible to most of us. That's Sarah Peterson, another expert in social media marketing and branding and the author

of the book, Mom Fluenced. I think the construction of this imagery is really interesting because off-net requires quite a bit of money and quite a bit of aesthetic investment. But it's always done in this like, oh, it just happened to be like this and I'm not putting a lot of effort in. Effort seems to be at odds with the performance of this type of pioneer femininity. Sarah's right. These products are expensive and it takes a lot of disposable income to be able to afford $100 plus prairie dresses and all the sourdough starters, pots and mugs that influencers and

cottagecore companies are selling to us these days. And I think it's worth taking a second to think about exactly what we're buying into. What is this sphere of influence? What are we trying to achieve with all of this stuff? I think the prairie chic aesthetic is so big on Instagram particularly for mom flancers because it taps in to our cultural understanding of mothers as being connected to the divine feminine as being connected to the divine feminine, as being connected to the earth, being connected to domestic spaces. I really think this prairie, you know, nostalgic aesthetic

directly taps into our cultural construction of the ideal American mother in a way that makes for, you know, big business. I can't stop thinking about this. About what makes the ideal American mother, the ideal American woman, how dresses and mugs and the collection of all of these trappings of prairie life, play into our desire to buy our way into being more complete and happy women. There's a lot of brands these days

that are working to create a place for women to figure out how to be in the world. And one of those is actually called Modern Prairie. And it was created by TV Laura Melissa Gilbert herself. Who better to encapsulate all the sides of Laura's influence than the woman that played her as a little girl? Modern Prairie does sell a lot of stuff that we've been talking about, but it also promotes healthy ideas for how to live in the world as a mature woman.

Something that the world doesn't always recognize as valuable. It's genuinely a very unique take on the Prairie lifestyle brand. But I've got to say, its beginnings are very similar to the other brands we've talked about. Like we've seen time and time again, Melissa felt drawn to the ideals of little house during the pandemic.

I think we all really rediscovered Kozy during lockdown too. Just before 2020, Melissa and her husband Tim bought a cabin in the cat's gills and renovated it into their permanent home. In her memoir about that time, back to the prairie, she recounts the joy she felt in letting go of the life that she'd built in LA. She let her hair go gray, she took joy in cooking and gardening,

and essentially rediscovered herself in this genuinely simpler life. When she founded Modern Prairie, she wanted to capture this simplicity for others. I think Modern Prairie is a space to remind people of that cozy, basic, homie, warm, those nostalgic feelings, but brought up to the current times. The initial idea for the brand started with just one product. I have had this sort of little patching of an idea for a couple decades. There's something more to do with just the entire sort of prairie ethos.

It all from each starts with all objects of butter bell. to do with just the entire sort of prairie ethos. It all from each starts with all objects of butter bell. It's a ceramic holder for a butter. You put the butter in it, and you put it in the crock, and you put it upside down in water, and it keeps your butter fresh and soft without having to refrigerate it. And I always thought, let's create something around a butter

bell and go from there and take us back to these sweet simple things, which really are the best things after all. Just full on luring goals while they're celebration. Modern Prairie now sells that butter bell for $49.50 plus so many other things. Go on their website. There's backyard rooster quilted placemats, a modern prairie iron stone-handled one-gallon crock, pop mitts, a set of farmhouse aprons, pinnifor aprons, tablecloths,

and my personal favorite, the deep dish baking pan. But what feels special about modern prairie is that they provide more than just products. They're actually creating that sense of community that so many women online are looking for. It's a place for obviously women over a certain age, the mature women like me. And it's not just about buying things, it's now grown into a community. And we have all these workshops and everything from, you know,

how to paint with watercolor to how to deal with grief during the holidays to how to get unstuck, which is a big thing with women over a certain age, you know, their kids are gone. We're reassessing what we want to do with this last third of our lives. All of these things that we're dealing with at this part in our lives, there's no space for a community for people to talk about these things. So we created this space with these workshops and that's kind of the heart of prairie for me is the community aspect. I love being older because I don't feel like I can do something. I can sit at home and learn something.

What I think is so interesting is that almost everyone we spoke to in this cottage core prairie life world seems to be striving for a simpler life. The people that are making it, the people that are buying it, everyone is trying to get to something simpler through commodification. Yeah, it's a strive for simplicity and also self-sufficiency in a world where neither of these things really exist. And I think are we all so miserable and over-connected and over-worked that will pay for simplicity?

