The Problem of Summer Comfort in the Home
THE great problem confronting the housemother just at this time is how to keep the house coolly pleasant and the stay-at-homes comfortable—and herself all three, cool, pleasant, and comfortable. The latter is an absolute essential of the first, for, though the housemother enjoys the rôle of martyr, her efforts to make the others comfortable will be un availing if she herself is hot, nervous, and tired from overwork. We all know how the entire family reflect the mother’s state of being. Of course, in the sweet, clean country the problem is not so perplexing as in the crowded, dirty city. But country kitchens get very hot sometimes, and have an irritating way of raising the temperature of the other rooms in the house. In the South, where the summer kitchen is the rule rather than the exception, the problem is partly solved. If you have not a summer kitchen, nor have yet become the “happy possessor” of a fireless cooker, do the next best thing; namely, turn your back porch into a “summer-comfort” kitchen. This is much more easily done than one would suppose. Almost every country house has a roomy back porch; and when this is lacking, the sin of omission should be atoned for by building the porch at once; it should be latticed and screened. Everything belonging to the kitchen should be placed in the porch, except the stove, cooking utensils (which should be in a low cupboard beside the stove), and small zinc-covered table on which to dish up the food. Do all your preparations on the porch, and sit out there (sit in an easy chair, not stand on your feet) between “stirs” of the pot and peeps at the baking. Wash dishes there, even if you can’t carry the sink out. Above all things, be systematic. System means more than half the battle won at the very start. Plan your work ahead, and simplify in every way possible. Elaborate dishes and smoking-hot food are not conducive to the comfort of the consumer or the producer. A large element of the food provided for man is to furnish heat to the body, and during the summer this is not needed. Make eating during the heated term incidental to the comfort of keeping cool. Arise early, and after closing all the blinds on the sunny side of the house, put your dinner on the fire to cook before beginning preparations for breakfast; in this way it gets a fine start, and you can watch it while getting breakfast, and thus “kill two birds with one stone.” Serve food in a cool and tempting way. Put peaches and other fruits in a dish on their own green leaves. Garnish everything you can with cool, crisp lettuce leaves. Keep the windows open all night; then early in the morning, before the sun rises, draw down all shades to within an inch or two of the bottom of the windows; open all partition doors, and close all outside doors. In this way you get a good circulation of air through the house. Of course, all draperies have been taken down long ago, and all carpets removed. The painted floor and loose rug are an absolute necessity for the summer. Another solution of the summer-comfort problem is the open-air dining room, for use at all times except when it rains. If you are so well favored as to have a thick grape arbor, place your table there, and, behold, you have the fresh air dining “room.” If not so fortunate as to be a grape arbor possessor, then set up a large awning in the back yard. Place in the center of it a big homemade table, and cover with a white cloth; then put a bunch of fresh-cut flowers on the table, and place chairs about it. Use the simplest service possible, doing away with all linen doilies and the like. Talk about summer kitchens! Nothing can compare with the “summer dining room.” Have one this summer, and your family will rise up and call you blessed.—Indiana Farmer.