Pioneer Days at Stage Farm Pt 3: Doing The Dishes

Pioneer Days pt 3: Doing Dishes

We still have no power or running water. We've been using paper plates and plastic cups but still have a small batch of dishes that got dirtied before we knew this was going to be a long standing event.

I fixed myself some coffee this morning (cowboy style) and decided to take care of a few chores to clean up the inside of this joint. Because it was starting to feel like the derecho was actually INSIDE the house.

Now that we have a generator, I don't need this cooler full of melted ice to chill my beer. So, I used the water to clean some dishes.

I wouldn't dare use the creek water that we have in the wash tub by the house. That is premium toilet water and is only to be used as such.

First I dumped some of the cooler water into a pan and lit the propane camping stove. I warmed it up to just below boiling so I didn't blister my skin while doing dishes. I added some antibacterial dish soap and started to wash the dirty dishes.

I dumped the rest of the cooler water into another pan for rinsing and brought my dish strainer out as a drying rack. All in all the process took about 10 minutes and now we have a cleaner kitchen. If you don't count the extension cords tracing from the window to the fridge and down the steps to the basement freezer.

Pioneers Days at the Stage Homestead has been an exercise in patience and perspective. I can't wait for the power to come back on.