The Mystery of the Dirty Laundry

So today I was a whirlwind of activity and in between brewing kombucha and watering balcony plants, I threw in a load of laundry. Jeans, T-shirts, that kind of stuff. Upon pulling the clothes out of the washing machine, I noticed what appeared to be chunks of dirt. I’m a landscaper, and I have teenage boys, so dirt is a given in this household. But….wouldn’t dirt just dissolve in the washer? Ah! Perhaps it was mulch! Chunks of mulch wouldn’t dissolve. But….I don’t routinely place handfuls of mulch in my pockets. Hmmmm. This is odd.

But, I’m having a busy day. On to the next task. Clean the kitchen, write a post. Back to laundry. So I open the dryer door and what do I see in the lint screen? This:

And now, it is Confession Time: My first thought was, “Those damn boys!”Grumble, grouse, complain. Max brought some crap back from Scout camp; Luke must have been goofing around in the woods with those Abbott boys. But….Max doesn’t wear jeans with silver sparklies on the pockets, and I don’t recall Luke ever donning my Half Marathon T-shirt. This is my load of laundry.  So I continue folding clothes, completely confused. Until I found this:

What the….?? The mystery deepens. Now in full Nancy Drew mode, I go over the clues: My clothes. Chunky dirt-like substance. Doesn’t dissolve completely. Little drawstring muslin bag. It’s…it’s….oh, my GOSH!!! Suddenly, light bulbs go off! Alarms sound! My brain engages! It all comes flooding back!! A couple of days ago, that little muslin bag looked like this:

Now I’m in full Scooby-Doo mode: Why, it’s Authentic Haven Brand compost tea bag! My friend, Annie Haven, had sent me some bags to make her awesome compost tea. She’d read my tweets about creating my new balcony garden and she wanted to help me have the most gorgeous garden ever, so she sent me some bags of, well, cow  crap! It was dried of course. My plants have loved this stuff! And the herbs–fantastic! But clothes? Holy cow crap, Batman! I have no idea how this bag fell into my washing machine.

Maybe I’m a hopeless garden girl, but my clothes looked and smelled clean and fresh! No stains, no grossness, nothing. Of course, I come from a family that closes our eyes and offers prayers of gratitude upwards when we see a pile of soil or compost. We think it’s manna. I’m not sure this is how Annie Haven thought her product would be used, but hey! Garden goodness is garden goodness, doncha think? The only thing is, I love how Haven Brand compost tea makes my plants grow bigger, but I’d like my clothing to stay the same size. Except for maybe right after Thanksgiving dinner. But that’s a different story.

So in closing, I would like to say the following: Thank you, Annie Haven, for supplying me with your fabulous compost tea bags! My garden looks superb! In fact, pictures of it have been on TV and there are plans for it to be in a garden book. My foliage is full and vibrant green, and the flowers are consistently gorgeous!

And also, my apologies to my sons. I silently blamed them for cow poo in the laundry when, in fact, it was my doing. But honestly, who could blame me with with scoundrels like these on hand?

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Tagged as: Annie Haven, Authentic Haven Brand, compost tea