I have been doing a lot of extra hand washing of laundry the last few days to make up for the weeks of rain we have just been through. Today I finished up by scrubbing and scrubbing an old, off white cotton polo shirt. I was getting pretty tired as using a washboard can be pretty rigorous exercise sometimes and my elbow was aching (washboard elbow anyone?) from all I had already done. That darn shirt was just not coming as clean as I wanted it to. Then I remembered something I had read in one of the Foxfire books. A family in one of the narratives mentioned washing their laundry in the creek and then boiling it for fifteen minutes before hanging it to dry. I figured that those Appalachian folks had gone to all of that extra trouble for a good reason as boiling laundry is certainly not easy in an already taxing life. It must have done something great for their laundry!

So I decided to give it a try. I boiled that shirt for fifteen minutes on top of the stove and it worked! The shirt looked much cleaner and whiter afterwords. I was delighted and happily hung this very clean shirt to dry in the sun.

I just thought I would pass on this little Appalachian-gleaned tip. It is so fun trying these simple measures for myself and discovering through personal experience that they really work. Perhaps you would like to try this one too.

From the beautiful mountains of southwest Virginia,
Leslie

Beauty springs up in the humblest of places, astonishing us and inspiring us to pause and imagine the possibilities.

Inexplicably, this beautiful lilly grows right next to the well casing within the cinder blocks that surround it.

Generally the boys use the cinder blocks as their “wood shop,” tucking away handmade tools and meaningful stones in the nooks and crannies. At this time of year, though, this area simply becomes the place where the lilly grows. We admire it as we pass by every morning and evening on our way to the milking barn. We all gaze at it and remark upon it. It refreshes us as it quietly goes about its flowery business. We don’t know how or why it is there but no matter - every day at this time of year we pause and imagine the possibilities.

From the beautiful mountains of southwest Virginia,
Leslie

We are going through a very formative time of financial stringency these days. It has its place, I guess, because we learn that much more about faith, have that much more gratitude towards those who extend a hand, and experience that much more vividly just how much you really can do without and still survive well enough.

Just yesterday, though, I noted that we didn’t eat one single scrap of fruit or veg all day. What veggies we have are in the ground (!) so inaccessible to us at the moment. I don’t care so much about me on this score but I do want the children to have lots of vegetables while they grow. But fresh produce is like protein - expensive to buy. Never mind organic produce. Yikes.

So how amazing it was to receive a box of organic veggies from the Organic Vegetable Club in the mail today out of the blue! Look at this:

Oh joy. Oh joy. What a lovely dinner we had tonight.

Thank you so much, dear sister. You lifted hearts as well as nutrition and taste levels. And, yes, organic produce really does taste better. And, yes, there is even some left for another couple of meals! Oh joy, oh joy!

From the beautiful mountains of southwest Virginia,
Leslie