Jul 24, 2009

just for fun...


"Warshing" Clothes Recipe.........

Years ago an Alabama grandmother gave a new bride the following recipe. Supposedly this is an exact copy as written and found in an old scrapbook - enjoy!

WARSHING CLOTHES
Build fire in backyard to heat kettle of rain water. Set tubs so smoke wont blow in eyes if wind is pert. Shave one hole cake of lie soap in boilin water.
Sort things, make 3 piles
1 pile white,
1 pile colored,
1 pile work britches and rags.
To make starch, stir flour in cool water to smooth, then thin down with boiling water.
Take white things, rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard, and boil, then rub colored don't boil just wrench and starch.
Take things out of kettle with broom stick handle, then wrench, and starch.
Hang old rags on fence.
Spread tea towels on grass.
Pore wrench water in flower bed. Scrub porch with hot soapy water.
Turn tubs upside down.
Go put on clean dress, smooth hair with hair combs.. Brew cup of tea, sit and rock a spell and count your blessings.
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Paste this over your washer and dryer. Next time when you think things are bleak, read it again, kiss that washing machine and dryer, and give thanks...


6 comments:

Wanda..... said...

You know Jacquelyn...I've actually seen my great grandmother wash clothes this way and my grandmother used a wringer washer!...We do have it easy!

I like hanging sheets and towels on a line to dry though...but so thankful for that dryer for the small things!

Wanda..... said...

I just discovered I missed your cobbler post...
I too make it with peaches and blueberries sometimes...I have 6 large freezer bags of berries to use in cobblers and crisps! Cranberries are good in apple crisp too!

I enjoy seeing your posts more often!

Rebecca said...

Isn't that the truth! I actually thought as I pushed the washing machine button this morning how it is like having a maid! I was out the door a minute later to go grocery shopping. When I got home, all I had to do was transfer it to the dryer! Wow!

Joyce said...

What a blessing we have in our washers and dryers and don't even realize it. I remember helping my grandmother wash clothes with a wringer washer and hang sheets and things on the line . Then we ironed everything, including the bedding. But how I loved to smell that outdoor smell on the bedding when I climbed into her beds.

Jacquelyn Stager said...

I remember my mom's wringer washer! I used to hang things out on the line as well (do you know how hard it is to find those wooden clothespins now-a-days?) I still like to iron our bedsheets but I don't always have the time now with the grandchildren here so much. Does anyone else remember those sprinkler things we used to put on pop bottles, and fill them with water to dampen the clothes before ironing? Must have been before steam irons! I remember dampening the clothes, then rolling them up to keep the damp...and if we didn't get done ironing everything, we stuck some in the refrigerator to keep them till we got back to it! So now you know I'm either REALLY old, or else we just were way behind the times, but I know I've been ironing for a lonnnngggg time! But oh when "perma press" first came out, we thought we died and went to heaven, didn't we? :)

Wanda..... said...

I have my mother-in-law's old sprinkling bottle in the attic somewhere and an antique iron that used a type of gas fuel to heat up...very dangerous looking iron!