Salutations

On the lovely sandy lane where I live here on the Island, a young woman from China has just taken up residence. She is learning English by attending classes with the youngsters at our small school. She hangs her laundry out daily and in that salty, sunny yard next to her silken lavender dresses, she does her yoga sun salutations. It is there in her yard that we exchange smiles or waves or minimal conversation.



Hanging out laundry bridges cultures from countries to neighborhoods and makes our yards friendlier and welcome to conversation or neighborhood gossip!



Lou Ann

Ocracoke/Indiana

Prayer flags? In my backyard?

This thought came to me a few days ago, as I was reading through some articles and dialogue around the Right to Dry issue. Couple this with my own (and that shared by countless others) frustration at the fact that people don't get it when it comes to hanging out. Those opposed are focused on aesthetics and property values. These are concepts that, while important on some levels, are things that can and will resolve themselves naturally.

If someone is breaking safety or nuisance or public health laws, for instance, the city or county in question can and will usually step in and take care of the situation. Not only that, but (hard as it is to believe sometimes,) most folks are decent and will take care of their homes and common spaces. I know. Hard to believe. But I truly feel this to be a fact. Those who will let their property fall into decay are--despite what you hear from these "property values" and "aesthetics" folks--in the minority. Most of us prefer clean and pleasant surroundings and will work to keep things up to snuff.

The concept I've been turning over in my mind and trying to form into a coherent post here on The Clothes Peg is that of prayer flags . Now, the two are quite different--prayer flags and hanging laundry--but there are a number of parallels, and I think they are important ones.

-prayer flags are hung to send out wishes of good will and prosperity to the community and the world at large. We hang our laundry to bless our families and to bless the planet by reducing our footprint.

-prayer flags are meaningful because of their colors and the combination of colors. Our clothes and linens are colored in ways that are meaningful to us and to our families. (For example, Dad's favorite, blue shirt.)

-prayer flags are hung in a precise order. While we may not hang our laundry in a precise order, most of us--I'm sure--have a routine or a specific way in which we arrange the items we hang. (I tend to use a rack for "delicates," and I hang the "delicates" on the inside, hidden from view by larger, less "offensive" items.)

-prayer flags are absolutely beautiful when seen hung across the countryside. Their colors enliven the landscape and bring positive feelings to those seeing them. (Need I even draw that parallel?)

My point in posting this is that many of us experience something more than a feeling of daily-doings drudgery when we hang our laundry. We may spend that time composing music or poetry in our heads, running over past conversations so that we may continue them, talking with neighbors , friends, or family, or just enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells of our environment. (I've been known to do all of those, sometimes all at the same time! That's a whole other post, though. ;) ) For many of us, it's a much deeper experience than just putting wet clothes outside to bother the neighbors. ;)

Happy pegging!

Another Line Pic

Earlier this week Two Frog Home posted a picture of her line. This is the basic type of line I'd like in my yard.

While the line I have -- it's a rope tied to pine trees -- works well, a lot of times I end up with sap on my clothes because it drips off the trees. This is kinda a pain in the butt so I'd like a free standing line to diminish the problem. It won't ever be eliminated unless I cut down all the pines but if I did that it'd be like living in the city: treeless. I happen to be very fond of trees so cutting them down isn't going to happen.

Regressive As a Way To Be Progressive

I have found that in order to be progressive I've had to become regressive. That is, I'm learning how to knit, care for small livestock, and can the vegetable I grow in my abundant garden. For me, these are all important components of taking the steps to reduce my impact on Mother Earth. I learned to knit so I can make my own dish rags and socks. I learned to care for chickens which were culled last week for our consumption. And I learned to can.

Canning, I thought, would be a great way to connect with my grandmother and mother in law. However, I was wrong. Let me explain.

When I first broached the subject with my grandmother -- who is in her late 80s -- she asked me "why do you want to learn how to do that?" I gave her my spiel about wanting to learn traditional arts so I can lessen my impact on earth. She poo-pooed me so I went to my mother in law (in her early 70s) and asked her to teach me. She didn't know how to can. It was then I realized something very, very important: neither had learned to can because to do so detached themselves from the "American" identity they were both indoctrinated in as children of immigrants.

My great-grandmother came from Ireland, my husband's great-grandmother from Italy. These two women came here to get away from the poverty they lived in in their respective home countries. Once here, they were very much about pushing their kids to adopt the "American" norm: names were Americanized, traditional food preparation, ingredients, and consumption were radically changed. And to can, well, that showed poverty something my grandmother and mother in law were not going to reveal to anyone. After all, they wanted to be rich "Americans" and worked hard to increase their perceived value. This included jettisoning homemade foods and clothes for store bought. And they can't for the life of them figure out why I want to appear poor.

