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 "Evergreen Shore".
Jun 30, 2025•17 min•Season 6Ep. 13
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.
Jun 23, 2025•15 min•Season 6Ep. 12
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.
Jun 16, 2025•15 min•Season 6Ep. 11
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.
Jun 09, 2025•13 min•Season 6Ep. 10
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.
Jun 02, 2025•24 min•Season 6Ep. 9
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.
May 26, 2025•18 min•Season 6Ep. 8
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.
May 19, 2025•17 min•Season 6Ep. 7
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.
May 12, 2025•9 min•Season 6Ep. 6
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.
May 05, 2025•13 min•Season 6Ep. 4
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".
Apr 28, 2025•13 min•Season 6Ep. 4
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.
Apr 21, 2025•9 min•Season 6Ep. 3
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".
Apr 13, 2025•11 min•Season 6Ep. 2
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.
Apr 06, 2025•13 min•Season 6Ep. 1
Thank you for 100,000 downloads! :) To celebrate, here are my 10 favorite chapters (so far) of the Little House books.
Mar 03, 2025•11 min
Episode 141 By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 32 "Evening Shadows Fall". Join us this week as we discuss "Barbara Allen".
Jan 13, 2025•6 min•Season 5Ep. 32
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.
Jan 06, 2025•6 min•Season 5Ep. 31
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".
Dec 30, 2024•9 min•Season 5Ep. 30
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?
Dec 23, 2024•12 min•Season 5Ep. 29
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".
Dec 16, 2024•8 min•Season 5Ep. 28
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.
Dec 09, 2024•9 min•Season 5Ep. 27
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?
Dec 02, 2024•9 min•Season 5Ep. 26
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.
Nov 25, 2024•10 min•Season 5Ep. 25
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".
Nov 18, 2024•15 min•Season 5Ep. 24
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".
Nov 10, 2024•13 min•Season 5Ep. 23
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".
Nov 04, 2024•23 min•Season 5Ep. 22
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.
Oct 27, 2024•14 min•Season 5Ep. 21
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".
Oct 20, 2024•11 min•Season 5Ep. 20
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".
Oct 13, 2024•12 min•Season 5Ep. 19
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.
Oct 06, 2024•7 min•Season 5Ep. 18
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.
Sep 29, 2024•8 min•Season 5Ep. 17