How Far to Go?

The current economic crisis has me doing a lot of things I thought I had given up from my hippie days or my youth where I wanted to learn all the old crafts like spinning wool and tanning hides. I did a lot of spinning. But tanning hides required killing an animal first.

I did canning, freezing, baking bread, making my own biscotti, raising geese, and angora goats (for the raw materials to do that spinning I had learned in the Blue Ridge Mountains.) I even died the wool I spun with natural dyes created from native plants. And I had many a clothesline. I was convinced that clothes smelled better when line dried. Haven't had one for a good dozen years. Winters here seem to freeze dry them. And if the wind is too high you risk losing those good sheets to the neighbors.

Still why not put up a clothes line in the backyard to use for those days when the weather is pleasant? Every time I hung out jeans or comforters it would save on the electricity to run the dryer. Sounds really green and earth conscious doesn't it? They used to make those that mounted on the house and pulled out to attach to a pole only when you wanted to use it. I wonder if they still do.

I could just start with a simple line between the back porch and a fence post and see if I use it. Not a big investment - clothesline and a few clothes pins. Or am I just getting carried away with this economy kick and the green earth thing? Frankly I don't know if anyone has advocated giving up our automatic clothes driers seasonally.

I am currently making my own dog treats and considering baking my own bread and getting a freezer so I can get a lamb or half a hog. But a clothesline?