It's not that I want to appear poor, it's that I want to know where my food comes from, how it's prepared. I want to know all the ingredients in my food and the process in which it was prepared. I go to the grocery store and am afraid to buy anything, including the vegetables and fruits. I don't know where they came from! I don't know how old they are! I don't know how they were grown, packaged! So this is how show my wealth: abundant garden, knitting, chicken care, hanging laundry, and canning my food. I have the space to do so -- sans chemicals, pesticides, whatnot -- and, most importantly, the time. This is more than a lot of people here in the US.

Project Laundry List and NPR

What I found interesting about the NPR "article" is how they focused it on a private company who wants to increase its net worth by selling in the US. Little focus on the earth benefits of the line. But then that's what I expect from NPR.*

Those who read the list know the environmental benefits of a clothes line. However, NPR did not extol those reasons very well. I do acknowledge the "article" was for Marketplace and not whatever environmental program they (may) have. If NPR had put the piece together for a ecological program, I can only assume they'd be a little more comprehensive in telling the benefits of a clothes line.

The reason lines are banned by homeowners groups was clearly stated by the neighbor who is on the the board: to do so allows individuals to think the neighborhood is (gasp!) lower class. And we can't have anyone thinking we're poor. No, no that's contrary to the image "America" is putting forth to the world.

What wasn't said, and I think this is as important, is to hang a line in a planned community means you don't conform to the standard norm. Such communities desire conformity -- and obedience! -- more than anything else. Everyone must chemically treat their lawns so they all look the same; houses can only be painted certain colors; old cars are not allowed. These are all the reasons I won't live in a planned community. Conforming to a poisonous norm isn't in me to do.



*While I won't go into why I don't listen to NPR here, briefly I will state it's because I don't think NPR are as inclusive as they think they are. Their level of entitlement annoys me.

Kingsport TN allows laundry lines!

At least I assume they do--I've seen them around town in other people's yards, not just in my own, where my husband put up an "umbrella-style," or rotary, laundry hanger for me last summer. I get a kick out of taking advantage of all that free Tennessee sunshine; clothes dry fast (except when they get rained on), smell good, and save electric energy while using up a little bit of my own (it needs to be used up, believe me.)

As for objections about people hanging their underwear out in public, need I mention that experienced and prudent laundry-hangers of past generations knew how to deal with this? Here is what my own mother taught me back in the Dark Ages of the 1970's when we were homesteading without an automatic clothes dryer in a log cabin in the far North:

1) You can hang the underwear BEHIND, or in some cases actually inside, the other, bigger, more publicly-acceptable items (sheets, towels, T-shirts, etc.)

2) You can fold it when you hang it up, in such a way that it doesn't look like underwear from a distance.

3) Or if there really is no way to be discreet (as in the case of brassieres, which don't camouflage well), you can simply carry them indoors and drape them over a plastic clothes hanger, a towel rack or a handy piece of bedroom furniture to finish out their drying time. I mean really--how much of the volume of an ordinary day's laundry for a family consists of offensive, private items of apparel? It isn't all that big of a deal; mothers have been teaching their daughters things like this for generations, and men and boys can easily learn it too. People are making a big fuss out of nothing.

The real problem with hanging out laundry in upscale neighbourhoods, according to some older people I have talked to about this, is that in many people's minds the sight of laundry hanging outside is a sign of poverty, even ignorance; rich people apparently can "afford" dryers and are smart enough to use them, recognizing how much easier they render the job of getting one's clothes clean. History offers many examples of how good, economical, even superior customs have been denigrated, minimized, and marginalized, or even turned into a source of shame instead of what they really are: examples of simple, environmentally sound practices that do as good a job as their more expensive and technologically complex variants, with only a little bit more effort.

I'd like to propose the (perhaps far-flung?) analogy of breastfeeding babies in the 20th century. When artificial baby formula became commercially available and the introduction of modern sterilisation awareness and techniques made it a relatively safe alternative, people rushed to feed their babies the "new" way, and the sight of a mother nursing a baby became associated with poverty and ignorance (the poor couldn't afford formula or equipment for bottle-feeding, or perhaps were perceived as not being smart enough to know how to mix the stuff properly.) I know at least one intelligent, educated woman of my mother's generation who told me she nursed her child in the 1950's ONLY because with a husband serving as pastor in a small, struggling church, she could not afford bottles. Nowadays, of course, people are becoming more aware of the undeniable benefits of breastfeeding, and those who engage in it are more likely to be intelligent and thoughtful rather than merely lacking in financial alternatives.

