"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 just watched this with the little girl I am watching for the summer. It's neat to see the romance from the Pilot continued here in this episode. There were little touches, eye contact...their chemistry was so great, right from the start.

I did think of a line I would change though---actually 'add' in this case. When the man comes to take the oxen from Caroline, she begs him not to do it, and he says, "Your husband would do the same thing in my position", and Caroline just looks down (which almost comes off as conceding that Charles would do that and we all know he would not). Why didn't they have her say, "No he would not." Or how about "You don't know my husband." It certainly seemed like the appropriate thing to say.

Also, when the man says, "I swear on my mother's grave, I was going to give the oxen back", Doc looks at him, I'm assuming thinking that he was lying? I always thought he was lying too, but there IS a look on his face as he watches the girls...his face softens and looks like he's going to say something, and then he turns to see the men coming to help. So I'm choosing to belileve that maybe this man's heart wasn't made of stone after all.

I watched this episode Friday and Saturday.

Amy, I thought that same thing about Caroline not speaking up and saying that Charles wouldn't have taken the oxen.

I think it's neat how one can tell how much the girls have grown since the filming of the pilot. The dresses are so short!

I really like how we were introduced to so many of the main characters. It was done really well.

The stagecoach driver is seen in the first episode! (The one with the bushy mustache.)

I'm planning to watch through at least season one and as I watch I mark the main characters that are in the episode. I've always been curious to know how many episodes the main characters are in!

I think Charles's chest is exposed the most in the first season! He also breaks his ribs a lot!

this episode nearly made me cry! it's one of my favorites

I thought this was a great start after the pilot.....Pa looked so pleased with himself to tell his family they were home. Such a hard worker and the eternal optimist Pa shows what an asset to the community a good family can be ......i did think Nels looked like he struggled with the work more than the others when the town men folk came to stack the grain lol

I really liked in this one when Laura and Mary saw their new bedroom for the first time. Laura was so excited that there was a window right next to the bed! that made me happy.

This is absolutely one of my favorite episodes of the whole series...and what a beautiful way to start the show! I love the theme of everyone sticking together and helping each other out. And, I really liked how each main character was introduced...I could get the idea of who was who, and how important each character would be to the series as a whole. I never get tired of watching this episode.... :cabn:

A great episode. One of my favorites.

Agreed. Probably the best episode of Season 1.

awesome..........episode

I really liked this episode......

I loved this episode...who could not want to live there after watching this?

It's starting again today on Hallmark, how I love the first shows, fresh faces, etc. They all aged well, but you do see the glow of youth and I don't think it ever loses it's magic seeing them move into the little house and meet the neighbors, etc.
Watching it this time, I noticed how many times Charles kisses Caroline and how Carrie's bloomers fall down as she runs. Cute.

I love this episode. I like how at the end, the men in town help out Charles by finish stacking the sacks of flour so the job is finished as Charles promised. Season 1 is my favorite season.

I love the picnic scenes. Poor Charles falling out of the tree and breaking 4 ribs while trying retrive a kite. He's lucky he didn't break his back or neck as Dr.Baker told him it's a wonder he didn't break his neck.

I just noticed something. Charles just finishes a brand new, custom built house, then when he brings the family in "officially", he kicks the door in!
It was hard enough so it hit the wall!

Oh, and that O'Neil. They should have all sang Onward Christian Soldiers and marched him outta town for being such a hard - you know what to Charles.

One nice thing about reruns and DVD's, you can look at other things and notice things, sometimes bloopers but sometimes just a different angle...funny how you can something 100 times and still miss something.
My favs will always be the first year when they were just sooo cute and fresh and sweet. Mid-run was also very good for other reasons, but that initial charm, like a new baby, can't beat it.

littlehouselover wrote:

One nice thing about reruns and DVD's, you can look at other things and notice things, sometimes bloopers but sometimes just a different angle...funny how you can something 100 times and still miss something.
My favs will always be the first year when they were just sooo cute and fresh and sweet. Mid-run was also very good for other reasons, but that initial charm, like a new baby, can't beat it.

That's true

This a good episode to watch again and again. I just saw this the other day. I like how the neighbors help out with Charles Ingalls order. How many people, will do that today?

The episode is good

But i find it a bit strange that Charles seem to get insulted when. They say not to let him buy something when he has no money.

But maybe that is just me

My True Entertainment channel starts showing the entire series again from next week so I'll have a chance to watch from the beginning once more.

Any episodes they don't show, (for whatever reason they didn't air Albert's morphine addiction during the recent season 9) I'll find on You Tube.

Yay..I'm at the beginning again with the True Entertainment channel.

Really liked this episode - they all look considerably younger than in season 9. Charles was brave and stoic throughout, and it was good to see the welcome they got from the town.

I love this episode! It's nice to see them settling down in Walnut Grove, and Charles getting his job there at the mill. Charles took on more work than he really had time for, but it just shows how rough it was for them to be starting out again without any money. After Charles gets hurt and can't finish the job he promised would be done in a certain time frame, he looses his oxen. But he becomes bound and determined that he is going to get his oxen back since he still has a few hours of the agreement left. Despite the fact that he should be staying in bed resting, he decides to get to work stacking the grain in order to keep his oxen. You can tell how much pain he is in by how much of a hard time he is having lifting each bag. Then he falls down and collapses. This just goes to show you how important those oxen were to the Ingalls. Laura and Mary decide to stack the grain for Pa, but it isn't easy for them either. I love the end when all of the men of Walnut Grove walk over and finish stacking all of the grain for Charles. What a great community Walnut Grove was!

My friend (Maya) and I were watching this episode together. I'd watched this episode once but she'd never watched it before, and I didn't want to give her any spoilers. At the start, she was a bit suspicious about something random (which...she's still not told me about).

Then came the part as to where Charles fell off the tree. Here's a bit of dialogue around that moment.

Me: Something bad happens.
Maya: ...oh? Everything seems to be going on fine.
TV: (Charles starts climbing up the tree)
Maya: The Dad Guy falls off the tree, doesn't he?
Me: I ain't gonna tell you no nothin' about whether or not he falls off the tree. And his name is Charles, not "The Dad Guy".
Maya: Bleh, I don't care.
TV: (Charles scoots forwards a bit and suddenly falls off)
Me: ...hehe.
Maya: I told you the Dad Guy would fall off the tree.
Me: CAN YOU STOP CALLING HIM THE DAD GUY?!
Maya: Nah. The Dad Guy name is catchy.
Me:

And I'll actually have to say that I really liked this episode! It was kind pathetic for me when Charles hurt himself...because I wasn't expecting something like that to happen in the first episode of a TV show but as I watched later into the series, I found out that...Charles is the kind of person who almost seems like he loves to get himself into trouble.