IN THE BRIGHT SUNSHINE of a frosty last day of November morning, I clipped towels and sheets onto the clothesline. It’s a task I love, for many reasons.
There’s something remarkably soothing about the rhythm of pulling laundry from a basket and then methodically clipping it onto a line. It’s a rather mindless task, although I do consider placement, hanging heavier items in the spotlight of the morning sun.
I love how this draws me outside, to appreciate the beginning of the day. To see the sky, the trees. To hear birdsong, mostly in warm weather. To feel the wind, the warmth of sunshine and the bite of the almost-winter air.
Admittedly, hanging laundry outdoors in below freezing temps requires some fortitude. As I hung laundry Thursday morning, I felt my fingers numbing against the cold of damp, wet laundry. I paused half way through to step inside my warm kitchen, to put on a pot of coffee, anticipating my chilled hands wrapping a warm mug.
Then I headed back outside, remnants of snow remaining on the lawn near the patio where my removable clothesline stretches. The towels were already stiff, frozen.
I continued hanging laundry, just like generations of women before me. Prairie women, pioneer women, hardy women who labored in the elements, who (unlike me) washed their clothing and bedding in rivers and on washboards. Yet, we each worked under the same sky, the same sun. We are linked in a sisterhood of women hanging laundry. I love that historic connection.
I love, too, the scent of laundry dried by the sun. Especially sheets. They smell of wind and sky and sun.
I seldom use my clothes dryer, relying on solar power and indoor drying racks to dry my laundry. My friends Jackie and Lisa do the same. They understand me, why I intentionally choose on a nippy November morning, to step outside, to methodically clip towels and sheets to the clothesline.
TELL ME: Do you hang laundry outdoors? If yes, why?
© Copyright 2023 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
I don’t where I live now, in a condo, but I did have a chance to do it daily with my daughter when she lived in australia. it was a nice experience to do together and I understand what you’ve written here so beautifully
So glad you had that special time with your daughter of hanging laundry on the line.
Brought back memories of my mom hanging clothes outside on cold Minnesota days. the sheets always smelled great as you said. I never knew why she did it since she had a dryer later in their life with a family of 5 kids. Now i think I see why.
That I could offer insights into why your mom hung laundry on the line pleases me. Perhaps it also provided some quiet, alone time for her away from the kids. 🙂
Why does it not surprise me that you hang your laundry outside? Me too. My mother never owned a clothes dryer. I can remember her walking through snow up to her knees to hang laundry. I asked her how it would dry when it was so cold and she told me that it would “freeze dry”. I don’t know if that’s true or if she was just joking. 🙂 ❤
I’m not as hardy as your mom as I mostly DON’T hang laundry outdoors in winter. It has to be a warm, sunny day with reasonable temps. I don’t trudge through snow. Mostly I used my indoor drying racks in the winter. I’m glad you hang your laundry outside, Penny. That does not surprise me.
There is a lot of poetry in this post, along with gratitude for this simple task that brings you joy. To find that kind of joy in something like hanging laundry is a gift and I’m glad you shared it. I do not hang laundry outside – many trees and no clotheslines in our yard – but I do have a drying rack that I could certainly use more than I do!
When I wrote this post, I saw the poetry in my words, too. Thanks for recognizing that and for terming the joy I find in hanging laundry to be a “gift.” I find joy in many of the simple things in life. I know you do also.
Love the nostalgia of this post, immediately made me think of Laura Ingalls. I’d love to be able to hang our laundry outside and enjoy that amazing fresh air smell. I’ve tried a few times here, but we are completely surrounded by trees – the green pollen and dripping sap from the pines, the fluff from the birch – these stick tight to wet clothing and refuse to be removed. With so many trees, there’s very little wind. The insects, ants, and ticks think of our laundry as a water source. And when the weather gets a bit cold, our neighbors heat with wood, so our laundry smells like smoke, instead of fresh air. If I could figure a way around these irritants, I’d rather hang my laundry outside.
Knowing your area as I do, I certainly understand why you can’t hang laundry outdoors.
I hang a lot to dry on indoor racks which I put outside in the summer, but no clothesline. My city has dumb bylaws.
I’ve heard of communities or neighborhoods that don’t allow outdoor clotheslines. No issues with that in my neighborhood. What I’d really like in my neighborhood, though, is enforcement of city ordinances. I have a neighbor whose double lot houses two grain trucks, four tractors, a vintage car, railroad equipment, steel wheels and other stuff that is junky and inoperable. The place looks like a junkyard in a residential neighborhood. So detrimental to property values and the overall appearance of my neighborhood. 😦
Oh wow. That’s a lot. I would be stressed by that as well.
It is a lot. We neighbors are frustrated by the failure of city officials to do anything about the junky yard, which certainly breaks all sorts of city codes.
I hate to generalize, but it seems to me that bylaw officers fail at enforcement often and everywhere.
Your generalization is spot on based on my experiences. Phone calls and emails are not returned. It seems like they don’t listen and don’t care.
I occasionally hang sheets on the line…but only in the summer. 😉
Like you, I love the smell of the outdoors on my sheets.
That’s awesome you hang your clothes out on the line all year!
Just to clarify, I don’t often hang laundry outdoors in winter. Just on “warm” sunny days.
LOL. My Grandmother and my mother (along with her sisters) hung laundry on a clothesline. Hot or cold. On one particularly cold day (20 below) I asked why. The freezing made the fabric softer after it was thawed. When going to college at the time, I would follow the women’s process. Save I would put coffee on, and turn on the radio. If the weather hit 20 below, I could not drive to school (over a mile away), I had to walk – thus leaving the house early. At 20 below, my car would not start! I also learned a very financially expensive and educationally taxing lessons in push starting a car. The women would gush over the smell of the laundry brought in from outside once it had been thawed and ironed and or folded. My push to this process was when my well-meaning Grandmother ironed my navy white uniforms outside out with fore and aft creases. Only the short sleeve white shirt is done in this manner. The jumper and the trousers are ironed inside out and flat. When properly press, both garments can be folded for storage, even long term and still retain a fresh appearance when worn. Gotta love those frosty mornings!
Thanks for sharing your stories, or rather the clothesline stories of your grandmother and mother with your cold weather experiences tossed in the mix.
I hung up laundry until two years ago when I moved to the metro area and the apartment community doesn’t allow clothes posts.🥲 I so miss the fresh smell of clothes hung out to dry, especially bedding.
I’m sorry your apartment community doesn’t allow clothes posts. But I suppose that would be quite difficult in large scale housing.
You are the only person I know who still does this! Always makes me think of you!
I am a prairie girl through and through.
We live in a no clothesline neighborhood so no but I have done my share over the years. In Australia that was the norm but it is not something that I had to do once we moved back to the US. I do hang a few items off the backs of chairs on the deck on hangers but no sheets or towels anymore.
You’re doing what you can within the restrictions of your neighborhood. I, for one, would struggle with such restrictions.
Not a big deal for me — I can adjust to just about anything! It would obstruct my lake view anyway so I probably wouldn’t do it!
🙂