Solar clothes dryers

We’ve gotten our first rains and I’m reminded that I won’t be able to use my solar clothes dryer (aka clothesline) so often as we progress into winter.  I love the loofa scrub I get from the sun-scented towels.  I’ve used a clothesline to dry laundry off and on all my life.

For many of my early years, our family did not have a clothes dryer, so we took the clothes out to the wind and the sun to dry naturally. I remember my mother pegging out the clothes with spring-type clothes pins (never the peg type).

Laundry must be hung in a very precise manner.  I’m a little obsessive about my “system”—hanging smallest to largest, rags, napkins, washcloths, hand towels, bath towels, bath sheets.

I also dry some laundry inside during the winter—at least the towels and sheets.  I put wooden drying racks in the front bathroom, and between the two of them they can dry a whole load of towels in just a couple of days. One rack goes in the bathtub. (The laundry would dry faster, if we kept the house warmer—we tend to keep the house between 60-65 degrees during the winter, which is cold for most people.)

Hanging laundry is a homely art, a comfort act of caring.  I seriously enjoy hanging laundry and find it soothing and it keeps me in touch with my family history. I also like to fold clothes (and they, too, have to be done precisely).  I find tranquility in these simple household routines.

Line dry some laundry during these last sunny days of fall.  Allow them to fill with the fresh-air scent and inhale that aroma when you bring them in to fold them.  It’s good for what ails you and it’s good for the environment.

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