I don’t think that many of us think about what an apron is. I have always loved an apron…think about the following,
The principal use of Grandma’s apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few. It was also because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and aprons used less material. But along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.
It was wonderful for drying children’s tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.
From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.
When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids…
And when the weather was cold grandma wrapped it around her arms.
Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow,
bent over the hot wood stove.
Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.
From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables.
After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.
In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.
When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.
When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folk (just as my granny alway described the men in our lives) knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.(the noon meal)
It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that ‘old-time apron’ that served so many purposes.
Keep this in mind…
Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw.
My Great-Granny and the chickens…This world today would go crazy trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.
I don’t think I ever caught anything from an apron – but love…
thank you my dear friend who sent this to me…. may all of us who remember the apron take a moment to treasure the time…
The Gourmet Farm Girl