Wilder on the Prairie

Episode 185 Ch. 11 of Little House on the Prairie, "Miss Wilder Teaches School". Join us this week as we discuss Eliza Jane Wilder, Ida Wright Brown, Rev. Edward Brown, Genevieve Masters, what a "polonaise" is, a jabot of lace, "With double a ruffle round her neck", "The Whip-Poor-Will's Song", and whippoorwills.

Episode 184 Little Town on the Prairie ch. 10 "Mary Goes to College" Join us this week as we discuss fall housecleaning, we revisit straw ticks, Brookins vs. Brookings, sprinkling curtains, the Iowa College for the Blind and Vinton, IA, what month Mary started college, "valise", and a world-record autograph album. 

Episode 183 Little Town on the Prairie ch. 9 "Blackbirds" Join us this week as we dicuss how much Pa earned in the spring, Spanish needle grass, "to scrabble", cashmere, hoop skirts in the 1870s/1880s, catch-stitching, a "gored" skirt, "shirred", yellow-headed blackbirds, "Sing a Song of Sixpence", and $15 for the heifer.

Episode 182 Ch. 8 of Little Town on the Prairie "Fourth of July" Join us this week as we discuss "The Star Spangled Banner", "Marching through Georgia", union suits, Laura pinning her braids vs. the chapter illustrations, Fort Ticonderoga, Lawyer Visscher Barnes, Laura and Rose's politics (libertarianism), "My Country 'Tis of Thee/America", Samuel Owens, what a "cuss" is, winning $5, and mentioning Eliza Jane Wilder. 

Episode 181 Ch. 7 of Little Town on the Prairie, "Nine Dollars." Join us this week as we discuss how much $9 is, what fryers are, a reminder of what laths are, bran mash well peppered, was the Ingalls stable made of sod or wood?, to contrive, college and manual training. 

Episode 180 Ch. 6 in Little Town on the Prairie, "The Month of Roses." Join us this week as we discuss Laura's wages, saloons, Laura's gratitude, Charles H. Tinkham, who Brown was who owned the saloon, "Pull for the Shore", Thomas Power, and Bill O'Dowd/William O'Connell. 

Episode 179   Little Town on the Prairie ch. 5 "Working in Town". Join us this week as we discuss Mr. Clancy/Clayson, definition of "dry goods", the history of sewing machines, Mrs. White, 25 cents a day, thunderpumpers, going "Indian file", basting, bias facings, and a "shanty Irishman".

Episode 178   Little Town on the Prairie, ch. 4 "The Happy Days"   Join us as we discuss organizing the Congregational Church, why Laura wasn't a charter member of founding the church, skim-milk cottage cheese, setting a hen, what a pullet is, what a cockerel is, and when it is too old to be laying eggs.

Episode 177 Ch. 3 of Little Town on the Prairie, "The Necessary Cat"   Join us this week as we discuss Dakota Territory, the use of italicized words in the chapter, Pa losing his hair, Kingsbury County, what counties do, Amos Whiting, when cats' eyes open, and the cost of a cat. 

Episode 176   Little Town on the Prairie ch. 2 "Springtime on the Claim"   Join us this week as we discuss who is the calf's father? How to skim milk. What a poll is. Laura wearing her hair up or down? What is a rolling coulter or mold board? Mary quoting Jeremiah and Job and Psalm 23. Pa mellows the dirt. What are angleworms? The blackbird nursery rhyme, and the bean plants popping out of the ground. 

Episode 175   Ch. 1 of Little Town on the Prairie, "Surprise".   Join us this week as we discuss Laura working in a hotel, a little of the Ingalls' time in Burr Oak, 1941 in the context of Newbery Honor books and famous people born in 1941. 

Episode 174   Ch. 33 of The Long Winter, "Christmas in May".   Join us this week as we discuss the tablecloth sitch, yeast cakes/sponge/light bread, seedless raisins, cream of tartar, how far the Boasts' claim was from town, a dripping pan, ways to mash potatoes, the Boasts' winter on their claim, "Where There's a Will There's a Way".

