Hanging It All Out

Italians like to let it all hang out, even their underwear is on public view on any given day. When I first moved to Tuscany as a young student I loved hanging out the sheets with Maria. She would put the whites in the sun to bleach, and the colors in the shade. Crawling into bed with a sun kissed sheet that had the light scent of thyme and rosemary capturing the summer breeze in its thread was just another bit of Italian heaven. When I had my own home there, I enjoyed delighting my guests with many of Marias secrets, like warm garden tomatoes and sun kissed sheets. Italians once paid a heavy tax on appliances like dryers but times have changed and although it still saves money it is more a matter of preference to hang it all out.

Not only does machine drying our clothes have a big carbon footprint it costs about $200 per year just for electric or natural gas in the US. The sun is free and fresh and doesn’t destroy your clothes. Air-drying clothes can reduce the average household’s carbon footprint by a whopping 2,400 pounds a year. If everyone in the US decided to line dry we would reduce our carbon footprint by about 6.5% . To get a fresh start on fresh scented laundry you need only about a 10 investment for line and clips. This will be more effective than dryer sheets and fabric softener in pleasing the noses of your loved ones. Just try it and see what you think.  Article by Daisy Carlson, Photo by Nick Karvounis