The Cleaning Cupboard and Green Cleaning

One of my memories from childhood was when I went to stay with my aunty and uncle for the first time.  I would be about 3 1/2 years of age and had been taken there as my mum had just had my brother.  I was away for two weeks.

Aunty Rene and uncle Jim were lovely people and she had a big square kitchen which uncle Jim had fitted out with home made wooden kitchen units before kitchen units became a staple of the kitchen.  Uncle Jim was a Master Cabinet maker so these were no ordinary units.  They also had an Ercol table and chairs, sideboard and settee in the kitchen.  The modern Scandinavian style pine furniture that has recently made a big comeback.  Original pieces are highly prized.

The bit that always fascinated me though was that aunty had this long tall cupboard for storing all her cleaning equipment in.  I think it struck me as mum did not have one of these and being a curious and nosey child it quite intrigued me.  Her small pantry also housed the electric fridge.  I remember they had that fridge for years.  That was something else that also intrigued me as we did not have a fridge.  Just a small pantry in the Cottage with a small slab and there was no way a fridge would go in our pantry.

I have not thought about that cleaning cupboard for years and the memory was prompted yesterday for me by a visit to Soul Happy in the Westgate Arcade in Peterborough and I was talking to one of the helpers there and browsing along the shelves.  They sell quite a lot of organic herbs, flavourings, seasonings and food stuffs. There are also quite a lot of lovely natural soap and cleaning products including soap nuts.  A lovely bunch and they are very interesting to talk to.

There are further details here:  Soul Happy

Whilst browsing along the shelf I noted that they had a book called the Green Housekeeping by Christina Strutt of Cabbages and Roses fame.  I soon had my nose in this lovely little book and it has been added to my wish list on Amazon.  There was a picture of a similar cleaning cupboard in that book which is what triggered the memory for me.  The book had lots of lovely green cleaning ways as well.  Very much my kind of book.  As I am gravitating more and more to green cleaning ways and practices this will be a useful addition to my shelf in due course.  There is a large jar of lemon vinegar on the windowsill in the kitchen curing as we speak. I also have plans for making the Four Thieves Vinegar for use in the house throughout the year especially when it comes to cold infections and serious illness bugs.  Apparently this vinegar was used to help protect those medics going in to help plague victims and apparently it was pretty effective as they survived.

The link on amazon for the book is here:

Green Housekeeping

What I always remember about my aunts cleaning cupboard though is that there was a top box cupboard and then a long cupboard underneath, where all the brooms and cleaning wands and brushes were stored on hooks,  Aunty always had a very big pile of bright yellow dusters and a big pile of cleaning cloths which were often recycled sheets and old damaged sheets.  There was also the proverbial feather duster.  There was also a strong metal dustpan with a straw brush and also a soft bristle brush.

I also noted that there is a follow up book by Christina Strutt called Sustain which is due to be published on 10 March which is a follow on from what I can see to the Green Housekeeping book.  Both are now on my wish list.

The link is here:

Sustain

Reminds me of some of the things my mum used to do and my aunt and Nan when I was younger in order to clean the house.

As I have said before, there was a gentleness and rythm to life as well as very effective results to the methods used years ago.  They work.  What  I do remember from my childhood growing up though is that homes seemed to have a happiness and peacefulness of their own which was very calming for the best part.  We have too much going on these days that we are losing the peacefulness of mind in the process.  I am determined to get  mine back.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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