Why does it take so stinkin' long to wash the dishes around here?
Because we have no “plumbing.”
We get water from the rain tank and bring it by bucket to the sink. If there aren’t many dishes (and they’re not too greasy) one big bucket (bigger than this brown one) is enough. otherwise, multiple trips to the rain barrel.
Takes even longer to “drain” the sink since we send the graywater into our watering pitcher and use it in the gardens or on trees.
It’s so much better than our old sink.
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It could be worse. Our new sink is ergonomic and convenient. Now we have two dishtubs which means we get to rinse effectively (with a splash of vinegar our dishes never taste like soap anymore!).
It could be worse - rainwater is clean enough that we don’t have to filter it before washing dishes. Our filter is too slow to keep up with drinking, cooking and washing.
It could be better (and worse) if we had more dishes! We moved here with the bare minimum. But we broke a couple mugs in our rustic kitchen and were down to just two. Which meant washing between every drink. Or covering a mug with some kind of lid (there are flies EVERYWHERE) and reusing a mug. But I don’t like to use a mug with coffee dregs for tea, and vice versa.
Usually we don’t finish dinner until after dark, and washing dishes in the dark is annoying (and often only partially effective). Which means before having morning tea or coffee, gotta wash the dishes. Which probably means, gotta water some gardens and fetch some water. Grr.
Every time we’d have the neighbors over we’d ask them to bring mugs. Finally we bought more dishes in Capula, where they’re pretty and cheap. Ready for a dinner party!
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5 Comments:
August 15, 2018
I’m impressed with myself that I remembered what Capula pottery is like! Those are lovely cups! Do you heat water for washing dishes? Any special plans for your birthday tomorrow?
August 15, 2018
We don’t heat water but would like to. I think we should do something with black hoses or a tank but Phillip thinks we should dig a shallow pond (3”), line it with black plastic and cover it with clear plastic. Maybe he’ll work on that for my birthday:-) Actually he’s going to work on chicken stuff since they’re getting too crowded. The swimming pool people are coming over in the morning, I want to talk with James about the bible study, and we’ll do 108 sun salutations. You?!
August 15, 2018
Oh! I want to make mallow ice cream too.
August 19, 2018
how many of those things did you get done?
August 20, 2018
Well turns out we were supposed to go to the swimming pool location for more consultation (i thought they were coming here) but that meant we got a bike ride. And we did the rest - though nothing on hot water yet. We have been getting hot showers most days though. But hot dish water would be great. And occasionally hot water for laundry, esp given how much poop Max has been bringing to bed!