By Allison Eliason

There are a number of reasons I am beyond grateful to be born in this century, despite the craziness we get to endure, and among the top of the list is that I don’t have to do laundry wading into the stream or laboring over a cumbersome washtub with a bar of soap and a washboard.  I’m pretty confident that if I was resigned to doing laundry in such a cumbersome and depressing way, I would only have one or two dresses in my closet.  

Every laundry day I thank the man that invented my fancy electric washing machine with all of the bells and whistles that makes our far from simple mound of laundry doable.  I have no proof or evidence of the contrary, but I think that ranch life laundry is a step above your simple, ordinary washing.    

Ranch moms know that the only way to keep a wardrobe with a few unstained shirts is to have work-play clothes and nice clothes but I wonder if our strategy actually adds to the work.  On a typical day, a busy little boy manages to get marker, lunch and glue all over his nice clothes only to come home to put on his work-play clothes that he manages to get a little grease, manure and mud on them.  And then, being so responsible, both sets of clothes find their way in the dirty clothes pile.  But our attempt to have a few shirts and jeans for a nice day on the town is accomplished even if there is more laundry to be done.

It is ironic that mom is the one requesting so many wardrobe changes in a single day.  We dreaded the toddler days when the little ones traded outfits every hour but now we welcome it if it means we save the few school shirts that are still remaining.  If we catch things soon enough, we might even get a second day out of one of the outfits.

There might not be any hard and fast rules for doing ranch life laundry, but there seems to be a few necessities.  It must have been a ranch wife that convinced the laundry detergent gods to include things like Febreeze and Oxiclean because we need far more than just soap to get out the stains and odors that come with ranch work.  Add that to the little spray bottle of magical pre-wash and there may be a few items of clothing that survive a rancher’s attempts to stain every work shirt he owns.

There isn’t a lot of difference in their stains or level of dirtiness between big ranchers or little ranchers.  The only real significant difference comes in the presentation of the laundry.  If there is a remote possibility that a shirt, pair of pants or sock can be twisted and inside out, it will be.  The pants and shirts, even hoodies or jackets, aren’t too big of a deal to get the outside out and the inside it.  But socks are a different ball game.  Usually they are sweaty, stinky and crusty with the high possibility of an ambush of sand, hay bits, and tiny rocks that will spill out as you turn it right side out.

The seasons play a big role as to what kind of laundry we have.  There is no season where we have less laundry, something I always hope for with each new season.  The cold months bring t-shirts and hoodies that layer nicely.  It would seem that so many layers would mean that somewhere in there is a clean shirt but stinky kids always find a way to get all the layers dirty.  

In the summer the laundry is full of  collared, long sleeve, button up shirts that keep a sunburn at bay but require a little extra work to keep presentable.  I will never understand why every shirt can’t be “wrinkle free.”  There isn’t a rancher or his wife that has time to iron so many shirts.  If the cows aren’t bothered by the wrinkles, then neither am I so in truth, it’s only the town shirts that get pressed.

Just as much as I wish there was a season of less laundry, I always hope for a season of less mess.  In the winter when there isn’t mud or grass, there is always shop work to be done that guarantees someone will come home with new grease stains.  Calving season has its own delightful messes that I won’t spell out but you can imagine that birth and new babies aren’t always the cleanest.  You could imagine that life on the range in the spring, summer, and fall months would be ok, but that dust is relentless in getting everything you wear filthy dirty.

Mom’s ranch clothes are a bit of a wild card when it comes to laundry.  If I happen to be spending a full day out on the ranch, I’m likely to slip into my work jeans like any rancher.  But if I’m coming and going between the ranch and the house, I usually stick to my comfy leggings that my husband is constantly reminding me aren’t proper work apparel.  I counter that coveralls were made for such an occasion but I have to admit that even I have a limit to wearing them.  So on days too hot to wear the bibbies, I go rogue and risk the leggings.  I may be comfy, but in the end, it still adds another load of laundry to be done.

Checking the pockets is a given for any mom doing laundry but as a ranch mom I never want to skip this step if I want to save my washer, my laundry and my sanity.  From the ruckus nuts, bolts, and fencing clips to the stain inducing tagging markers and paint sticks, there are a myriad of items that fit just right in a pocket that should never be put in a washing machine.  

And not to mention the little treasures that are always scooped up for safe keeping that need to be added to a collection but will likely be lost or ruined if they find their way into the washing machine.  For my own happiness, I always try to avoid inducing heartbreak over any lost treasure to the washing machine’s unyielding black hole.

Despite the dirty laundry roulette we get to play every wash day, I wouldn’t trade this ranch life for easy laundry.  Every mess, every stain, and every ruined shirt happens because my ranchers, big and small, are out working, learning, and enjoying this beautiful world we live in.  A big pile of dirty, stinky laundry is really a pile of blessings- clothes to wear, adventures to be had, family to love and the chance to do it all over again.  But I’ll still take the fancy electric washer over the washboard!