My mother was way ahead of her time. When it came to washday, which was every Monday without fail, she and my dad brought from the woodshed to the kitchen her two washing machines. Neither required electricity. The simplest of the two, the washboard, needed nothing but a strong arm and lots of patience. The washing machine with ringer was powered by a little gasoline engine. Once Pa got the engine started, no small task, it washed clothes thoroughly, except for those dirtiest. These were first cleaned on the washboard.
Water was heated in a copper boiler that sat on the hottest part of the kitchen wood stove. My brothers and I had the job of carrying many pails of water from the pumphouse to the kitchen. There was no fancy water heater to worry about.
My mother was way ahead of her time when it came to drying clothes as well. She had a solar-powered clothes drier, also known as an outdoor clothesline. She hung the wet clothes on the clothesline, no matter the season of the year. During the winter months, the clothes freeze dried. All seasons of the year, the clothes came into the house smelling sweet and fresh. No buttons to push. No dials to spin.
Oh, I forgot to mention. We had no electricity, no indoor plumbing, and heated our farmhouse with wood stoves. But we all wore clean, fresh smelling clothes.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: People made do before electricity came to the country in interesting ways.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: My writing class at The Clearing in Door County is scheduled: Friday, July 27, 9-4. Call 920-854-4088 to register.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Wednesday, April 25, 6:00 p.m. Book Launch at Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose. New book: Once a Professor
Wednesday, May 2, 10:00 a.m. Book Launch at Oakwood West, Madison. New book: Once a Professor.
Tuesday, May 15, 11:30 a.m. Black Hawk Country Club, SAIL Group. Once a Professor
Saturday, May 19, 10:00-2:00 Dregne’s Westby, Book signing.
Thursday, May 31, 7:00 Middleton Public Library. Book Launch for Cold As Thunder (New novel)
Purchase Jerry’s singed DVDs and signed books from the Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fundraiser for them):
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
Phone: 920-622-3835
DVDs: His newest Public TV show, One-Room Country School is now available. It’s based on his book, One-Room Country Schools (also available).
Also available, Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps (based on The Quiet Season book.)
Jerry Apps a Farm Story (based on Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm books.)
The Land with Jerry Apps, (based on the book Whispers and Shadows,) Never Curse the Rain, based on his book with the same title, and the newest one, One-Room School
The library has several of Jerry’s signed books for sale including Jerry’s newest nonfiction books, Every Farm Tells a Story, Living a County Year (reprints), One-Room Country Schools, Never Curse the Rain and Old Farm Country Cookbook, and his latest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. Also Wisconsin Agriculture: A History, Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guidebook for those who want to write their own stories.
Contact the library for prices and special package deals.
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