A Scandinavian Woman's Tale of Life on the Prairie, 1868-1888 br/Butter in the Well Series, Book 1br/br/Read the fictionalized account of Kajsa Svensson Runeberg, an emigrant wife who recounts, through her diary, how she and her family built up a farm on the unsettled Kansas prairie from 1868 to 1888. br/br/This historical fiction is based on the actual Swedish woman who homesteaded the author's childhood home and is the first of the four book Butter in the Well series.br/br/#x201c;Go back to a time when there are no streets, roads or cars. Imagine there are no buildings, homes, hospitals or grocery stores around the corner. All of our family#x2019;s belongings fit in a small wooden wagon. The year is 1868. There is nothing but tall, green waving grass as far as the eye can see. The scent of warm spring air after a morning rain surrounds you. Spring blows gently in your face. The snort of the horse and an occasional meadowlark, whistling its call, are the only sounds. You are along on the virgin land of the vast prairie.#x201d;- opening paragraph of Butter in the Well.

Prairie Bloomin’: The Prairie Blossoms for an Immigrant's Daughter, 1889-1900 Butter in the Well Series, Book 2 Popular Kansas author Linda K. Hubalek continues the story of a Swedish immigrant family featured in the Butter in the Well series with the second book Prairie Bloomin' (formerly titled Prärieblomman). Prairie Bloomin' features the 1889 to 1900 diary of daughter Alma Swenson, as she grows up on the farm her parents homesteaded. Even though born on the same farm in two different centuries, Prairie Bloomin’s main character, Alma Swenson Runneberg, and the author shared uncanny similarities while growing up in the Smoky Valley region of central Kansas. Both the third child of their families, they lived in the same house, played in the same yard and worked the same acres until each married and moved off the farm.

While doing the research for the Butter in the Well series, the author found old recipes and home remedies along with the family and community histories. The recipes had been handwritten in old ledger books, on scraps of paper, in margins of old cookbooks, and forever etched in the memories of the pioneer's children Hubalek interviewed. As a result, Egg Gravy is a collection of recipes the pioneer women used during their homesteading days. Most of the recipes can be traced back to the original women that homesteaded the real-life setting of Butter in the Well.

The Final Tale of Life on the Prairie Book 4, Historical Diary 1919 The inevitable happens-time moves on and we grow older. Instead of our own little children surrounding us, grandchildren take their place. Each new generation lives in a new age of technology, not realizing the changes the generations before theirs has seen-and improved for them. The cycle of life has change the prairie also. Endless waves of tall native prairie grass has been reduced to uniform rows of grain crops. The curves of the river have shifted over the decades, eroded by both man and nature. The majestic prairie has been tamed over time. In this fourth book of the Butter in the Well series, Kajsa Svensson Runeberg, now age 75, looks back at the changes she has experienced on the farm she homesteaded 51 years ago. She reminisces about the past, resolves the present situation, and looks toward their future off the farm. Don’t miss this heart-rending touching finale! This book was the winner of two Silver CIPA Awards, for best ficition and book design.