Wilder on the Prairie

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, Da...

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 leng...

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 "Eve...

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 G...

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...

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.