Wash Day Soup

by RubyViola Kotter Freeman

1 soup bone

salt

pepper

assorted vegetables, such as:

potatoes

carrots

onions

cabbage

tomatoes

Put soup bone in water and simmer for several hours while you do the washing  Throw in the vegetables before hanging the last batch on the line so it is done when the washing is done.

~Wash day used to be a bigger deal than it is now.  Ruby once told about all the washing machines they had had.  One of them she described as a large copper oval tub which had a sort of pedal on the outside which was connected to a mechanism inside the tub.  Thus it was possible to agitate the clothes by continually pumping up and down with your foot on this pedal.  A later labor saving machine had 2 tubs and a wringer between then which still required a bit of effort to wash, rinse and hang the clothes to dry.  It is no wonder an easy to fix meal was a necessity for wash day!