Living the Wilder Life

In The Wilder Life, author Wendy McClure chronicles her pursuit of the “Laura experience”, living the life Laura Ingalls Wilder writes about in her classic Little House on the Prairie books. Inspired by tales of McClure’s attempts at churning butter in her apartment, and excited to welcome her here to the store on Monday, April 9, we decided to do our own version of butter churning here in the office. It turned out to be more like butter…shaking.

We used this recipe, which calls for two simple items: whipping cream and a mason jar.

First, Mandy poured the whipping cream into the jar.

Then we commenced shaking.

And shaking.

Merrilee, always up for a crafty project, gets in on the shaking.

Holy cow, it looks like butter!

We strained it, added salt, and voila!

This was unbelievably easy. And tasty. The whole process took about fifteen minutes. This was so easy, in fact, that we’re going to do it at Wendy McClure’s event with us on Monday, April 9th. We’ll pass around mason jars so that the whole audience can join in the fun. When was the last time you made butter in a bookstore? Exactly. We’re even planning to add flavors this time – garlic, herbs, and all kinds of things that would blow Laura Ingalls Wilder’s mind. It will feel just like we’re pioneers! With cell phones! And fancy French bread to eat our butter with! You should join us. Wendy’s book is fabulous, and a lot of fun. It’ll be good times.