Homesteading: A Woman's Journey

Washing Laundry by Hand

Over the weekend, the belt on our washing machine finally wore out and would no longer spin the clothes dry.  This meant that we had to wring out the laundry by hand that we had already washed. No big deal.  Then, my dear husband took the belt off so he can take it to a shop & buy a new one.  Everything seems to be going great ........until........

Today, I was faced with a situation.  Our 2 little ones are cloth diapered.  We only have enough for one and a half days of diapering for each child.  What are the chances that "Murphy's Law" will kick in and the store in the little town will not have the belt we need in stock?  Also, Joe has been getting a couple of hours of overtime lately which would put him getting off work after the stores have begun closing.

Today I am hand washing the diapers and the little ones' bedding.  Surprisingly, I am finding that I rather enjoy doing it. I am using far less water than the electric machine would use and by not using the machine, I am also saving money on the electricity.  Washing laundry by hand is not a difficult process, just time consuming.  I can easily understand why our fore-mothers did laundry one day a week.  It probably took all day to wash the family's laundry.  When you consider how many children the families had in those days, I can imagine that laundry washing was an all day event.  It was a benefit that they had less clothing than we are accustommed to today, but given how hard they worked, I can only imagine how dirty the clothing was when laundry day arrived. Realistically, I don't imagine that I will suddenly become so enamored with hand washing the laundry that I will give up the washing machine.  It is good to know that I can do it by hand though if the need arises.

Here is how I am hand washing the laundry:

Start early in the day.  The early the better to give your clothing plenty of time to dry on the clothesline.  For the little ones' cloth diapers, I am finding that washing them every few changings is working great.  You will want to keep in mind with diapers that you want to stay ahead of the job as much as possible so that you don't run out of diapers while the laundered ones are still drying on the clothesline.

The first step is to have a couple of large, deep kettles or tubs for your wash and rinse water.  If you have a double sink that is deep enough, even better!  Use hot water if possible for both the wash and rinse. The only exception would  be if you are washing something that specifically calls for cold water.  If you are using deep kettles or tubs, have them at a comfortable working height.  It really makes a difference in saving your back from becoming sore.

I use a low-suds laundry soap (see my previous blog for the recipe) which helps a great deal when it is time to rinse the clothing.  The more suds your wash water has, the longer it takes to rinse all the soap out.  I let heavily soiled clothing such as my husbands work jeans "cook" on the stove in my water bath canner.  I put the jeans in the water with some laundry soap and let the water come to a slow boil for awhile. This will help to loosen the ground in dirt and things like grass stains.  While the jeans are on the stove, I wash the more lightly soiled clothing.  Wash the clothing in order of how soiled they are with the most heavily soiled clothing being washed last.  This will save you from having to keep changing out your wash water.

Taking one article of clothing at a time, rub them thoroughly between your hands.  If you happen to have access to a scrub board, all the better!  For the dirtiest areas, you can also use a scrub brush to scrub out the dirt.  I keep the laundry soap handy so that I can sprinkle abit onto a heavily soiled area if need be to scrub out the dirt.  Wringe out the wash water from the clothing before adding it to the rinse water to prevent getting the rinse water too soapy.  You can also add some white vinegar to the rinse water to help remove the soap residues from the clothing.  Wringe out the clothing as much as possible before hanging out on the clothesline.

There are benefits to doing laundry by hand.  One being that you can take the time to work on the heavily soiled areas and prevent stains.  Another benefit is that when hung on the clothesline, the sun helps to naturally bleach out stains.  The laundry comes off the line with the wonderful clean outdoors scent that no fabric softener can duplicate!  It is so fun to take the laundry outdoors and watch Abbie running around playing while I hang the laundry.  Sometimes she comes and helps hand me the clothespins or puts the dried clothing in the basket for me.  Micah enjoys being outdoors also.  I have him snuggled to me in a baby carrier.  He looks around, sometimes making his little cooing vocalizations, and just enjoys that time.

Whether I wash the laundry by hand or not, I am enjoying the clothesline and having that time outdoors with the little ones.  The washing machine being out of commission today is actually a blessing.  Had it not happened, I might have missed out on a wonderful opportunity with my kids.

Weekend Update

This weekend has been pretty productive.  Friday, I drove to Oklahoma City to pick up Joe from the terminal early in the morning.  Unfortuntely, I only had about 3 hours of sleep the night before.  I got there okay.  I guess the excitement of bringing Joe home for the week over rode any tiredness.  We had to wait for awhile before leaving.  Joe had to go through the processes of signing off a student.  It was abit more complicated this time as the student failed his post-training driving test.  He was assigned another trainer for 2 more weeks of training to see  if he can improve.  By the time we left the terminal it was after 12noon.  By the time we got all our running round and shopping done at the health food store, it was late afternoon before we were heading home. 

