Back to the future

When I was small, I wanted to be Laura Ingalls Wilder in the Little House in the Big Woods. I would dream of having a home with only kerosene and candles for lighting, and a butter churn, and a little pinafore and a prairie hat to go with it.

Then, when I was in college, I spent some time in a house that had no running water; we hauled our water from the spring in the yard, carefully dipping the bucket so we didn’t disturb the resident frog, who would muddy the water if he was startled. There was an outhouse there and I loved going out in my flannel nightgown and hiking boots, then sitting with the door open on a starry winter night.

Now I live in a house with electricity and running water and internet service, the usual array of conveniences. But once in a while, when a storm comes along and knocks out the power, I think about Laura and wonder how I would fair in pioneer America. And, earthquakes and hurricanes and 10th anniversaries of terrorist attacks make the idea of going back to a simpler time more and more appealing.

Having said all that, isn’t it a lucky thing that I have partnered with a man who has been a homesteader? Who heats with wood? Who grows his own food? Who has not only used an outhouse, but dug one?

And now, he has bought a couple of vintage items that will steer the future back to the past.

First, a Maytag washtub. This is an electric washing machine, but without the spin cycle (see photo). Pour the water in from a hose, turn her on and she swishes your clothes around until you think they’ve churned enough. Then you turn a lever and the water empties out, preferably all over the garden. Next: rinse. Drain. Then, my favorite part: put the clothes through the wringer instead of a spin cycle, saving energy and delighting me with ingenuity. It’s like a pasta maker, but instead of dough it flattens clothes—which are then no longer drippy, and ready to hang on the clothesline.

Here’s the bonus: when you’re not washing clothes in it, this machine doubles as a beer cooler.

Perfect.

The other new/old item we recently acquired is a Home Comfort wood cookstove. Cast iron and white enamel, four big burners and two mini’s, a good-sized firebox, a little drawer for emptying the ashes, and a spot for a water tank to keep hot water available for dishes and cleaning and baths, I suppose. I am picturing myself baking bread and keeping the house warm at the same time. Cooking soup. Learning to stoke the oven so it’ll cook but not burn my favorite pies.

We may just re-enter that Little House in the Big Woods. Bring the past into the future.