Summer Days

Summer Days on our little family farm were fun times, but also times of work and chores. There were animals to care for, gardens to tend, berry picking, canning and a weekly chore of laundry.

These days, when I need to do a load of laundry, I go into my laundry area where my washing machine and dryer are always on duty, and the hardest thing about doing laundry is folding and putting away.

It was much different on the farm. Before we had electricity in 1948, we used a wringer machine powered by gasoline. Then, we had long rows of clothes lines where we pegged out our laundry on a sunny day. With 9 people in the family, our laundry chores took up most of the day.

The hot water was heated in our large galvanized tubs over an open fire outdoors. These were also our berry picking tubs and our bath tubs!😂 We did not have a water heater. Then the water was carried to the washing machine on our open porch. The rinse water came right from the well, carried by buckets and poured into the waiting rinse tubs. (Nowadays, the tubs are collected as antiques for planting flowers). Everything was a team effort.

With children who played outside from morning till night, and a father who was a deep vein coal miner, getting everything clean was truly a challenge.

Then, after everything was dried and taken inside, the next chore was ironing. We didn’t have the fabrics then that we do now. Most things were cotton and required ironing. When the laundry came in, clothes were sprinkled with water and folded in baskets to be ironed the next day. We ironed almost everything. We even ironed the boys trousers and put creases in each leg. The girls dresses and underwear often were “feed-sack” dresses made from the cotton bags we got from the feed mill where Dad went to get animal food. No pants or slacks for girls in those days! I remember days watching my mother sew school clothes on her old peddle Singer sewing machine. Now those machines are antique. Sure wish I had that sewing machine today!

Washing our sheets and pillowcases, which also were ironed, for our many beds was a chore for a different day. At least twice every summer our mattresses were carried outside and placed in the sun, where they would remain for the better part of the day. We didn’t have box springs back then. Remember those springs?

The mattresses were turned, exposing both sides, while our sheets hung on the clothes line in the hot sun. We didn’t have to iron the sheets!

But, oh, how wonderful when night came! Our mattresses. Put back on the beds, our pillow cases ironed, and smelling like sunshine and fresh air! I can’t describe it! It was glorious! No battle getting kids to bed on this nights. Nowadays I wish I had 2 or 3 strong men to carry my mattress out to the sun and relive those glorious nights of wind and sunshine. It was always something to look forward to.

Those long summer days, though full of work, were wonderful for kids. I thank God for lessons learned. Parents who loved me. And a growing knowledge of an experience with God. He is the one constant in our lives. When I think of the changes in the world from my childhood, it’s almost mind boggling. But He is the same as He ever was. My unchanging Rock in a changing world (Psalm 18:2).