Comments on: Where food comes from

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:22:58 +0000

My stepmother washes her clothes using only borax and baking soda. gets em clean, and then line dries. I was skeptical at first, but it works. Who invented this overpriced detergent stuff anyways??

By: Lonnie

Lonnie — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:54:47 +0000

Here’s where our feta cheese comes from, at the home of our son and daughter-in-law:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=golwmORF01Q

By: Walkable Eastwood » Blog Archive » Eastwood Laundry Day

Walkable Eastwood » Blog Archive » Eastwood Laundry Day — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:17:44 +0000

[...] all started right here, at Walkable Eastwood. The post that included the joys of hanging laundry to dry inspired more comments both here and in our email group (85 neighbors and counting!) than any other [...]

By: Lonnie

Lonnie — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:52:22 +0000

More on sustainable laundry: We’re trying Chinese Soap Nuts http://www.betterlifegoods.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=BLG-CAT21480
Will report back once we’ve tried ‘em on a few different loads.

By: Lonnie

Lonnie — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:59:49 +0000

Here’s a useful laundry line – you can dry a lot more clothes in a small space, and since they’re hanging on hangers, you don’t have to do any ironing! They dry just about wrinkle-free this way.

http://www.tibbeline.com/portable-clotheslines.html

By: Lonnie

Lonnie — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:25:31 +0000

I’m going to guess that Canadians like clothes dryers, too. I wonder what the dryer-ownership percentage is there.

I just found an interesting laundry “soap” that literally grows on trees:
https://www.betterlifegoods.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=25

I’ll let y’all know how it works… I just bought some!

By: leapetra

leapetra — Sun, 04 May 2008 13:53:06 +0000

I think I have had a working clothes dryer for only 2 years of my life. So that means for 35 years I have either hung my clothes up or took them to a laundry mat. Owning one was only convenient when my kids were babies.
I grew up without a clothes dryer. Well, we had one, but it never worked. As a kid I would love to help my mom hang up the clothes, because it meant I could play in the clothes later. There is something so much fun about running between the rows of sheets while the wind is blowing them.
We dry year around and inside as well. In our kitchen we use a retractable clothesline to hang the clothes. Mainly because we do not have a yard.
My sister would do the winter drying of clothes, pretty much how you described. The only thing was that she hated hanging up the wet clothes, your hands would get really chapped. So she hung a line in the room that had her wood stove in it (yes, she is really a backwoodsman kind of person) It would dry the cloths in no time and if you were using a nice smelling wood, you would get a nice smell to the clothes too.
I cannot find the article but I read somewhere that the United States is really the only country that thinks clothes dryers are needed. I have seen that first hand. I remember my friends bathroom in Italy had a clothes line stretched above her tub. She still hates clothes dryers to this day. It ruins all her nice clothes.

By: Lonnie

Lonnie — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:42:52 +0000

Wow! This one topic has generated a lot of interest both here and in the email group http://walkeastwood.org/?page_id=78. I’ve proposed an Eastwood Laundry Day during which as as many as would like to participate simply hang laundry and/or laundry-as-art out on their clotheslines. Maybe leave them out for a few days. If it looks like it will become a reality, I’ll do a blog on it.

I recall talking to an older woman in Liverpool who explained that the huge attics we see in these older houses were for drying laundry! In any case, I will definitely do an experiment or two come winter and see if you can really shake ice off frozen clothes.

By: Kate

Kate — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:19:22 +0000

I’d happily participate in an Eastwood laundry day. My lines are in the backyard and not too visible from the street, but I’ll improvise.

I distinctly remember watching a documentary about separatist/survivalist families in Alaska or something, and they hung their clothes out in the bitter cold. When they pulled them off the line they were stiff as a board! I’m also pretty sure my grandma had laundry lines hung up in the basement of her house.

By: Lonnie

Lonnie — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 03:49:45 +0000

It already is, Patti! I just found Project Laundry List, which advocates for the right to hang laundry outdoors. We lucky folks in Eastwood probably have never given this a thought. Many of our yards have their original clothesline poles and a good number of us enjoy using them at least from time to time. But our brethren and sistren ;-) in certain communities are not allowed to hang clothes outside! I think you’ll find many interesting ideas at this site: http://www.laundrylist.org/art/installations.htm Who else out there enjoys hanging clothes to dry? How did folks used to handle the drying of clothes in the winter? Seems to me someone told me that their mother used to hang the clothes out to freeze. Then she’d give each item a shake and all the ice would fly off. Then she’d hang them on the line on the porch or in the attic for a little while longer just to finish them off. Has anyone ever heard of this?