Just like hanging laundry! We can only hope people will also come to accept the sight of a clothesline full of fresh, bright, lovely, clean laundry as a sign of intelligence and modern thinking instead of the opposite.

First grade thoughts...

My dear laundry friends, I read some of these comments from Alexander's blog post with my fists clenched. (I am not violent!) But the absurdity of politicians and may I be so bold to say...the slothfulness of the American public, is more than I can handle, sometimes!

I work in the humanities and spent last spring with a first grade class thinking of ways to save the world. These ways were put into watercolor drawings and displayed around the school. THEY thought of over 50 ways to save the world including: unplugging cell phone cords, turning off televisions, turning off the water when they brushed their teeth, and hanging out the laundry. (They also said be kind to animals...I think that fits as well!) My point: They are in FIRST grade! Why do we need these folks to make bills and amendments for simple ways to live. We know how to live and what to do; now let's just practice them! How hard is this???

Lou Ann
Ocracoke/Indiana

aesthetic or colorful

This idea that laundry is ugly or distasteful is surely a matter of personal preference. I hang my laundry in an area where it is not seen but that is also the best place for sun and has enough room for air circulation.

The upper picture shows that it is in a small clearing surround by trees. The other picture is the line from the house. You will just see it beneath the large banana tree leaves! In front, however, is a perfectly acceptable object for a sub-division - a bright sun unbrella. I purchased this one for selling on a farm market, but it has found itself a spot in the corner of the pool area. I personally find the unbrella over bright and gaudy - and yes it was cheap, too! If the umbrella was on my neighbor's porch where I could see it I would still find it gaudy, but I would not have the right to say they should remove it. Thus it should be with laundry lines, and towels over deckrails etc.

Al Gore and Personal Virtue

As the clothesline guy (it goes deeper than that, I hope), I am deeply concerned that our political leaders and Vice-President Gore will continue to sell the American people on the idea that we can continue to live the same way with no "sacrifice" and no change in lifestyle. A change does not have to equal a diminution in standard of living. This is one precept that must be conquered...with urgency. The time is ripe.

The Gore Q&A from his website (We Can Solve It) states, "When we use the microwave or plug in a coffee maker, our electricity system will function just like it does today, but behind the scenes, it will look and function quite differently and [sic] much cleaner."

Slow Food movement aside, what the microwave has enabled for our culture is problematic. See http://pewresearch.org/pubs/323/luxury-or-necessity. Importing more coffee than anything else but oil has a high cost (http://www.packagedfacts.com/Coffee-RTD-Ready-895867/) on the environment. This talking point, therefore, suggests that the people who are answering questions on the electric policy end are not talking to the people who work on personal actions.

The suggestions at We Can Solve It (Minimize Your Impact), although they do not include hanging clothes to dry, are good; however, they always seem to be the low-priority for mention by the Vice-President. In fact, he is often quoted to say: "We have to abandon the conceit that isolated personal actions are going to solve this crisis. Our policies have to shift." While I do whole-heartedly agree that we need policy to shift, we must also carry out coordinated (as opposed to isolated) personal actions and that will only happen when there is Leadership By Example, when the important solutions are not an afterthought that roll with the credits.

Barack Obama continues to talk about turning off the cell phones and putting away the video games, which I told his policy adviser, Cassandra Potts, on the day prior to the NH Primary, was really his only mailer that resonated with me during our primary season. This is one of the only examples I can think of where a political leader is being concrete about what we need to do to adjust the way we live (and, unfortunately, he is not talking about the environment overtly when he brings this up to the NAACP or others). This is the kind of leadership we need to see from Gore and others, including our governors and mayors. Also unfortunately, any talk about lifestyle change is dismissed by liberals as oppressive and libertarians as prescriptive. It can fall like a lead balloon, unless done right.

People are hungry for the national environmental organizations to stop dickering over whether it is Priuses or solar panels that are the silver bullet. Options for early adopters with silver spoons must not be the only items on a checklist of options that "the rest of us" can start to adopt. More importantly, we can ill afford to have "Minimize Your Own Impact" always be the last item on the list.

Eden Project

I have just returned from a vacation in Enlgand, and yes the clothesline is alive and well in that country!

