"A HARVEST OF FRIENDS"

“A Harvest of Friends”



Laura says, "Home is the nicest word there is." The Ingalls settle on the banks of Plum Creek in Walnut Grove. To get the farm set up, Charles must take on several jobs at once. He promises one person that if he didn't get the job done in the specified time, the person could have his oxen. Charles gets injured one day when he is out on a picnic with his family. The person comes to pick up the oxen because he believes that Charles won't get the job done on time. Charles tries to get some bags of grain stacked, but he collapses soon after starting. Then Mary and Laura try to stack the bags. While they are working, the other men in Walnut Grove come to help stack the grain. The Ingalls get to keep their oxen.






















What a great episode to start the season! Poor Charles, sure had it tough when they first got there. I can imagine a lot of pioneers had it rough when they first started making a home. You can see what a loving family the Ingalls are! Caroline supports him, not only mentally and spiritually but physically as well. When Charles got hurt, she was right there w/ the oxen herself… what a lady!

The last scene was so emotional to watch. I didn’t like seeing that Mary & Laura saw their father struggle like that, but oh what love those little girls had for their Pa. I love it when all the men come and finish the work for Charles. Looks like Charles found a good home! Even w/ Harriet in town.. hee heee
Two thumbs up!

I liked this one a lot too. Thanks for the nice pics.

Love it

thank you for all that that you make Carol
https://2img.net/r/ihimizer/img338/5377/charrueshz7.jpg

I watched this episode lately on DVD and when I saw Karen Grassle with the oxen, I thought "What a lady!" as well. I grew up on a farm, but I was always afraid of oxen and never would touch one or lead him anywhere by myself. Can you imagine what it means to an actress to play in this scene? Wowww!

I agree Rana, that scene is awesome, I had to use it as a screen capture. :CoolSign:

This is definitely one of the best.

Most of you know, besides the Pilot Movie, this is one of my favorites....Charles working so hard to provide for his family, trying to fit family time in with that family and being determined to keep the job he took to pay for his debts.

When the girls are watching their Pa struggle with the sacks of grain, and then come running to help him, only to struggle themselves, is just priceless. When the townsmen come walking one by one to help Charles out, the look on the one man's face was great.....he thought SO much of himself, only to look like a fool in the end....

Love it, love it, love it! :woohooo:

This was deffinately an excellent episode, I remember seeing him walking the Oxen to the barn after dark and how tired he really looked after his very long days. I dont know how anybody could stand up to that kind of stress. Mr O'neil was really something else.

I think if I hated a character in LHOTP was Mr. O'Neil's one...What a man, my dear!

Vanesa.

Check out my video that I created a while ago pertaining to this episdoe. The poem is something my grandma had hanging on her wall for years. This was a great episode for introducing us to Walnut Grove and it's residents. Mrs. Oleson, though was so stern... She did soften just a little as the show matured.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHgMew4vYBg

Hey, I loved your video, the pics, the music, the poem. It was great!

Thanks, Carol!

Harvest of Friends is one of my favorite episodes

It reminds me of the friendships that I have, who are with me though thick and thin. That is my meaning of A Harvest Of Friends.

Harvest of Friends is one of my favorite episodes; I watch it pretty regularly on DVD. It was a wonderful episode of community and goodwill, and definitely set the tone for the rest of the series.

And, it was a good way to meet all of the regular characters in Walnut Grove!

I watch almost all LHOTP episodes "pretty regulary", and what someone of my family (except my mother who loves them as well) sees I'm watching them all over and over, they can't restraint to say in disbelief: "AGAIN???!!!" :shy:

Vanesa.

I like this one! it shows how close the Ingalls family is, how much Laura and Mary love their Pa, and how one community coming together can really make a difference!

I love this one! I made me cry like crazy! I love it when Laura and Mary start to work. Do you think they could have finished it? I love how that guy starts trying to clear his name when the other men come to help. I wonder why Charles didnt realize that Laura and Mary were following him.

such a good episode! I was glad to see all the men in the town come out to help Charles when he needed it the most, and the same goes for Laura and Mary! they showed that they really love their Pa

Who wouldn't want to live in a place like Walnut Grove with all those great neighbors? I love when the men take over the work after seeing Mary and Laura struggling to help Charles. I'd never move away.

this is how u act during tufff times.help oneanother

If I cannot live in Hooterville (GREEN ACRES) with all its zany characters, then I wish I could live in Walnut Grove as it is in this series. I think this is an excellent episode for introducing some of the main characters in the town to us.

I watched this episode again tonight. (I only have the season 1 DVDs, which are borrowed and I may need to give them back soon.) I don't think Mrs. Oleson was unreasonable in her refusal to give credit to Charles. However, the way she went about it could have been a bit more delicate I suppose. But would any of us really extend that much credit to some guy we just met?

O'Neill on the other hand....well, he could certainly have allowed Charles to keep the oxen and he would not have been losing out on much.

I think it is odd that the men are going to do all the work at the Ingalls farm on a Sunday.

Revd. Alden comes off as kind of gruff I suppose in this episode....glad they softened him up, too, although perhaps the way he was in this episode is more typical of preachers of that time period. I love it how Ma is defending Pa to the girls up until she sees him working out in the field!

amyk wrote:

I don't think Mrs. Oleson was unreasonable in her refusal to give credit to Charles. However, the way she went about it could have been a bit more delicate I suppose. But would any of us really extend that much credit to some guy we just met?

I think they were trying to make her out to be the bad guy right from the beginning. It is important to set up your characters right away, then you can soften them up a bit as time goes on.

amyk wrote:

I think it is odd that the men are going to do all the work at the Ingalls farm on a Sunday.

I mentioned this before too because you wouldn’t work on the Lord’s Day back then. You did what you had to do, but this kind of heavy work wouldn’t be done. Too bad they didn’t say Saturday instead.

amyk wrote:

Revd. Alden comes off as kind of gruff I suppose in this episode....glad they softened him up, too, although perhaps the way he was in this episode is more typical of preachers of that time period. I love it how Ma is defending Pa to the girls up until she sees him working out in the field!

Since I tend to watch the later episodes than the earlier ones, I forget how gruff Reverend Alden was at the beginning. Right after Dabbs Greer died, I wrote a short tribute to him, and I started watching some of the earlier episodes. I was almost shocked at how disengaged he seemed to be from the congregation. Then again, he was supposed to be a traveling minister, so he wasn’t in Walnut Grove every week and didn’t get to see these people all the time, so it makes sense he would have been a bit distant.

What I thought would have been a great addition to the show is seeing the congregation worshipping without him. We don’t really see that much, but in reality they probably would have worshipped without a minister fairly often depending upon how large a territory each minister covered.