Wilder on the Prairie

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person omniscient narrator, where Royal and Almanzo homesteaded, which tribe the Native American may have been from, outdated depictions of Native Americans vis a vis language used, origin of the word "geezer", Ellie vs. Nell Boast, "to ceil", Laura not being allowed to stack hay in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".

Episode 136   ch 27 By the Shores of Silver Lake "Living in Town". Join us this week as we discuss the one-mile walk into town, "ceil", "cornice", "Oh I'm As Happy As a Big Sunflower", the Jerome Beardsley family, who Louizy and Annie were, who killed Hunter, and Mitchell, SD.

Episode 135   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 26 "The Buiding Boom". Join us this week as we discuss $15.25, $1.75, Western false front architure, $42.50, and why Laura and Mary were arguing?

Episode 134   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 25 "Pa's Bet"   Join us this week as we discuss Mr. Hinz and the 2 Mr. Hawthorns, "the fat was in the fire", "anywheres", what $14 is in 2024, and how big 160 acres really is.

Episode 133   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 24 "The Spring Rush"   Join us this week as we discuss "greenhorns", how much 25 cents was, Fort Pierre South Dakota, "March comes in like a lamb, it goes out like a lion", what it means "to board" someone, Sioux Falls South Dakota and "to be hung for a sheep as a lamb".

Episode 132   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 23, "On the Pilgrim Way"   Join us this week as we discuss "Lend a Helping Hand", Rev. Alden in the late 1870s, Rev. Stewart Sheldon, Huron South Dakota, the Home Missionary Society, the word "repined", brown sugar syrup, "receipts" vs. "recipes", Jean Pierre de Smet, and "baching".

Episode 131   ch 31 By the Shores of Silver Lake "Happy Winter Days"   Join us as we discuss 1880 history in context, Yankton South Dakota, The New York Ledger, continued stories (serials), "Gypsy's Warning", "When I Was One and Twenty, Nell", "Billy Boy", "Camptown Races", "Three Blind Mice", "Nelly Was a Lady (Last Night She Died)", "Ben Bolt", "Oft in the Stilly Night", and "Banks O'Doon".

Episode 130   Ch. 21 By the Shores of Silver Lake "Merry Christmas"   Join us as we discuss setting the Christmas table, wristlets, "gathers", cheesecloth, codfish gravy, where did the cream come from?, "plenty more down in a cellar in a teacup", onion stuffing, "Jumping Jehosephat!", and the Boasts living in the surveyor's office just for the winter.

Episode 129   ch 20 By the Shores of SIlver Lake "The Night Before Christmas"   Join us this week as we discuss Ella Peck Boast, the definitions of "parbroil" and "raw-fry", claim jumpers, the ranges of voice types, and "Merry, Merry Christmas Everywhere".

Episode 128   Ch. 19 by the Shores of Silver Lake "Christmas Eve"   Join us as we discuss the scrap bag, jackrabbits, cornmeal mush, "Down the River on the Ohio", "Why Chime the Bells So Merrily", "Jingle Bells", "Mountain of the Lord", and "Gentle Words and Loving Smiles".

Episode 127   By the Shores of Silver Lake, chapter 18 "Pa Finds the Homestead"   Join us this week as we discuss going 10 miles in the snow, buffalo wolf tracks, wolf life spans, pack sizes, and Pa's quarter section.

Episode 126   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 17 "Wolves on Silver Lake"   Join us this week as we discuss where their shoes came from (?), whether wolves are nocturnal, and flatirons.

Episode 125   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 16 "Winter Days"   Join us this week as we discuss muskrats in South Dakota, the history of checkers, and the word "immoderately".

Episode 124   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 15 "The Last Man Out"   Join us this week as we discuss Horace G. Woodworth, the "prairie cure" for consumption, buffalo wolves, Pa's prediction of Dakota winters, "Hail, Columbia!", "Highland Mary", "Coming through the Rye", "I'm Mrs. Jinks of Madison Square", the polka and the waltz.

Episode 123   Ch. 14 in By the Shores of Silver Lake "The Surveyor's House"   Join us as we discuss gables, the history of canned food, the location of Brookings, "Mary of the Wild Moor", and "Paddle Your Own Canoe".

Episode 122   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 13 "Breaking Camp"   Join us this week as we discuss "Where Are You Going My Pretty Maid (Nobody Asked You", Lena's ultimate fate, Jean's fate, Pa seeing in shades of grey, Brookings South Dakota, Robery Abey Boast, and what a sherriff did in the late 1800s.