Along the way we visited the Eden Project in St Austell (on the south coast). This is a famous eco experience that comprises two domes which contain different environments - tropical and Mediterranean. The tropical one is hot, humid and full of palms, ferns and other exotic plantings. The other is the hot and dry climate. The whole site is reclaimed from a toxic tin mine and emphasises using earth friendly practices in daily life, and the idea of growing your own food was part of the grounds.

The tropical one also featured a small hut that was typical of the region, particularly for emergency shelter. Perhaps I should not be surprised therefore that at the back of this hut was a washing line filled with towels and t-shirts! Its the eco-friendly thing to do.

Where are the clotheslines??

I had friends visit from Indiana (where I live the other nine months of the year.) We were having dinner and as usual the conversation turned towards the environment...taking our cloth bags to the grocery, recycling, etc. Now these friends are intelligent, college folk, but not one of them has a clothesline. I couldn't believe it. I gave my pitch, actually have been pitching for years.

Living on a small Island that is warm and sunny most of the time, you would think that there would be clotheslines strung all over each cottage! I am amazed at how few are actually hanging out laundry.

I did get my next door neighbor to put up a line. (They had been borrowing mine this summer, and one day decided it was a great idea to have their own) So, I have a convert under my belt. They hang out their laundry every day!! It is unique on a pulley system. He found the plans on-line.

Now if you will excuse me, I need to take in my own laundry!

Lou Ann
Indiana/Ocracoke

Learning from others is the best way!

I was going to post this as a response but I thought it could be better utilized as a new post with my results.....

THANK YOU Sylvia !! I did 3 loads of laundry and took off the "max extract" button. My "max extract" button has been on since we bought the washer almost 7 years ago and the delivery guy said "You always want to keep this on". If you hadn't mentioned it it would have just stayed that way.....The clothes were a little wetter when I took them out - I definitely would not want to have put them in the dryer this wet - but they were actually more perfect for line drying. It was a beautiful day for drying - slightly cool with a breeze - and my clothes came back in with a softer, yet crisper feel. They also smelled better since they went out "wet" instead of the almost dry they were before where the bad smells were bonded to the clothes in the more powerful drain cycle. It was reminiscent of the way the clothes felt when I was a child. I don't know if there will be any benefit to my electric bill because I'm a wimp and if it gets too hot or humid the central air goes on but I will continue to wash this way unless there's a rare occasion when it's going in the dryer. I'm proud to say that I am using my dryer less and less and tend to use it now only if the items are extra furry from the critters :) I can see that there will be a bigger benefit in the winter when the extra moisture will be going into the air.

I also picked up another carousel. If you don't know these are plastic "hangers" that have 8 -10 arms, each with 2 clips. I've been using these for underwear and matching up socks before they dry. They are also good for dish towels, washrags, etc. I have 5 now and grab them if they have them when I'm in the hardware store :) They take up much less room on the clothesline (both inside and out) and make putting the items away when they are dry much easier! They need about 1.5 square feet each when open....

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/
This is the channel that shows the "Wasted" show. Ok - I wrote in......
I saw the Livingston Family and was wondering why it wasn't suggested to them to hang their laundry on a clothesline? If it is not "allowed" in their community why wasn't it even mentioned so they could respond that it's not allowed. Not even bringing up the subject of clotheslines makes me really wonder if you are totally interested in the greater good. If you are really serious about it you would confront the issues that stand in the way of what you are trying to achieve. If you would like to learn more about the "right to Dry" I would suggest you visit http://www.laundrylist.org/index2.htm
Thank You
Nancy

...But They Can't Tell Us Why.

I've increasingly gotten my dander up in recent months over the whole issue of HOAs and condominium associations' not allowing people to line dry their clothes. I've come closer and closer to tossing off my cloak of anonymity and coming out as a laundry rebel, sharing my story with journalists (off the record, for now,) writing my local officials, and even trying to engage my HOA's representative in a dialog about why. Why are we not allowed to line dry our clothes? Why is this such a big deal?

A few weeks ago, I did just that: I was on the phone with my HOA discussing something unrelated, and I said to the woman on the other end, "So why is it that [MY NEIGHBORHOOD] is the only one in [MY PLANNED COMMUNITY] where people are not allowed to hang our clothes out?" The woman remained very friendly, but admitted she did not know the answer to that, but would try to find out and would get back to me. Well, that never happened. I have thought about calling her back to find out if she has an answer, but sometimes life gets in the way.

Yesterday, I had a brief email exchange with a state official, in which I asked him if anything was happening in my state around right to dry. He said something to the effect that efforts only made it so far, but nothing could be done, because the HOAs would not allow it. (I wish I had kept the email.) His response angered me, so I wrote back to him: "Why are these organizations allowed to have so much power?" He did not have an answer for me.

