The White Shirt

Last week, TJ helped the Palmer family brand calves. He wore this white shirt. He has worn this shirt for three years to almost all the brandings.

Its light weight, has two pockets, and does not attract heat from the sun. It's the perfect shirt for being out in the elements all day.

See that blood on the sleeve, and the spatters up the arm. That's how the whole shirt pretty much looked with dirt and cow manure added in to make it good-n-dirty. He does this same thing for our cows, and several other outfits throughout the year, and it always involves at least one of the three things that made this shirt dirty (blood, dirt, and cow manure). I needed to find a way to keep this shirt in business for a little while longer.


I rinsed the shirt well, and scrubbed the bad stains with Ivory bar soap. Then set it to soak in my special mixture of 4 tablespoons of my homemade laundry soap and 1/2 of a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. Finishing it off with enough hot water to keep it emersed in liquid. (I had to weigh it down with a heavy candle after the bubbles started to form.)

It soaked for 24 hours, but it really only needed overnight. I then tossed it in the washer, and put it through a soak and heavy wash cycle with HOT water. I added vinegar to the softener cup because its a good laundry softener, and it couldn't hurt. Just use regular laundry soap and a healthy shake of washing soda for this load.

After letting it dry in the sunlight it came out pirty dang clean. Not even a ring around the collar. It might be a possibility that all of the above mentioned steps are not necessary, but don't ask me which ones. It seems to really do the trick and save a lot of money in new clothes. Hopefully you don't have the same nightmare in your laundry, but if you do this might help.