Episode 173   Ch. 32 of The Long Winter, "The Christmas Barrel".   Join us this week as we discuss whaleboned basques, fascinators, what "dove colored" is, Laura's jealousy about the Christmas barrel, talking turkey, and the presence of Mr. Boast.  

Episode 172   Ch. 31 of The Long Winter "Waiting for the Train"   Join us this week as we discuss King Nebuchadnezzar, "The May Queen", positive stereotypes of people of Scottish descent, why the Ingalls air the bedding, what an emigrant car is, and Pa not caring about taking items from the railroad company.

Episode 171   Ch. 30 of The Long Winter, "It Can't Beat Us".   Join us this week as we discuss Carrie not helping with chores (?), no more lessons, Pa not singing his trouble song, Laura's light within her, the Chinook winds, and "beauty is only skin deep".

Episode 170   Ch. 29 of The Long Winter, "The Last Mile".    Join us this week as we discuss how Almanzo treats Prince, what a neckyoke is, what "tugs" are, "Is that the best you can do?", Laura clarifying the timeline of the narrative, what Loftus charges for the wheat, the physcial description of Pa and the toll the Long Winter has taken on him, the respect Pa commanded, "palaver", how they divided up the wheat, and Pa being too proud to ask for help carrying 125 lbs. 

Episode 169   Ch. of The Long Winter "Four Days' Blizzard"   Join us this week as we discuss Pa yelling at the wind, "Song of the Freed Men/We Are All Here", "It Will Never Do to Give (It) up So", "Great Is the Lord/And Greatly to Be Prais'd", "When I Can Read My Title Clear",  chilblained definition, and Pa revealing where he got his seed wheat. 

Episode 168   Ch. 27 of The Long Winter "For Daily Bread".   Join us this week as we discuss the challenges Cap and Almanzo faced, the morning star (Venus), a buckskin horse, Cap and Almanzo's ages, Lake Henry and Lake Thompson, a "swell", "zenith", the identity of Anderson, wheat prices, "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush".

Episode 167   Ch. 26 of The Long Winter, "Breathing Spell".   Join us this week as we discuss Ma's state of mind about the weather, Ma twisting hay, "gee whillikins", elephant nose lengths, Pa's checker-playing abilities.

Episode 166   Ch. 25 of The Long Winter, "Free and Independent"   Join us this week as we discuss the fact there are no Ingalls present in the narration, whittling, tintypes, "Be sure you're right, then go ahead", "Better safe than sorry", "Free, white, and 21".

Episode 165   Ch. 24 of the Long Winter "Not Really Hungry".   Join us this week as we discuss potato skins, codfish,  "chirk", and Laura mentioning Carrie's health. 

Episode 164   Ch. 23 of The Long Winter "Wheat in the Wall".   Join us this week as we discuss always being grateful for what you have, Ma putting her foot down and Pa not hunting for the wheat, pouring tea into the saucer to cool it, Pa with his good eye finding the wheat in the wall, and the price of wheat. 

Episode 163   Ch. 22 of The Long Winter, Cold and Dark.   Join us this week as we discuss patching coats, Ma allowing them to dip their bread in their tea, "The Speech of Regulus", "Old Tubal Cain", "Mary Had a Little Lamb", "Little Bo Peep", "Paul Revere's Ride", "The Romance of the Swan's Nest", selling hay to burn, hauling hay while the sun shines, Mary twisting hay, Ma snapping at Pa again, David Livingstone, "Bonny Doon", saleratus, "Home of the Soul".

Episode 162   Ch. 21 of The Long Winter, "The Hard Winter".   Join us this week as we discuss the price of beef, searing meat, a recipe for pot roast, Ma losing her temper, "the dickens", "pride goes before a fall", the core message if The Long Winter, "Canaan Together Let Us Sweetly Live"/"On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand", and BROWN FOOD TASTES GOOD. 

