Sun dried

Years ago friends encouraged us to line dry our clothes in the summer.  So crazy, but I remember feeling like the practice would be a big imposition.  We put up some clothes lines & I began periodically drying my clothes outdoors.  Man, was I hooked!  I quickly discovered that sweet starchiness & no-iron convenience of letting clothes hang.  Sheets smell like sunshine.  Walking the line with our cat Laz at my heels feels soothing-- not like the familiar monotony of folding laundry in front of the TV.  Every time I go outside to hang clothes or retrieve them I'm greeted with some reward for living outdoors.  There's a new bird's nest.  Squirrels are upto something.  The clouds have created a new mosaic.

We kept our ancient dryer for years so that I could easily launder during the winter & dry comforters.  The comforters were probably that machine's demise.  A few months ago the dryer died for real.  (Prior to the end I usually had to put loads in for about three cycles before they were truly dry!  What a waste of energy.) This came at about the same moment that our oven decided to go kaput and a few other unexpected expenses arrived.  Kevin is a baker so the oven had to be replaced.  We decided to experiment with how long we could live without the dryer.  The experiment is still in motion given this is our first winter without a dryer.  Yet, here we are in November & everything is fine!

I bought two wooden clothes horses to dry clothes when it's raining outside.  However, there have been plenty of times when I haven't gotten the clothes off the line before a storm.  I leave them until the storm passes & the sun returns.  Usually, I find the most effectively spun clean laundry!  I've never lost an item & my clothes are in better shape without the wear & tear of tossing in a dryer.

We do need more space though.  I can fit about one load of laundry indoors and one load outdoors.  We both landscape, work in our yard, & I teach yoga.  We need to do a fair amount of laundry.  Kevin is revamping our clothes line as we begin putting in new raised beds for food.

I've been hesitant to publicize our "in progress" yard.  I've taken a few photos mainly to save for when we realize that magical "done" time.  I'm realizing that nothing is ever done & I've got nothing to prove.  Here is our work in progress.

The posts are from the old clothes line.  Too much metal!

Kevin's leg in the hole for the posts

Making it yoga

Bird's eye view: a whole lotta potential.  The woods begin on the otherside of a dry creek bed.  Our property line actually extends as far right as the edge of the photo.  The old fence is coming down!  All the stacked wood is from the trees we had to take down this past summer.  They're becoming the boundaries for our raised beds & firewood.

The new clothes line!  After a lot of research we elected this model.  Most practical!  All the soil underneath is from levelling the ground.  We're going to plant a steppable groundcover-- maybe vinca?  Something hearty & pretty to sort of designate this area.  All the area beyond, where there's currently wood stacked, will be raised beds, and fruit trees.

In use!  Two loads of laundry with a third ready to join!  Kevin's framing out a raised bed a few feet behind.