10.31.10
Recycling an Old House and Other Treasures
During the last three months my brother and husband have been busy taking down an old ‘dog trot’ house on the weekends. It had enough usable lumber to reuse for a barn for our tractor and other equipment. That was the primary reason for taking on this task.
However, there were other treasures aside from the reusable lumber. The owners left boxes and sacks of all kinds of recyclable goodies in every room to be discarded. These goodies included plastic containers, glass containers, aluminum and other metal cans, paper, cardboard, other metal items suitable for recycling.
It was obvious the old couple that lived and probably died while this was still their home, did not throw away anything that could be reused. It reminded me of my grandparents that I wrote about in an earlier blog post. Everything was saved for the day that it would be needed. We sorted, bagged and labeled for several days, then took the truck and trailer load to the recycling center in a nearby town. It was enough recyclable items to make the trip very worthwhile.
Some things I found were not recyclable, yet had much value in other ways, some just sentimental from images of my own childhood. In the hallway of the dog trot house I saw hanging something there that I knew I recognized yet it took a few minutes for it to come to me. There on a large nail were hanging sacks for picking cotton. One very large one (father’s), one medium one (mother’s) and a smaller one for a child. I could not believe it. I had watched people every summer pick cotton in the old South as a child. Then one summer I found myself in the cotton field pulling around one of those sacks and realizing how very long it took to fill one up and how terribly hot and heavy the sack got the more cotton I put in it. The pay was just as bad or worse! Since then I have always respected anyone who ever experienced picking cotton, especially those that had it to do every summer.
Other items held value for the craft, time, creativity and work that went into them. For instance, I found some beautiful baby dresses and gowns (made when boy and girl babies wore gowns at least the first few months) that were hand sewn with delicate embroidery about the bodice and collar. My partner in this treasure hunt (my future daughter-in-law) wanted to reuse them for some of her dolls from childhood that needed new clothes. They had been stored in a way that preserved them from environmental problems and invasion from whatever critter that came along. They were just beautiful. Then there was the hand sewn quilt blocks lacking just one block to have the top completed and ready for quilting together. I found the pattern for the block (cut out of a newspaper) and in the same box found enough of the material the lady was using for the quilt blocks to make the last block. I want to see this quilt completed. I am not good at it, but will attempt to complete it myself. I’ll write an update on this project in the future. May take me a year or two, but I’m going to try it, just for the sake of completing a project this dear lady put many hours into, then just to have it packed in a box when she was unable to complete it.
The material this quilt was made from amazed me the most. It was made from old flour and other sacks that dry goods were sold in during the early 1900’s. How do I know the material was not the new ‘retro’ materials of the 1930’s and 1040’s now found in quilting shops? Because deeper into this box I began finding the original flour sacks. Some sewn together to be used as the backs of quilts and some still together in the original sack form. I found little ones for salt, medium ones for flour and sugar and larger ones that held other goods. All types of solid colors as well as beautiful prints were in that box. This was a quilters dream come true. These materials will be reused in a very creative way, into more quilts, quilt pillows or other craft items. But I will keep at least two of every size, just for the memory of other childhood images. I will give one of each size to my 83 year old mother who is a quilter and wore many dresses made out of these sacks. She will most likely begin to cry when she sees them.
I would like to share a poem about these sacks. The title is:
The Flour Sack
by Colleen B. Hubert
In that long ago time when things were saved,
When roads were graveled and barrels were staved,
When worn-out clothing was used as bags.
And there were no plastic wrap or bags,
And the well and the pump were way out back,
A versitile item was the flour sack.
Pillsbury’s Best, Mother’s and Gold Medal, too
Stamped their names proudly in purple and blue.
The string sewn on top was pulled and kept;
The flour emptied and spills were swept.
The bag was folded and stored in a sack,
That durable, practical flour sack.
The sack could be filled with feathers and down,
For a pillow or T’would make a nice sleeping gown.
It could carry a book and be a school bag,
Or become a mail sack slung over a nag.
It made a very convenient pack,
That adaptable, cotton flour sack.
Bleached and sewn, it was dutifully worn,
As bibs, diapers, or kerchief adorned.
It was made into skirts, blouses and slips.
And mom braided rugs from one hundred strips.
She made ruffled curtains for the house or shack,
From that humble but treasured flour sack!
As a strainer for milk or apple juice,
To wave men in, it was a very good use.
As a sling for a sprained wrist or a break,
To help mother roll up a jelly cake.
As a window shade or to stuff a crack,
We used a sturdy, common flour sack!
As dish towels, embroidered or not,
They covered up dough, helped pass pans so hot.
Tied up dishes for neighbors in need,
And for men out in the field to seed.
They dried dishes from pan, not rack,
That absorbent, handy flour sack!
We polished and cleaned stove and table.
Scoured and scrubbed from cellar to gable.
We dusted the bureau and oak bed post.
Made costumes for October (A scary ghost).
And a parachute for a cat named Jack.
From that lowly, useful old flour sack!
So now my friends, when they ask you
As curious youngsters often do.
“Before plastic wrap, Elmer’s glue
And paper towels, what did you do?”
Tell them loudly and with pride don’t lack,
“Grandmother had that wonderful flour sack!”
What treasures we did find in that old house! It was a true back to the past activity which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Now for the barn raising!
Written 09-29-2010
Peggy Williams