This got me to thinking: Perhaps if we all ask more questions, these organizations will eventually be forced to either answer them or risk looking stupid, or maybe--just maybe--they will start to admit that they are wrong, and these silly rules will start to be reversed for what really is the greater good.

...There I go dreaming again...

~The Hippie

Another advantage of line drying

Hi from breezy England -

I posted this on the Garden Web laundry forum

Yet another advantage of line drying laundry is that you can spin at the very lowest spin speed your washer allows and hang out laundry fairly wet.

This will mean you:

*save on the electricity your washer uses
*save on wear & tear of your washer
*save on wear & tear of your laundry

And best of all because although I enjoy hanging our my washing I HATE IRONING you will:

*save time as you keep ironing to a minimum
*save on the electricity your iron uses

If you use a tumble dryer you would spin at the highest speed to save energy costs - therefore not getting all these advantages. I have heard lots of other advantages of using a washing line/umbrella type dryer however have never actually seen anyone pointing out the above.

This occured to me today as I hung out my - very damp - laundry in my lovely English garden on a fairly warm, breezy, very good drying day.

If you would like to see some pics of my garden - see if you can spot my small rotary dryer - go to the

laundrylist.org blog

Lines in the Neighborhood

As a member of my local fire department I am often gallivanting around town on calls, trainings, etc. Last week the department did a pump drafting and training exercise and I saw this line.

*

In the rural community I live in, most people have laundry lines. I've never heard any complaints about them so it strikes me as *extremely* odd when I hear homeowners/renters who are hassled for hanging their laundry.

Allie hasn't been hassled for choosing freshness and energy reduction. Or am I wrong Allie?



*When my husband saw this picture he asked me if it was a hint to build the one he promised me earlier in the year. It wasn't my intention to prod him into action with this picture but if it's a side effect, I'll take it. ;-)

Laundry on Parade....

The Fourth of July on Ocracoke Island featured our float! We decided to be Ocracoke Gothic and tried to copy the classic painting with the Island touch, thus the clam rake and paraphernalia (clams, baskets of vegetables, buckets, quilts). Being the environmentalist and laundry connoisseur that I am, we added the clothesline on top of the truck and filled it with old time clothes. We place third in the parade winning a $100 and sharing our love of 'laundry on the line' all at the same time!!

Who said laundry wasn't fun??

Lou Ann
Indiana/Ocracoke

Hi from sunny England

Hi - I thought you might like to see how my small rotary dryer blends in well into my garden - at least I think so.

Dear Laundry List,

I have been hanging out clothes as long as I can remember. When I was
little my grandmother put words and math problems on the pins for me to
do. And when I got older, I put positive words of love and encouragement
on them to my grandmother.... she was battling cancer at the time. A
few years back, she was called to heaven...I inherited her "Pins". She
had added some new words for me in her basket of pins... I find myself
looking for those words today when I need to have her wisdom close at
hand...or better yet just an "I love you" from heaven!

It's all about balance....

Alexander's emails and stuff always end with "Walk in Balance". It's really a phrase worth thinking about.

I realized why my electric bill was so high during that one month. I was off balance. It was so beautiful out and I just washed everything I could so I could get more line time. So I guess the dryer-running-money I thought I saved I really used washing everything I could get my hands on!

I buy bottled water. We have well water and it really grosses me out to drink a glass of it. There is so much talk about all the empty bottles in the landfill. I recycle every one. It's not that hard. It's a water bottle. They sit in a bin in the garage until they go to the recyclying bin. They don't attract ants, bees or mice. I don't feel guilty.

I wash my laundry in cold water. It seems these days if I wash in warm or hot my washer rebels and turns my laundry into a foul smelling gob.

I have always wondered why my laundry never comes out of the dryer smelling pretty. Maybe it's because I washed it in warm, because my hub sweats, because my kids turn into cats when it comes to taking showers. In any case, if I hang these items on the line they come in smelling nice and may even make it through an extra wear day without stinking. Most times if I put them in the dryer I end up making more work for myself because I have to redo everything!

My latest (and greatest) is that I shook out the little rug in front of the cat's litter box and, without washing it, popped it in the dryer to freshen it up and put it back where it belonged. Then we really needed some clothes and it's been rainy so I washed a small load and put it in the dryer. It came out with the sweet springtime smell.....yes you guessed it.....of used cat litter.

Will I ever learn?