Episode 161   Ch. 20 of the Long Winter "Antelope!"   Join us this week as we discuss pronghorn, cartridges for Pa's rifle, "counting your chickens before they hatch", sawing on the bit, tender-mouthed horses, "You're a mighty hunter before the Lord", Spirit Lake, Almanzo's sense of direction, Lady is *not* a colt, scraping down a horse, and the change in narrator. 

Episode 160   Ch. 19 of The Long Winter "Where There's a Will".   Join us this week as we discuss twisting hay, Laura wearing Pa's old overcoat, Mary's collge money, the telegraph, the high cost of flour, grist mills, coffee mill dimensions, axle grease, a sourdough bread recipe, and a snapshot of 1881 for context. 

Episode 159   Ch. 18 of the Long Winter, "Merry Christmas"   Join us this week as we discuss Youth's Companions, The Advance, The Pioneer Press, Banker Thomas Ruth, the bluing bag, boiling the starch, what superintendents are responsible for, 25 cents for a pound of flour and for suspenders, the current price of flour, cross-stitching on cardboard, and hair switches.

Episode 158   Ch. 17 of The Long Winter "Seed Wheat"   Join us this week as we discuss heifers, the reappearance of "The Blue Bonnets", fatmeat, shifts in the narrative, 125-pound sacks of wheat, "a daisy", and the phrase "nothing is certain but death and taxes".

Episode 157   Ch. 16 of The Long Winter, "Fair Weather".   Join us this week as we discuss igloos, the word "Eskimos", how old an "old" horse is, roller towels, "to rassle", David Allison Gilbert, and (Lake) Preston, SD.

Episode 156   Ch. 15 in The Long Winter, "No Trains".   Join us this week as we discuss the fact that there was a whole heater I wasn't paying attention to, Ma's little red Morocco pocketbook, mother-of-pearl, kerosene, Charles Ely, what "per thousand" means in terms of lumber, the Chicago Inter-Ocean, braiding and sewing a rag rug, wasn't the lace supposed to be a gift for Mary?, Mary's hair length on p. 145, the origin of the word "jiffy", and the record snowfall in South Dakota. 

Episode 155   Ch. 14 of the Long Winter "One Bright Day."   Join us this week as we discuss Laura pinning up her braids, the origin of the word "Sol", wild chokecherries, what an awl is, how salt works, and a recipe for rich tomato preserves.

Episode 154   Ch. 13 of The Long Winter, "We'll Weather the Blast"   Join us this week as we discuss Jerusalem crickets/potato bugs, "humdinger", how tall an average door is, why Laura sets the chairs to the table in the morning, the heater footrest, dinner vs. lunch, the coldest temperature ever recorded ever in South Dakota, "In the Sweet Bye and Bye", "Jesus Is a Rock in a Weary Land", and "Evergreen Shore".

Episode 153   The Long Winter ch. 11 "Alone"   Join us this week as we discuss the Masters family who boarded with the Ingalls during the Long Winter, knitting lace, "the Lord helps those who help themselves", the origin of "lickety-split", "gosh all hemlock!", "Little Annie Rooney", "Old Grey Mare She Ain't What She Used to Be", and the Highland Fling.

Episode 152   Ch. 11 of the Long Winter, "Pa Goes to Volga."   Join us this week as we discuss the big cut near Tracy, Volga, South Dakota, the reappearance of Mr. Hinz, "let 'er go, Gallagher!", "Roll the Old Chariot Along", "to dandle", and currency conversion for the chapter - selling livestock and Mary's college fund.

Episode 151   The Long Winter ch. 10 "Three Days' Blizzard." Join us this week as we discuss Charles Barker, Almanzo's true age, working for 50 cents a day, buckwheat pancakes, ironstone, seed wheat, and a peck of wheat.