Saturday, I was pretty worn out still from being out in the heat so much on Friday.  I ended up taking a nap while Joe and Abbie used the riding mower to mow part of the field.  Joe likes to mow a path that we can take walks on and have access to berry patches and such.  Later in the late afternoon, we dropped Abbie off at his parents to go and visit with the couple we buy goat milk from.  We are wanting to buy a couple of goats from them in the early spring.  We ended up staying there for awhile longer than expected, then had to go and get some wasp traps to try and get rid of some of the red wasps.  By the time we picked up Abbie and drove home, it was after dark.

As we approached our driveway, we saw a very large animal in our headlights.  It looked our way and we saw the eye shine.  We suspect it was one of the large cats (cougars) in our area that has been attacking and killing neighbors' goats and turkeys.  It was coming from our property.  Joe and I were concerned because the ewe and goat were still out in the yard grazing.  We got home, half expecting to find one of them killed.  When we arrived, I heard both of them vocalizing.  Cloe, our dwarf nubian goat came up to the house and tried to come in the front door.  We got Abbie settled in bed for the night and then took the girls, with some feed, up to their stable.  Joe and I went together as now that we know the cougar is this close to our home, we don't deem it safe to go outside away from the house at night.  What a blessing that the Lord watched over our animals while we were gone.

After getting the girls settled in the stable & us getting back in the house, we found a couple of phone messages from a driver wanting to be Joe's co-driver.  Joe called him right away and made arrangements to bring him out to our home for a BBQ so that we all had the afternoon to talk and get to know one another.  This driver is fairly new to trucking.  He has had a co-driver before but had problems getting along together after some time.  He needs help with his backing to a dock and the paperwork (trip planning), but he is otherwise competent to drive without alot of help.  One of the things that I like is that he is 50 yrs old, old enough to not be too arrogant to ask for help if he needs it.  He knows his limitations and is wanting Joe's help in overcoming them.

Joe and I both feel good about him being Joe's co-driver.  So, when Joe goes back on the truck Friday, he will have someone to start driving with.  We are hoping that it works out well.  If this guy is being up front with us, it should work out.  He seems to have a great attitude and a wonderful sense of humor.  Both are things that Joe finds important since they will spend so much time together in the truck. 

We found out that the guy is wanting to homestead, taking it a step further than us and living off-grid.  He is a "city boy" so was asking alot of questions.  He is genuinely interested in learning about the benefits and also to challenges of homesteading.

All in all, we feel the weekend was productive.  Having found Joe a co-driver so soon means that he won't have to be worrying about it the rest of his time home.  I am thrilled to have met the new co-driver.  I feel good about it.  I trust that he will be safe and not be one to take risks with his driving that could put Joe's (and his own) safety at risk.   

In other news, the garden is still producing, though the squash production is starting to taper off.  I am going to finish up this week in getting the fall plants in the ground.  If we havea mild autumn, I should be able to grow quite a bit of vegetables.  I am planting  green beans, green peas, wax beans, pumpkin, cucumbers, beets, carrots, brussel sprouts, and more acorn squash.  I am also starting a small indoor herb garden in my kitchen window.  In the winter, I will start herb seeds indoors and plant them in the garden in the spring.

We are thinking of combining gardens with Joe's parents.  I talked to Mom about it.  Since we are expanding our garden to triple the space used this year, there will be more than enough space to grow for both us amd Joe's parents.  Also, will have produce to sell is all goes well.

We are So Blessed

Joe and I have been so blessed.  Finding each other and having Abigail, we felt as though the Lord has blessed us greatly.  Then, last night, we found out that the blessings are being added to.

I have been feeling sick for several days, unable to eat much.  No matter how much sleep I get, it never seems like enough.  Joe and I were talking on the phone and he asked me to go get a test.  I went to the store, got the test and did it when I got home.  Turns out that all the sickness and the "nesting" have been for a good reason.  We are expecting another baby! 

I am so amazed by the tests.  In figuring the dates on a medical website, I am barely 2 weeks into the pregnancy, yet the test was able to show the positive results!  The baby will be due in late March.

It is abit over-whelming.  I am having a baby at 44yrs of age.  We are thrilled though.  We have placed the baby in the Lord's Hands.  We know that He is in full control. 

CrossWalk

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On the mend

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Blessings