farmer?
Its like he never gets ahead. At least John Walton gets government jobs later on, but pa Ingall, nothing.

The real Charles Ingalls was this way. He kept moving his family from town to town.

Farming ain't easy. You're at the mercy of mother nature~ droughts, floods and pestilence. You plant what you think will be in demand and surprise! Every other farmer has done the same thing which drives down the price. Then there's the cost to move the crops to the market; dealing with crooked teamsters and dealing with the railroad. Throw in banks foreclosing on farms for non-payments and landowners raising the prices for crop sharing.

Was it Mr. Garvey the one who just had a bonanza crop and got into his barn to await transport and the barn caught fire?

One thing that LHOP does a pretty good job at is showing how bad things can happen to good people.

The real Ingalls family had it far, far worse than the TV series or even the books portray.

I liked the calm manner in which Pa announces "Crop's gone." In that case obviously Mother Nature can't be controlled, so why get overly upset.