The years are a-changin'

Country Notebook

By Rogene "Jeannie" McPherson"

Let me be clean about this . . . I mean clear about this. Homemade soap was once inexpensive for use in washing clothes. Not so much today with bars of homemade soap for use in bathing, about 5 ounces or less, costing more than $6.

I’m sure we didn’t calculate the cost of the soap when Grandma made it decades ago, but the ingredients were inexpensive. A can of lye and tallow collected after butchering day, especially that from beef lard, were the primary ingredients. Grandma and Mom both used wringer washing machines and reused the water in the tub of the wringer machine numerous times.  Mom started with the whites and clothing and sheets that were slightly dirty or sweaty.

In-between the first washing and the last were shirts, dresses, play clothes and towels. The last load of water in the laundry wringer machine was recycled for Dad’s dirty and greasy overalls with some of Grandma’s shaved bar of homemade soap. The soap did not particularly smell good, but its stout ingredients broke up the grease stains.

At least two metal tubs contained clean water for rinsing. Like the soapy water, the rinse water was expected to last for the total rinsing process. I can attest to how dirty the final water was as dirt collected in the bottom of the wash water. My siblings and I were expected to carry out the water, bucket by bucket, from the basement and pour on the grass. Little was wasted on wash day.

For those not familiar with a wringer washing machine, it was typically a round galvanized tank mounded on four metal legs. As I recall, it was the metal legs supported by rubber rollers on the floor that rusted and broke before other parts of the machine were no longer useful.

The blades swished similar to today’s modern machines and after 5-10 minutes, the wringer rollers pressed out the water. It’s no wonder there was a high rate of broken buttons on men’s clothing and fingers caught in the ringer. People learned fairly quickly how to protect fingers and arms, but there was always the wise-crack who believed she was immune from danger (that is, my cousin).

There was some danger, too, in making the soap as lye could be caustic to eyes and skin. On the pH scale, it is very alkaline with the lye being a source of heat for converting the ingredients into soap. Once mixed, Mom or Grandma would pour the hot mixture into galvanized pans so that the soap would cool and cure for a few days before being cut with a butcher knife into bars about 3 inches in size. I doubt we put any extra ingredients like seeds or perfume into the product, but that, too, has changed. Most homemade soaps today include olive oil or goat’s milk to add moisturizing qualities.

Recently I was reading my Nebraska Life magazine and saw an ad for homemade soap. I ordered six bars each priced at $5.99 at discount and each containing ingredients to meet the expectations of the title given them. One of my favorites, Western Sage, is propped up next to my computer. I keep picking it up to enjoy the aroma, suspecting it will be a favorite for the shower. Other significant ingredients include beef tallow, coconut and olive oils, ground garden sage, and hemp seed. Not exactly sure what the hemp does, but since I don’t plan on ingesting the soap, it’s sure to be safe and sound (for my mind).

The funniest marketing strategy is the name of the company.  I have a miniature donkey and I sometimes call him a naughty ass because he butts me in the rear.  The Wild Ass Soap Company is located on a family farm near McCook, Nebraska. My conservative Grandma Hannah would have likely washed out my mouth for writing and saying “ass.” I hope readers aren’t offended. Sometimes it’s a blessing to have a reason to laugh.

Rogene “Jeannie” McPherson, from the Centerville area, is a regular contributor to the Linn County Journal. Her latest book Posts from the Country, Adventures in Rural Living is available online at Amazon.com, Thriftbooks.com, and Barnesandnoble.com.