Episode 121   Chapter 12 of By the Shores of Silver Lake "Wings Over Silver Lake"   Join us this week as we discuss brant, redheads, bluebills, canvasbacks, teals, mudhens, hell-divers, swans in South Dakota, Uncle Henry, Louisa, and Charley's fate, Pa earned $300, and the Ingalls girls becoming teachers. 

Episode 120   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 11 "Pay Day"   Join us this week as we discuss Laura helping Pa with haying?, $1,000 in cash, Pa's revolver, rifle, and shotgun.

Episode 119   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 10 "The Wonderdul Afternoon"   Join us this week as we discuss "A Life on the Ocean Wave", "Buy a Broom", Ma's opinion of Lena, Fresno scrapers, and Mary not supporting Laura's ventures. 

Episode 118   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 9 "Horse Thieves"   Join us this week as we discuss mashed potato cakes, bushwhack, brushing your hair 100 strokes a night, Ma stroking Laura's hair, and clearing up the confusion for this chapter.

Episode 117   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 8 "Silver Lake"   Join us this week as the discuss seagulls in South Dakota, the Big Slough, what graders do, bedlam, ticking mattresses, where did Mary's rocking chair come from?, Stebbins' camp, pelicans in South Dakota, quonking, purple buffalo bean pods/ground plums/buffalo plums, and Mary laughing. 

Episode 116   By the Shores of Silver Lake chapter 7 "Where the West Begins"   Join us this week as we discuss the Big Sioux River, buffalo wallows, the 1800s buffalo population, "Uncle Sam's Farm", the James River, and where is Aunt Polly?

Episode 115   By the Shores of Silver Lake, chapter 6 "The Black Ponies"   Join us this week as we discuss the difference between ponies and horses, cooking for 46 people 3 times a day, what the washing exactly was they were hiring out?, hames and traces and whippletrees, "Beware!", "A Railroad Man for Me", and the character of Lizzie marrying at 13. 

Episode 114   By the Shores of Silver Lake, ch. 5 "Railroad Camp"   Join us this week as we discuss Laura preferring old-fashioned travel, "teamsters", "shanty", "peaked", and Ma and Laura cleaned their lunch site.

Episode 113   By the Shores of Silver Lake, chapter 4 "End of the Rails"   Join us this week as we discuss the role of firemen, "There Is a Happy Land", Mary's sensitive fingers, and the cost of the meal.

Episode 112   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 3 "Riding in the Cars"   Join us this week as we discuss starching clothes, lawn dresses, lillies of the valley, Tracy, MN, how fast trains went, and the roles of brakemen. 

Episode 111   By the Shores of Silver Lake, ch. 2 "Grown Up". Join us this week as we discuss 1939, 1879, hardtack, losing Jack the bulldog, Laura crying, Laura growing up at 12? At 10?

Episode 110   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 1 "Unexpected Visitor"   Join us this week as we discuss Burr Oak, Iowa, scarlet fever, Docia (Ingalls) Forbes, the Homestead Act of 1862, Aunt Ruby Ingalls, Uncle Peter Ingalls, Uncle Henry Quiner, and Cousin Charley. 

Join us for the AMA (ask me anything)!!!

Episode 109   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 41 "Christmas Eve"   Join us this week as we discuss rosin, "Charlie He's a Dandy", rollicking, and "Lily Dale". 

Episode 108   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 40 "The Fourth Day."   Join us this week as we discuss not doing the housework, the word "shamble", the whole family crying, bean broth, the $10 buffalo coat, "freeze the nose off a brass monkey", the word "gully", and oyster crackers. 

Episode 107   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 39 "The Third Day"   Join us this week as we discuss cat's cradle.

Episode 106   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 38 "The Day of Games"   Join us this week as we discuss waking up snowy, cornmeal mush, the significance of the red-checked tablecloth, and little girls crying.

Episode 105 On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 37 "The Long Blizzard" Join us this week as we discuss overcoats, the mysterious clock on the shelf, personifying the blizzard, Pa's jumper, the narrative shift to Ma, "Bean Porridge Hot", and the ball of fires coming down the chimney.

Episode 104   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 36 "Prairie Winter"   Join us this week as we discuss "scudding", Pa wanting to go West, a bear's track quilt, "Jesus Holds My Hand" and "Sweet Sabbath School."