In the Aug/Sept issue of MaryJanesFarm, “The Experiment” (on newsstands July 14), we led you here to my daily journal for a chance to win a free sampling of “the perfect clothespin,” featured in our “Home Safe Home” section.
You probably know that we love clothespins here at MaryJanesFarm. You might have seen the article, “The Humble Clothespin,” in our “Celebrating 15 Years” Feb/Mar 2015 issue. And recently, we discovered another small company that makes old-fashioned wooden clothespins by hand. Albert Crooks and his 15-year-old son, Al, craft beautiful, sturdy clothespins from ash (the perfect hardwood for clothespins) and heavy-duty, stainless-steel springs manufactured in the U.S. “No more using four or five cheap clothespins to hang a wet towel to line dry. Our clothespins are tumble sanded and are finished with tung oil, which will not leach out and stain your laundry.” For beautiful clothespins that will last a lifetime, visit AllAmericanClothespins.com.
For a chance to win a sampling of “the perfect clothespin,” tell me how hanging laundry on the line makes you feel in the comments below. We’ll toss your name in a hat and draw one lucky winner in mid-September, when the Aug/Sept issue expires on newsstands. Stay tuned for more magazine-related giveaways!
If you’re not yet a subscriber to MaryJanesFarm, subscribe here for only $19.95/year.
When I hang clothes on my clothesline I feel at home. Even though I live in the city I stop for a moment to hear my chickens clucking and imagine I am on my very own piece of land in the midst of my everyday chores.
Fresh clean laundry is always an accomplishment. I always line-dry the pool clothes and towels. Seeing them hanging always makes me happy and grateful for summer!
Purposefully, grateful. For the sun, for the wind in my face, for a simple connection of something, “old.”
The sight of laundry hanging on the line makes my heart flutter for two reasons: first is watching my burly farm loving husband delicately hang clothes on the line! He loves this job and barely lets me help! Second: watching the sheets dance with the wind! My husband would love sturdy clothes pins that hold up in his strong guy fingers! Thanks, Julie Tyus
Tonasket, wa
Smart!
I love hanging clothes on the line! It reminds of of a warm beautiful summer day and I feel free. The smell of fresh dried clothes on the line is refreshing and warm.
Hanging my clothes outside to dry has a few meanings, first sun dried towels and sheets remind me of my mom and grandmother. I miss them terribly. When I fold clothes that are dry and sweet smelling I take a trip back in time. Second when I discovered the ingredients in dryer sheets I was horrified. Third, I save a bit on my propane bill, a little less fossil fuel is used, how can hanging laundry out side be bad. Plus you get a little more exercise.
I love the fresh clean smell of laundry hung out to dry. I can’t wait for the warmer days in spring when the laundry can go on the line and dread the coming of winter when I can no longer hang out my clothes. I even wait to wash the clothes if it’s a rainy day just so I can hang it out.
When I was little growing up in the 50s in a small southern town, many people hired washer women to do their laundry and hang it to dry. The returned the laundry all folded and smelling meadow sweet. These were Afro -American women who had no other means for an income.
We had an ancient ” mangle” , a giant ironing machine that my mother had our helper use to iron the sheets, can you imagine? My own mother grew up with a washer woman who still boiled the clothes in a huge copper kettle outside, and believed in the power of the sun to bleach the clothes white. She hung them on bushes, not on laundry lines. She was the original user of the ” mangle”. We still used very old real linen sheets back then in the 50s , so soft from years of use.
I hang my clothes and linens on 2 laundry lines strung between an antique pear tree and an antique apple tree on my little farmette. . It gives me great pleasure to be outdoors and do this most connecting-to- the- past chore.
I have been hanging laundry for about 7 years now since my dryer broke and I decided to put up lines and hang laundry out. In the winter I have lines inside in my basement to hang laundry on..no frozen fingers!…I love it when spring arrives and I can hang laundry outside again…I love the sunshine on my face and the smell of the clean laundry…I especially love it when the winds are really blowing and the laundry gets so soft and fluffy…I like to add lavender oil to the rinse as it makes the laundry smell so good…hanging laundry out just makes me feel like I am doing my part to help the environment a little and it is just good for the soul and mind!