This feels like a big joke that capitalism is playing on us, by the way. Because I think the answer is yes. Absolutely. I also think this desire to get back to the simpler life, which is so well-represented by Little House on the Prairie, is not a recent phenomenon. I'm just thinking of those old commercials we found from this 80s, being like, come home, come home to the simpler life.

Like there's always this fantasy around getting back to the simple life, which as we know, never existed, right? Like they did not have a simple, easy life. They had a terrible, hard life. All of the people who actually lived in this time period would kill to live in our time period with antibiotics and electricity. But like the fantasy of that is so pervasive. So pervasive.

It's so pervasive that people will pay, you know, $50 plus for a butter bell or $300 for a prairie dress that is essentially a night gown. And there are entire stores in Brooklyn that just sell things that look like they could have been on the fairs. And also, I kept thinking about how everyone wants to use Laura as a gateway to something else, as a gateway to simplicity, as a gateway to community. And it reminded me that it's always bigger than Laura, the human being.

It's bigger than these prairie stories. It taps into our very humanity, what we desire, what we're hungry for. And as this episode showed, what people are willing to pay for those things. Yeah. Pay for a sense of community and safety and co-aziness and simplicity and maybe you too can make a doll out of straw and have just like a direct connection to sustainability.

I'm going to open my own Etsy shop after this episode. Don't worry, I'll check in with the friendlies and make sure that it's kosher and I'm going to make some pig plotter toys. Yes, yeah. We're gonna make so much money. I mean, in this episode, we come up with our own business ideas. So listen, it's never ending.

It's never ending, it's never ending. If this episode has taught us anything, it's that Laura is everywhere. She's ever present. No matter what form she happens to be in, Laura is going to stick around for a very, very long time. In fact, I can't wait to see what AI Laura does. Now, that is a business idea.

Wilder is written and hosted by me and Glenas McNichol. Our story editors are me and Emily Marinoff. Our senior producer is Emily Marinoff. Our producers are Mary Do, Shina Ozzaki and Jessica Khranchich. Our associate producers Lauren Phillin. Sound design and mixing by Amanda Rose Smith and our theme and additional music was composed by Elise McCoy. We are executive produced by Glynis McNickle, Nikki Etoor, Allie Perry, and me.

If you're enjoying Wilder, please consider rating and reviewing us on Apple Podcasts. It actually helps us out quite a lot. And remember, you too are an influencer. Special thanks for this episode goes to the Friendly Family, Melissa Gilbert, Stephanie McNeil, and Sarah Peterson. Check out our show notes if you want to know more about the people we interviewed, the places we visited, and the books that we mentioned.

You can also find our contact info there if you want to write to us with your own thoughts and questions. We're going to be including listener responses in our final episode, so if you have thoughts on the Little House series or on this series, please send a voice memo to wilderpodcast at gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok, Influencing Influencing Influencing. We will be posting all of the behind-the-scenes footage from our travels and you really don't want to miss it. Thanks for listening.

Talk to you next week. Hold on, I'm okay. Pig's Bladder lampshade! Pig's Bladder lampshade! Mm-hmm. If you go on Etsy and put in Prairie and Laura Ingalls Wilder, Shade, Pig, Flatter, Lamp Shade. Mm-hmm. If you go on Etsy and put in Prairie and Laura Ingalls Wilder, you, like, it's an extravaganza, my friends.

It's an extravaganza. Pig, Flatter, Lamp Shade. Pig, Flatter, Lamp Shade. So Nora and I hearts my's My Cultura Podcast Network present Princess of South Beach, Season 2. Did you miss me? The new season of lies, scandals and skeletons in the closet. I am proud to take office as your first openly gay mayor.

This season, it's all out in the open. Listen to Princess of South Beach on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Out of the shadows is a podcast on America's immigration system told to the eyes of our Latino community. I didn't understand how difficult life was going to be being a doctor in a person. I mean, we seen a doctor in that age of 14.

I'm Patty Rodriguez. And I'm Eric Galindo. Follow us as we tell the incredible true story of a group of young people who took on the system and changed the course of history. Listen to out of the shadows dreamers on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm the Wizard of Oz. I'm the one making everything happen. Real housewife of Salt Lake City Star Jen Shaw is running the scam of the century. I remember one time Stuart lost like about 8 million. Jen was very upset and she came down to the office late at night with Coach. Y'all are going to scream out, I am asking him where their money is. Listen to Queen of the Con, season 4, The Unreal Housewife, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.