Homesteading Essentials - Clothespins and a clotheslineWhen you are homesteading, washing may take on a whole new meaning than to those utilizing a lot of the modern day conveniences.  Many may wash their clothes by hand, in old ringer washers or maybe even in a piece of equipment they created themselves such as a new toilet plunger and a 5 gallon bucket.  We are blessed to have a washing machine and I am just as blessed to have a clothesline in front of my woodstove and another pulley system clothesline that will be setup before too long for those glorious days of wonderful sunshine.  I do, however, also have a washboard in the event that I may need to use it and would love to have an old ringer washer some day.

Many people today do not utilize a clothesline as our ancestors were required to do and many today may even say, “What in the world is a clothesline or a clothespin?”, but I feel that most of us taking on a self reliant lifestyle are very familiar as are our parents and grandparents.

There is something to be said about the crispness of our sheets when hung in the fresh air!  As a child I did not understand the significance of such a thing, but it is clearly a simple pleasure now!

Many will say that washing is the pits and it is not a job that they enjoy.  When I am excessively busy it can be that for me, but most of the time it is something I enjoy as part of my homesteading chores.   When I used to hang everything outside – I thoroughly enjoyed that quiet time in the wilderness here where I could enjoy the birds singing, the humming birds and dragonflies visiting and just the fresh air.   So it is something I feel you can take pride in and enjoy, but that of course is a choice.  We live in such a hustle bustle world that even I end up rushing through such chores sometimes in an effort to get to the next thing, but it sure is nice when you can pause and enjoy your surroundings.  There is something to be said as well to the womanly chores around the house and the pleasures of taking care of our families!  That I will always love and cherish!

Another thing that plays a BIG role in our homestead is using quality products.  As a matter of fact, you will not find me posting about anything that we do not feel is worthy of our use or yours!  It is hard today, to find quality made products that will last and more often than not, the products we use in our home are antiques.

We have, however, been introduced to another family very similar to ours that is making a quality product here in the USA that we feel very excited to share with you.    Kevin's Quality Clothespins are extremely well made and believe it or not they can hold many purposes on your homestead.  You may have packages of raw ingredients in your kitchen (because you are working towards a whole foods diet, right ? 🙂 ) and you may need to roll them down and clip them and you can also hang your foraged teas and herbs in brown paper bags on your clothesline or special place in your home.  Did your trivet bite the dust or your hot pad go among the missing?, no problem use your clothespins and make a circular trivet from clothespins.

Small trivet Kevin's Quality Clothespins

It is honestly hard to find clothespins that will stand the test.  So often, we are repurposing clothespins because they are falling apart or the metal middle piece is breaking.  I must say that I am impressed with the size and durability of Kevin's Quality Clothespins.

Kevin's Quality Clothespins has been kind enough to provide us with three packs of their clothespins to giveaway.  We will be drawing 3 winners and announcing them on Monday, February 16th.  Be sure to enter below and tell your friend.  I promise you, you will be happy to win a set of these.

An additional 15% discount is being offered to those interested with this promotion.  Enter coupon code TWilderness at LadyAndTheCarpenter.com.  This offer is only good until Feb. 18th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

P.S. – Listen to this weeks Mountain Woman Radio show to hear some of our other homestead essentials and join us next week for some more…

What do you consider to be an essential?