I love hanging clothes on the line so much that when I moved years ago I asked anyone and everyone for a solar dryer for my birthday.
I love to hang my clothes out on the line.Every home we lived in has had a clothes line and if it didn’t my husband would put a line up.I learned from my mother how to hang out clothes on the line.Mother was a professional at hanging out clothes,with sixteen children she did a lot of laundry.Im #16
I love seeing the sheets blowing in the warm breezes and know the fresh smell will put me right to sleep on the soft clean sheets.
Finally, once again, have a place for a clothesline. I would LOVE some nice clothespins to go with it!
The memory of pinning a wet sheet on the clothesline with the sun warming by shoulders takes me to our old farmhouse where I helped my mother and grandmother wash. The breeze lifted the wet clothes and dried them leaving a sweet smell when we folded the sheets and shirts into the wicker laundry baskets. After the wash was pinned up, there was always time to flop in the old hammock and stretch out in the shade before the next batch came out of the wringer. Carefree days!
I love the smell of fresh sheets that have been hung outside to dry. I remember having to go “take in the laundry” in the middle of winter in New England. The clothes would be frozen to the line. We always laughed when the clothes would stand up by themselves. Such great memories.
The fresh clean smell of sun-dried laundry makes me feel content with life.
I love my “solar” clothesline! The fresh smell of clothes taken off the line is pure heaven. I enjoy standing in the sunshine hanging our clothes on the line. Sturdy clothes pins are so hard to find these days.
Hanging laundry makes me feel good because of the energy saved and the rewards are the good smell that’s on your laundry and I get to watch all the Montana wildlife from my clothesline.
Hope it makes sense to say that hanging clothes on a clothesline makes me feel cozy. It’s relaxing and a money saver. I feel like it is good for our family and our environment.
Hanging wash on the line takes me back to when we were kids and Mom would let us make tents from the sheets hanging on the line. Many afternoons were spent laying inside on a soft blanket with a good book. Those memories come flooding back after we put them on our beds and crawled in for the night because they smelled so fresh.
Drying clothes outside reminds me of my childhood. I love towels and sheets that have been dried outside
I use my drier for about 10 minutes per laundry load to get out the wrinkles and then I hang everything up. It dries so beautifully and very little ironing, if any, is needed. Keeps the house cooler in the summer and the air moister in the winter! When I lived in Germany one of the features of the apartment I rented was a “drying room” in the attic of the building for everyone to just hang their laundry to dry. (Electricity is much more expensive in most European countries than in most places in the United States.)
I love the smell of laundry that has been hung outside, especially sheets. Because of that I love to hang clothes outside. With the sun shining, a breeze blowing and all the sounds of summer it is a joy to be outside and productive. It’s so calming and it feels good to be saving energy at the same time.
it reminds me of my childhood, nothing like that fresh smell of clean cloths. nothing compares too it especially the sheets.
Hanging laundry makes me feel connected to all of the women in past generations.
Sometimes hanging laundry can be aggravating. Sometimes, it is just a time to slow down and not be so rushed. All the time, it is energy efficient and wise. Many times, I will hang clothes out myself (even when it is one of my daughter’s turn to handle laundry that day) just because I find it enjoyable.
I am following a long line of “traditions” in mine and my husbands family. We both grew up on farms and love the way our towels feel fresh from the line. We sleep better when our sheets are dried on the line and allowed to breath in the great out doors! I use my clothes line for naturally bleaching out stains, that I have soaked in lemon juice and hung out to be bleached by the sun. Spots seem to fade away and look brighter and smell fresh!
Oh my! I love hanging laundry. I feel like it is a nice bit of physical exercise (bending and reaching) and the fresh air and sunshine! I have taught my children to count, add and subtract by handing me cloths pins. Always wooden.
