Shake that broom

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be"
- Shaker hymn

If you're familiar with the Shakers, then you probably know about the lovely boxes they made. And perhaps Shaker furniture. But for a religious group that embraced "Simple Gifts" they were surprisingly inventive. According to Wikipedia...

"Shakers won respect and admiration for their productive farms and orderly communities. Their industry brought about many inventions like Babbitt metal, the rotary , the circular saw, the clothespin, the Shaker peg, the flat broom, the wheel-driven washing machine, a machine for setting teeth in textile cards, a threshing machine, metal pens, a new type of fire engine, a machine for matching boards, numerous innovations in waterworks, planing machinery, a hernia truss, silk reeling machinery, small looms for weaving palm leaf, machines for processing broom corn, ball-and-socket tilters for chair legs, and a number of other useful inventions. Shakers were the first large producers of medicinal herbs in the United States, and pioneers in the sale of seeds in paper packets"

Perhaps lost in the list above is "flat broom". What, you ask, could there be any other shape for a broom?  Slate magazine has well-written history of the broom,

bundles of twigs, reeds, corn husks, and other natural fibers have almost certainly been used since ancient times to sweep up ash and embers around fires and, later, hearths. 

“what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?” - Luke 15:8
For over two thousand years brooms looked like the image at right; what we think of today as a witch's broom and sometimes called a "besom" broom. About 200 years ago, farmer Levi Dickinson discovered that a sorghum grass, now called "broomcorm" made a great besom broom. This was modernized and sold in mass production.

"The Shaker intervention [...] was simple but ingenious: Instead of lashing the broomcorn in a round bundle to the handle, they found that securing the corn with wire, flattening it with a vice and sewing it tight resulted in superior cleaning tool. [...] The Shakers also pioneered the smaller whisk broom, perfect for one-handed dusting and sweeping of higher surfaces" - Slate.com

Next time you use a flat broom, give a prayer of thanks to the Shakers.

Spring-Cleaning

Take me for a ride in your Car-Car
Take me for a ride in your Car-Car
Take me for a ride, Take me for a ride,
Take me for a ride in your Car-Car
- song by Peter, Paul and Mary

At the vernal equinox on March 20 in New York, there was great hope that Spring had sprung and vanquished Winter. But alas Winter returned and hung around for several weeks afterwards. So depending upon where you live, you may or may not be ready to begin spring-cleaning.

One item that does not readily come to my mind during spring-cleaning is the car. But the interior is quite dusty and I’m sure the exterior could use some elbow grease too. Consumer Reports has the following advice for “How to wash away winter and get your car looking like new”.

The interior

- Throw out the trash. Remove unneeded items.
- Organize what remains into side pockets or compartments.
- Use a mild spray and a microfiber cloth to remove dust and grime off the dash and consoles.
- Vacuum the seats, floor mats, rugs, and trunk. (personally I’d do this before dusting, not afterwards)
- Try a spray-on carpet cleaner to remove any seat stains. For leather trim, use a leather cleaner.
- Clean the inside windows with glass cleaner, but spray directly on a cloth to avoid streaking.

The exterior

- Never wash or wax a car in direct sunlight or if the paint is hot to the touch. The sun softens the paint and makes it easier to scratch.
- Use a dedicated car-wash soap designed not to scratch automotive paint.
- Apply the suds with a large, soft natural sponge or a lamb's-wool mitt (anti-scratch)
- Make sure your sponge is 100% clean (grit in the sponge may – you guessed it – scratch the paint)
- Wash the car from the roof down.
- Use a different sponge to wash the grittiest parts of the car – the tires.
- Don’t let the car air dry when done--use a soft towel to dry.

- Waxing a car provides a shine and some protection for the paint. Consumer Reports found that paste waxes are easier to use than liquid waxes; liquid waxes cleaned the best; and spray waxes were easiest to use and left the fewest stains on plastic parts, but they didn’t last as long as other waxes.
- A wax finish will last about five weeks.

Maintenance checks

- Check your windshield wipers for wear and tear from winter ice. Replace if they are leaving streaks of water.
- Check the treads of your tires for wear and check for proper inflation/

Bottom Line

For more on maintaining your car inside and out, see the Consumer Report guide to car maintenance.