Green Options

Yes, drying laundry outdoors is becoming acceptable, even desirable, again. So it was only a matter of time before creative green types started looking for something more attractive than a commercially produced metal drying rack or plain old rope clothesline.

That’s why Groton, Massachusetts, resident Katharine Bell came up with the idea for a Clothesline Design Contest. The Groton Grange and Groton Local, a group that promotes sustainable living, ran with it, and the contest ended up 20 entries, including one from Australia.

Back in the days before refrigeration, freeze-drying, vacuum-pack processing, aseptic packaging and even canning, savvy cooks invented ways to store food for future use. Salting, smoking, pickling, confiting, canning and drying were the most common methods of food preservation, especially on country farms. Root cellars for storing vegetables like potatoes, parsnips and carrots, and fruit like apples, were also common, and a necessity.

Today, in some sense, we’ve come full circle, seeking greater flavor, taste and control of what we eat and how it’s raised, grown, processed and preserved. Happily, we can take advantage of the freezer - it really works now. We’re rediscovering methods of preserving foods that were common over a century ago. Preserving the harvest dovetails perfectly with the concept of sustainable cooking, since it’s all about using what is produced or raised locally, what’s in season, and storing it so it can be used in the future.