Episode 150   The Long Winter, chapter 9, "Cap Garland"   Join us this week as we discuss shoes of the 1880s, George Bradley, Mary Power, Minnie Johnson, Cap Garland, "patent" desks, Florence Garland, Ben Woodworth, Arthur Johnson, the date of the blizzard, Mr. Foster/Silas Holmes, the Beardsley girls, the Wilmarth boys, Mead's Hotel, and Couse's Hardware.

Episode 149   Chapter 8 of the Long Winter, "Settled in Town".   Join us this week as we discuss the Long Winter being translated for the Japanese market after World War II, how long it takes for wood to weather grey, who was Ellen's calf's father?, John Carroll, roll-top desks, Thomas Power, Daniel Loftus, the difference of straw vs. hay, the definition of "all hollow", the Sherwood family, the Garland family, the Owens family, "to bach", and Mr. Foster. 

Episode 148   The Long Winter ch. 7, "Indian Warning"   Join us this week as we discuss the third person omniscient narrator, where Royal and Almanzo homesteaded, which tribe the Native American may have been from, outdated depictions of Native Americans vis a vis language used, origin of the word "geezer", Ellie vs. Nell Boast, "to ceil", Laura not being allowed to stack hay in town, and Psalm 55:6.

Episode 147   Ch. 6 of the Long Winter, "Indian Summer".    Join us this week as we discuss the origins of the phrase "Indian summer" and dovkies. 

Episode 146   Ch. 4 of The Long Winter, "After the Storm".   Join us this week as we discuss tar paper nailed to the roof, what an "Indian summer" is, why Laura wore a shawl instead of a coat, "to scud", Mary not believing Laura's "queer notions", great auks, and why snow melts in the south.

Episode 145   Ch. 6 of The Long Winter, "October Blizzard".   Join us this week as we discuss Pa's sunflower song, baking soda in the bean broth, changing the bean water, cambric tea, "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny", "All the Bluebonnets Are Over the Border"/"The Blue Bonnets".

Episode 144   The Long Winter ch. 3 "Fall of the Year"   Join us this week as we discuss equinoctial storms, battens, how big is a bushel?, sweet preserves, winnowing beans, shocking sod corn, pinning muslin to your knee while sewing a sheet, and Ma's green pumpkin pie. 

Episode 143   Ch. 2 of The Long Winter "An Errand to Town".   Join us this week as we discuss when the first frost is in DeSmet, cutter bar teeth, 5 cents for the cutter bar tooth, Charleton and Gerald Fuller, what a "pocketbook" is, the definition of "primly" and "rivet".

Episode 142   Long Winter ch. 1 "Make Hay While the Sun Shines"   Join us this week as we discuss 1941 Newbery winners, celebrities born in 1940, what happened between "Silver Lake" and "Long Winter", when you make hay, big bluestem grass, the definition of "to grub", garter snakes, definition of "haycock" and "whiffletree", a recipe for ginger water, and muskrat lodges.

Thank you for 100,000 downloads! :)   To celebrate, here are my 10 favorite chapters (so far) of the Little House books.

Episode 141   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 32 "Evening Shadows Fall". Join us this week as we discuss "Barbara Allen".

Episode 140   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 31, "Mosquitoes". Join us as we discuss when mosquitoes come out and what temperature, mosquito bar netting, pink mosquito bar, and what a smudge is.

By the Shores of Silver Lake   Ch. 30 "Where Violets Grow". Join us this week as we discuss violets, the weight of three-year-old todds, "draggled", the meaning of hanging a horseshoe like a "U", and "Keep the Horseshoe over the Door". 

Episode 138   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 29 "The Shanty on the Claim". Join us this week as we discuss a spade vs. a shovel, laths, the Timber Culture Act of 1873, wild onions, crocus, sheep sorrel, where did the glass boxes come from?, and where was the Lone Tree from?

Episode 137   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 28 "Moving Day"   Join us as we discuss skids, "joggling", $250 or $300 in 2024 money, "A Motto for Every Man", and "Beacon - Light of Home".