snow cleanse

Many years ago a farm wife told me that the best way to clean your braided rugs during the winter was to take them out after a snowfall -the kind that is powdery and dry - cover your rugs with the snow, let it set for a few minutes, then sweep it off with a broom. This doesn't actually clean the rugs, but it does freshen them up a bit and get rid of a little winter grime. I now do that with most of my area rugs. I wonder how many of these old secrets have been lost on the disposable generation?