9
I have a confession. I spent 3 months bathing in a stream. My little watering hole was a 10-minute walk from the farm we were staying on in Waitsfield, VT. The water source snaked with a thick brush barrier on either side, providing occasional privacy spots for one to strip to their boxers—or whatever. A hiking path ran alongside the thick brush that paralleled the stream. Randomly, trails were pressed through the thick brush, leading to the water. My spot was relatively hidden. It was less of a trail that led to the water, and more of a narrow bio-canal—one that grew more and more narrow over the summertime months.
Privacy wasn’t guaranteed. Once, as I was squatting in the ankle deep water, reaching up my briefs’ leg with a bar of biodegradable soap, I happened to catch a glimpse of a bobbing head, maybe 50 yards away. She came and went by the opening so quickly I could easily have missed her. In fact, I thought, I could have easily missed any number of bobbing heads in the 2 months I’d claimed this as my bathtub. I panicked a little. I didn’t think what I was doing was illegal, but I didn’t want to stir up any debates within the small town. I washed a little more and then waited. Made sure I stayed quiet around the time I expected her to come up to the entrance to my bio-canal. Never did hear her, but it didn’t stop me from scanning the daily community forum online to see if such a complaint was filed.
The true confession comes from learning months later that biodegradable soap is not biodegradable in water. Apparently the soap needs to be filtered through dirt at least 200 feet from any water source. I guess I’ll have to stick with sponge baths in our camper now on.
(Visit our website for pictures and more stoies. )
BROKE NOT BROKEN
ADVENTURES LIVING IN A POP UP CAMPER
Kids Farm Camp commercial at Hartshorn Farm, produced by our video production company, New Moon Video