Wilder on the Prairie

Episode 46   Little House on the Prairie, Chapter 4 "Prairie Day"   Join us this week as we discuss dickcissels, how far the Ingalls lived from Independence, prairie chickens, the definition of "to kilt", striped gophers, Laura's treatment of Native Americans in this novel, sadirons, phoebe birds, and Daisy Deane.

Episode 45   Little House on the Prairie, Chapter 3 "Camp on the High Prairie"   Join us this week as we discuss the high prairie, grinding coffee, bake ovens, salt pork, wolves, lynx, nightcaps, and what kind of bulldog Jack really was.

Episode 44 Little House on the Prairie Chapter 2 "Crossing the Creek" Join us this week as we discuss fords, when fawning season is, why Laura had to wear a blanket crossing the creek, running gear, American bulldogs swimming, and mustangs.

Episode 43 Chapter 1 "Going West" Join us this week as we discuss the Ingalls family in both Missouri and Kansas, Pa's Wisconsin land in 2022 dollars, dimensions of a prairie schooner, Laura's grandparents and double cousins, molasses, the dimensions of Lake Pepin, when this ice cracks on Lake Pepin, the definition of Indian Territory, crossing the Missouri River, jackrabbits, and wagon wheel trac...

Episode 42   Farmer Boy Chapter 29 "Farmer Boy"   Join us this week as we discuss wheelwrights, apprenticeship in the 1800s, truckle, and Libertarians.

Episode 41   Farmer Boy Chapter 28 "Mr. Thompson's Pocket Book"   In today's episode we discuss hay balers, capstans, money conversions, pocketbooks, shinny, hames, livery stables, and if Mr. Paddock was a real person. 

Episode 40 Farmer Boy Chapter 27 "Wood Hauling"   Join us this week as we discuss yearlings, Almanzo's age, feather stitching, cant poles, balky, swearing, and corded wood.

Episode 39   Farmer Boy Chapter 26 "Christmas"   Join us as we discuss the extended Wilder Family, switches, scouring bricks, mince pies, dampers, horehound candy, garnets, paring potatoes, and the word "dast".

Episode 38   Farmer Boy Chapter 25 "Threshing"   Join us this week as we discuss flails, ironwood, fanning mills, eating wheat kernels, and how big a bushel is.

Episode 37 Farmer Boy Chapter 24 "The Little Bobsled"   Join us this week as we discuss bobsleds, a tree being 5" through, the definition of "hew", the pliability of wood, and Laurapalooza 2022.

Episode 36, Farmer Boy Chapter 23 "Cobbler"   Join us this week as we discuss the Malone Academy, basting, boughten, carpetbags, husking pegs, lasts, awls, and bespoke shoes.

Farmer Boy chapter 22 "Fall of the Year"   Join us this week as we discuss beechnuts, why snow is "poor man's fertilizer", banking walls, saltpeter, and candlemaking. 

Farmer Boy Chapter 21 "The County Fair"   Join us this week as we discuss 1866 money values in 2022, thoroughbred horses, Belgian horses, mules, Chester white pigs, succotash, sulkies, and the world's record for running a mile.

Farmer Boy chapter 20, "Late Harvest"   Join us this week as we discuss the harvest moon, the world's largest pumpkin, how big a hogshead is, the physics of potatoes exploding, and what a poultice is.

Farmer Boy Chapter 19 "Early Harvest"   Join us this week as we talk about timothy grass, swath(e), the difference between eastern and western meadlowlarks, egg nog, windrows, foreshadowing The Long Winter, a bucolic lifestyle and thrift, cutting oats with cradles, shocking oats, mauls, $250 in 1866 dollars, and bombazine.

Episode 31   Farmer Boy Chapter 18, "Keeping House"   Join us this week as we discuss Uncle Andrew Day, lap robes, how to pick a ripe melon, wabbling, watermlon rind preserves, what pigs should eat, hydrangeas, pound cakes, parlors, horsehair cloth, and what nots.

Farmer Boy Chapter 17 "Summer Time"   Join us this week as we discuss growing big pumpkins, pig prices, why you fish when it rains, speckled trout, Lake Chateaugay, black bears in New York State, and jelly vs. jam vs. preserves.

Episode 29 Chapter 16 "Independence Day"   Join us this week as we discuss French calico, the song "Yankee Doodle", downtown Malone, the "Star-Spangled Banner", how many stars on the Flag in 1866, pink lemonade, the word "lief", the value of a half dollar in 1866, sucking pigs, and the Great American Desert.

Episode 28 Farmer Boy Chapter 15 "Cold Snap"   This week we will dicuss carding wool, dyeing wool, planting pumpkins in May, planting corn and pumpkins together, how big an acre really is, 1866 crop yields, and saving freezing corn.

Ch. 14 "Sheep Sheering"   Join us this week as we talk about shearing sheep, sheep swimming, sheep butting, how long it takes to shear by hand, how often to shear, merino wool, and fleece weight.

Join us for a discussion of Chapter 13 of Farmer Boy, "The Strange Dog".   Topics for this episode include Morgan horses, horses' teeth, $200 in 2022 dollars, how much a Morgan horse is, setting the sponge for baking, and woodlots.

Farmer Boy Chapter 12 "The Tin Peddler"   This week we talk about rubbing down horses with clean cloths, Saranac New York, working exclusively with tin, trading rags, and a peddlars cart.

Farmer Boy Chapter 11 "Springtime"   Today we will discuss door sills, horse traces, furrows, the St. Lawrence River, pumphouses, lizards in New York (five-lined skinks), whistling girls, and Canada peas.

Chapter 10 "The Turn of the Year"   Today we discuss Scottish proverbs, winterberries, sugaring off, how big a bushel is, the railroad in Malone, how much $500 of 1866 dollars is in 2022, straw on the floors, and whitewashing.    

Chapter 9 "Breaking in the Calves"   Join us as we discuss moosewood, gee and haw, oxen vs. cattle, Rocky Mountain oysters, augers, lynchpins, and sacré bleu!