September 05, 2007

Breezecatcher Clothesline

Reducing our environmental footprint is one of the overriding goals of our lives here on the farm, and we accomplish that in many different ways.

One of the things I've planned for a while and only recently installed was a Breezecatcher Clothes Dryers. Solar powered!

breezecatcher.JPG

Our electricity is from Western Oregon Electric Co-op. While we're happy with the service, it's very expensive by western Oregon standards. The result is that running the electric dryer costs us about $0.75 per load, and with a cloth-diapered baby in the house, there's a whole lot of loads. While we're out of luck for much of the rainy season, our microclimate is much sunnier than the rest of the willamette valley, so I suspect we'll be able to use it to some extent year-round. Now if I can only convince Val that all of the towels don't need to be extra soft and fluffy....they sure smell nice coming off of the line.

If you've ever thought about the energy implications of your laundry loads, I'd suggest checking out Sharon's post about it a while back...she covers it more thoroughly than I ever could. In fact, check out the entire thing...it's always a good read.

If you're interested in getting a solar clothesline, the Breezecatchers are the best out there...stout materials, very well made, and with great customer service. If you're planning on buying one, use the breezecatcher image link below to get to their site, and if you purchase one, we'll get a kickback for the farm fund. Everyone wins!

Posted by rich at September 5, 2007 06:35 PM
Comments

We use clotheslines that are in the attic of our garage... in the summer items dry in a day, in the rainy season it can take most of a week. But they eventually dry. I think that the brand is Daisy; it has five lines that are attached between a bar and a roller - you can pull it out and stretch it across your space to hang clothes, and then rewind it back to the case if you like. In my old house I had this installed in front of the furnace in the basement, and that worked like a charm, year-round.

Posted by: Kurt L. at September 7, 2007 10:42 PM

Hi Kurt

I've seen those Daisy wheels...it looks like a great indoor solution. Depending on the test this winter, I could see implementing something like that for winter drying.

We really do have a remarkably sunny spot...when the valley is socked in with fog for long stretches between storms, we're in the sun, so I've got hopes...

Rich

Posted by: rich at September 8, 2007 06:22 AM

and it's that much cuter for being full of little tiny baby clothes!

Posted by: Katie at September 9, 2007 07:14 PM

That's cool! We just put up a four-line arrangement. As someone who also values a soft and cuddly fabric standard, I've come to keep a big jug of liquid fabric softener on the shelf for line loads. Now, the thing is, if you want to stick to natural products, you'll end up with Seventh Generation's lavender product, and remember; People's Pharmacy says lavender and tea tree oil are no-nos for growing boys because of the potent, sometimes breast-growing estrogens.

(oh, did you want to talk LAUNDRY? here I am!)

Posted by: Kat at September 13, 2007 03:05 PM