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 albums.

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".