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["Jeanne Driese" <jeanne13 AT earthlink.net>]

Hi Bev,
As you know I am in my mid 70's and do not have any problem washing dishes!.  
It is also therapy for me.  If I had the space I probably would have a 
dishwasher, for the reasons you state, but I never will as I will not give up 
the space in my little house that it would take.  So if you  have the space 
and the money have one.  We all need something a bit special in our lives.  
One other consideration, for me, is that I live alone and it truly would be 
an extravagance!

Yes, I still sit in a chair with a notebook to do lots of things because I 
think better that way.   Even if I am just  trying to create a list of things 
to do!
Jeanne
tnhillwoman
North East TN zone 6
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: EarthNSky 
  To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org 
  Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2009 1:06 AM
  Subject: Re: [Homestead] Technology, was Tractors was: A homestead plan


  Equally ironic that most authors now publish their work online for zero
  income, fame but no fortune.

  We are all stuck in some moment of time.  We choose which moment to
  linger in.  It is not all black and white.

  Don may like machinery, but if I recall, his place in California had
  raised beds and were not worked by a tractor.

  We all may be homesteaders, or wannabees, or used to bes, or just
  interested parties, but we all draw the line on technology and
  innovation somewhere.  It may be based on health, the lay of the land,
  the job at hand, or finances.

  I've got a decision to make about a dishwasher.  When we moved here
  almost 11 years ago, there was no dishwasher, so I handwashed.  About 8
  years ago, we got a dishwasher and it was great because it was an easy
  way to clean up the milking mess and sanitize bottles.  Last Christmas
  the dishwasher too a dive, and I've been handwashing every since.  I
  save my evening dishes to wash in the morning because the warm water
  helps my fingers and hands loosen up.  It is like therapy.  I understand
  what James is saying about scything and exercise.  Obviously dishwashing
  is not scything, but it is therapeutic.
  So today I had my friend here and we were canning-see my blog for
  details, and she very sweetly, decided to wash dishes for me in between
  projects.  She thought hand washing was a pain in the ass and made a
  comment that when I get my dream house I would have a brand new
  dishwasher, to which I replied, "maybe".  I am so torn on this silly
  issue of whether or not to put a dishwasher in my dream house.  I'd like
  to keep the electricity using appliances to a minimum.  I'd like to have
  the added cabinet space.  I like the theurapeutic spa massage of the hot
  water in the mornings.  On the other hand, having a dishwasher would
  allow me to spend more time with family and visitors and less time in
  the kitchen.  I could easily heat and hold canning jars.  It would be
  nice to use a machine every once in a while...like a luxury.
    It is really stupid to obsess over a dishwasher.  I have a clothes
  washer and dryer.  I have a refrigerator and two freezers.  The
  dishwasher just seems like a lazy woman's way out, which is definitely
  not true.  If you have well water, you still have to dry the water spots
  off the dishes, so there is nothing lazy about it.   I don't know that I
  buy the argument that they use less water than hand washing.  Hand
  washing is a personal thing and people do that differently.   I guess it
  all boils down to another item that uses electricity.

  In my dream home, which is an earthsheltered home with the kitchen on
  one side of the front(south-east facing passive solar design) I will be
  taking a minimalist approach in an open design.  A dishwasher just
  doesn't fit in the plan, but perhaps by the time I am 10-15 years old(in
  my 60's, that dishwasher might look like a great thing.  Oh well.


  There is always technology. The question is, how much of it do you
  choose to use.  Do you write with a pen, or a pencil, or do you even
  write at all anymore?


  Bev




  Gene GeRue wrote:
  >>>> Don: Let me start this by saying I am a gear head, I like
  >>>> machinery.
  >> James: Let me start by saying that I detest machinery and would 
  >> gladly live in a world without it.
  > 
  > I find it ironic that this discussion, replayed several times over
  > the last fifteen or so years, is conducted using machines.

  -- 
  Sleep well tonight, for somewhere in the ocean's depths, MY son is
  protecting your freedom on the USS Key West, currently deployed
  somewhere in the Pacific and/or Indian Ocean.  Go Navy!
  EarthNSky Farm, NW Georgia, USA


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