Peaceful, authentic, and absolutely brilliant is what I feel when I hang our laundry out in the fresh air and lovely sunshine. Peaceful because I know I’m doing what’s right for our environment. Authentic because I’m being true to my value system and seeking what makes my heart sing. Brilliant because I’m not only saving on our power bill and wear-and-tear on our gas dryer, I’m keeping my life simple and pleasant.
I love the smell of linens and clothing after the dry in the outside breezes. My mother used to hang clothes out (with my help) all summer in Illinois, but in the winter there was too much snow so we had to use the electric dryer. I also remember having to run out and take clothes off the clothesline if a sudden rain shower happened along.
Although it has been many years since I helped my Mom or Grandma hang the laundry out on the clothesline, I still remember the smell of sunshine on the sheets and towels!
Since I am a renter of a townhome, I am unable to hang any laundry outside, but I do have a small space in my laundry closet where I’ve strung up a small line to air-dry some delicate laundry items. I even sewed up a small clothespin bag (from some cheerful vintage fabric), much like we had when I was young. I hang this on one end of my mini indoor clothesline! Even this little nod to the past helps me remember those simpler times, and that wonderful sunshine and fresh air smell!
I get my best sleep on sheets dried on the line. Nothing fresher. My house still has the clothes line poles that were a standard fixture of every family home in the 50’s. The Colorado sun is the best clothes dryer ever made.
i was raised by family that hung clothes on the clothesline and now at 61, still do. they smell much better. and if you get a nice wind, they feel softer than ever. plus there is the bonus of the sun further cleaning your whites.
I have never hung laundry out on a line, but I hope to start soon!
Hanging clothes on the line brings my spirit back to when my granny and grandma used to hang laundry on the line. Bedding – especially sheets – beckon me to drift between the panels of sunkissed cotton and spread my arms to touch their wind whipped softness!
Hanging my clothes on the line makes me feel like a kid again hanging laundry out with my Grandmother.
I love hanging up clothes, bedding etc out on the line. Okay I get a little carried away sometimes. In the winter I have been knowing to hang my pillows and comforters out on the line when it is a sunny day, (I live in Minnesota so winters can get cold). One of my oldest sons neighbor lady commented to me this last spring, that I must have taught my boys good, they hang their clothes on the line to dry, he even hangs his pillows on the line in winter!
Glad I picked up your magazine, can’t wait to get my subscription!
I love the smell of the clothes after I’ve hung them out on the line. Plus the fact I’m saving some energy is a nice plus!
I love to hang my laundry on the line. It brings back wonderful memories of my grandma when I helped her as a child. Makes me feel like I’m living in the early days in America and grateful for what I was taught.
Hanging laundry and the smell of freshly dried sheets always reminds me of when I was a little kid living in the country.
Hanging clothes on the line makes me feel so happy and free……there is nothing better than clothes with fresh country air…..It also reminds me of my mom when I use to watch her when I was little.
Hanging clothes up with sturdy wooden clothespins means assurance that my wet clothes will stay put in the sunshine and not end up on the ground. I have a wonderful clothes line that I love and the smell of clean washed sun dried sheets is out of this world. You will be hooked or should I say, “clothes-pinned”
Hanging laundry on the line makes me think of vacationing with the Amish. So peaceful.
You know, it makes me happy. I think of my mom quite often when I see the sun shining & the breeze blowing my clean laundry.
I love wooden clothespins and now we have a new outdoor clothes line. It is almost as hot as a dryer here!
Sunshiney and happy!
Hanging clothes on the line makes me feel like life is simpler, easier and fresher! I am a smell driven person and the smell of fresh clothes from the line makes my heart hum with delight. There is some deep, internal memory that evades my grasp, but fills me with joy whenever I smell THAT smell. *ahhhhh*
Laundry on the line makes me feel fresh and clean. I love the smell of the outdoors rather than a drier sheet.
Hanging laundry makes me feel like I am just a little too far west here in Colorado to feel like I am living Little House on the Prairie (although I vaguely remember a scene in which they didn’t hang the laundry, but spread it on the lawn to dry…) It is soothing and calming and forces me outside when some days I find myself puttering around indoors far too much.