This is my wash basin. It’s enamel and holds about about 2 liters. I put 1 liter in it and wash my hands all day with the same water. When it’s bath time I add another liter of hot water and take a bath with it. When I’m through bathing, I empty it into my gray water bucket and save the water for washing out my composting toilet buckets. Then I put another 1 liter in the basin and start all over.
In my Grandmother’s primitive cabin, she used two basins: one for washing with soap and then another one for rinsing your hands. After the soapy water became too dirty it was thrown out and the rinse basin became the new wash basin. The new rinse water came from the old rinse water we used for rinsing the dishes.
I use an enamel one because it came with the cabin. But in this mother earth news article the writer suggests using stainless steel because it won’t chip. Either way it’s nice to have it made of metal so if it gets icy overnight you can heat it up.
Interesting idea about using an aluminium basin. I use an enamel one and never had the issues mentioned in the article. I started doing basin sponge baths years ago in winter because I keep the cabin cool, and I didn’t get nearly as chilly taking one of those as I did when I got in/out of the shower.
Carolyn H.
On my most recent trip into the wilderness I did something similar to what you do with your tea, only I poured warm water into my squishy bowl after a breakfast of oatmeal. Normally I would drink it as a sort of “oatmeal” tea, but this time I tried washing my hands and face with it mixed with a dab of soap, and I was surprised at how refreshing and clean I felt! As for your cabin washing technique, my vote is for stainless steel. Germs and bacteria have a very hard time surviving on stainless steel, that is one reason why all surgical tools and accessories are stainless. A stainless steel Wok could be a valuable cabin tool. Stir fry, eat, then wash up!
Stainless steel instruments are used in surgery as they are non porus (doh), long lasting, can be autoclaved and won’t rust. Any non porus surface is going to be equally hard for most microorganisms to make a good living on. I am Veterinarian, by the way. When I was in undergrad I took a class called “Microbial Ecology” which was very interesting…the grand take home point of the class was “Everything is everywhere, its the environment that selects.” In other words you can sample almost any soil and find an unbelievable amount of bacteria there, just waiting for the right set of circumstances for them to reproduce. Viruses ( which are not really “alive” or “dead” in the common understanding of those words) are the same way too. One teaspoon of sea water will contain around 5 billion viral particles, probably all of which are harmless to people. Availability of water is the major limiting factor for most bacteria, that’s why dry foods like rice or flour don’t spoil the same way “wet” foods like dairy or meat do. Its important to distinguish between good and bad bacteria too. I am not a fan of anti bacterial soap or other such nonsense. We need bacteria, we just don’t need the harmful ones. Ok, I will stop lecturing now. Yours has got to be one of the best blogs on the planet, Crow.
Thanks, Dave, for all the info and the good comment.