a mothers day present revisited

A MOTHERS DAY PRESENT REVISITED

yesterday as i opened our kitchen cabinet i saw them sitting in a cup
there are about 20 of them left
these are heirloom clothespins
they are made to last a lifetime 

we started with 50 of them to be used on our 40 ft of clothesline at the country n
over time the numbers dwindled by attrition
my wife she is bad about giving them away
some but not all appreciate these are special clothespins
these 
heirloom clothespins

when we moved to santa barbara we only moved what items we could get into our two cars
we unloaded everything else we owned
but
these heirloom clothespins made the cut for sure

i will admit i used a few in my garden last year but i carefully returned them back to the clothespin cup

now they are manly used to hold opened packages of chips breads beans etc closed
like some of us they are now aged and darkened
having done their main duties they were designed for 
someday someone will end up with them and wont know they have heirloom clothespins in their hands

enjoy this old mothers day blog from a few years ago

MOTHERS DAY PRESENT
my wife she and i must have hippie blood flowing
through our veins
i feel that and think that sometimes

we live here at the country n
homesteading like
all we are missing i guess to say that
is a cow and a goat
we have the garden
we have the chickens
the dogs
the cat
the landscape

we drink our own water rainwater
which we collect and filter and uv the germs
its the best refreshing water there is
lucky us
lucky pets
lucky wildlife
lucky garden
lucky landscape
lucky life

we also produce about 75% of our own electricity
last month we used $18 of electricity from our electric company
we produced the rest of what we used

we eat a lot from our gardens
last night most of our salad was from our garden
asparagus swiss chard arugula kale mexican oregano onions
carrots beets tomatoes
potatoes baked
we added a small steak and corn from the store
we are what i call 90% vegetarian

the first thing i did when we first moved in here 15 years ago
because of my wife shes request
was to put up this 40 ft of clothesline
now i didnt mind since that meant we rarely would use
a clothes dryer which meant we would use less electricity
plus
clothes line dried clothes they just feel different
feel good
and have this country smell

now the problem over the years has been
clothespins
they seem to be getting smaller and smaller
they dont hold the clothes on the line as well as they use to
plus
they just fall apart
the wood they are made of must be real soft stuff
they just seem to melt away like what happens with
a snowman when the weather gets warm
not sure how that happens to those
clothes pins
but it does

so recently while i was reading the magazine
called mother earth news
there was this article about this guy in rural new york
that hand makes clothespins
like old school ones

so i contacted him via email
well i only make so many each year
i make them out of ash
ash now thats familiar
oh yes thats what baseball bats are made of
then
he puts tungsten oil on them
he says they will last a lifetime

the only problem is if you want them
you have to get on a list
when he makes all of them
if you are lucky and you are on the early part of the list
you can order them

so
i put my self on the list
now thats a list just to be considered
the next list if you get selected
is a list of folks that might get clothespins if he can make enough
to fill out all those orders

so
im on the first list
months went by
then i get notified now im on the next list
then
a week ago
i got notified
you are number 38 so it looks like i have enough for you
how many
50
so i sent him the money

lets just say one of his clothespins cost what a whole package
of those store bought ones
you know where they are probably made
thats right china

now i feel real lucky since there were hundreds of folks waiting
on that second list
that wont get any of his homemade heirloom clothespins

now i was excited
since
this was going to be my wife shes mothers day present

now dont laugh
like some did

when my wife she opened that package
she was excited as she has been for any gift i have given her
well maybe there were others she liked better

she instantly walked outside
took all those old pins off the line
threw them in a bucket
here you can use those in the garden
i was happy as she was since now i wont have to steal her clothespins
off the line to hold down my row cover and sun block netting in
my garden
i definitely know i had better now ever ever take one of these
new ones down to the garden

she very proudly hung the clothes out with those pins
proud as a peacock she was
what a pretty smile was on her face

yes
we are simple folks
its the simple things that we enjoy the most

the organicgreen doctor