Wilder on the Prairie

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The only podcast that talks about all things Laura Ingalls Wilder, one "Little House" book at a time.

Annie Kontor


    • May 19, 2025 LATEST EPISODE
    • every other week NEW EPISODES
    • 9m AVG DURATION
    • 152 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Wilder on the Prairie

    Episode 148 - LW - Indian Warning

    Play Episode Listen Later May 19, 2025 17:24


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person omniscient narrator, where Royal and Almanzo homesteaded, which tribe the Native American may have been from, outdated depictions of Native Americans vis a vis language used, origin of the word "geezer", Ellie vs. Nell Boast, "to ceil", Laura not being allowed to stack hay in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

    Play Episode Listen Later May 12, 2025 8:42


    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 - LW - After the Storm

    Play Episode Listen Later May 5, 2025 12:51


    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 - LW - October Blizzard

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 28, 2025 13:19


    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 - LW - Fall of the Year

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 21, 2025 9:16


    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 - LW - An Errand to Town

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 13, 2025 10:34


    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".

    Episodes 142 - LW - Make Hay While the Sun Shines

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 6, 2025 13:14


    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.

    Bonus Episode 3

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2025 11:24


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

    Episode 141 - Evening Shadows Fall

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 13, 2025 6:12


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

    Episode 140 - SSL - Mosquitoes

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 6, 2025 6:10


    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.

    Episode 139 - SSL - Where Violets Grow

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2024 8:55


    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 - SSL - The Shanty on the Claim

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 23, 2024 12:02


    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 - SSL - Moving Day

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 16, 2024 7:57


    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 - SSL - Living in Town

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 9, 2024 9:10


    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 - SSL - The Building Boom

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 2, 2024 8:39


    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 - SSL - Pa's Bet

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 25, 2024 10:11


    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 - SSL - The Spring Rush

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 18, 2024 14:35


    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 - SSL - On the Pilgrim Way

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 10, 2024 12:59


    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 - SSL - Happy Winter Days

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 4, 2024 22:54


    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 - SSL - Merry Christmas

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 27, 2024 13:53


    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 - SSL - The Night Before Christmas

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 20, 2024 11:17


    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 - SSL - Christmas Eve

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 13, 2024 12:13


    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 - SSL - Pa Finds the Homestead

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 6, 2024 7:16


    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 - SSL - Wolves on Silver Lake

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 29, 2024 8:24


    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 - SSL - Winter Days

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 22, 2024 8:01


    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 - SSL - The Last Man Out

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 15, 2024 15:24


    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 - SSL - The Surveyor's House

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 9, 2024 8:37


    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 - SSL - Breaking Camp

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 1, 2024 11:07


    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 - SSL - Wings Over Silver Lake

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 25, 2024 9:42


    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 - SSL - Pay Day

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 18, 2024 9:39


    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 - SSL - The Wonderful Afternoon

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 12, 2024 11:48


    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 - SSL - Horse Thieves

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 4, 2024 12:18


    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 - SSL - Silver Lake

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 28, 2024 12:27


    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 - SSL - Where the West Begins

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 21, 2024 10:58


    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 - SSL - The Black Ponies

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 14, 2024 18:15


    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 - SSL - Railroad Camp

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 7, 2024 8:37


    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 - SSL - End of the Rails

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 30, 2024 8:46


    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 - SSL - Riding in the Cars

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 23, 2024 9:21


    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 - SSL - Grown Up

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 17, 2024 14:32


    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 - SSL - Unexpected Visitor

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 10, 2024 14:28


    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. 

    Bonus Episode 2

    Play Episode Listen Later May 5, 2024 7:25


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

    Episode 109 - BPC - Christmas Eve

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 8, 2024 8:18


    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 - BPC - The Fourth Day

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 31, 2024 10:18


    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 - BPC - The Third Day

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 25, 2024 8:18


    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 - BPC - The Day of Games

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 18, 2024 6:34


    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 - BPC - The Long Blizzard

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 10, 2024 11:59


    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 - BPC - Prairie Winter

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 4, 2024 9:02


    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."

    Episode 103 - BPC - Keeping House

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 26, 2024 8:41


    Episode 103   Banks of Plum Creek ch. 35 "Keeping House"   Join us this week as we discuss beaver in Minnesota, Pa's "itching foot", shawl pins, Laura's use of onomatopoeia.

    Episode 102 - BPC - Marks on the Slate

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 19, 2024 13:59


    Episode 102   Banks of Plum Creek ch. 34 "Marks on the Slate"   Join us this week as we discuss lard and beeswax as a salve, turnips, slate pencils, and the definition of "pell mell."

    Episode 101 - BPC - Wheels of Fire

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 12, 2024 7:35


    Episode 101   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 33 "Wheels of Fire"   Join us this week as we discuss ragweed, eastern cottonwood, and Spot having a calf!

    Episode 100 - BPC - Grasshoppers Walking

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 5, 2024 11:49


    EPISODE 100!!!   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 32 "Grasshoppers Walking"   Join us this week as we discuss bobsleds and when the locust know it's time to go west.

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