Whipped Soap and Organic Gardens

I found the most inspiring website Nizzy's . He makes some of the most beautiful whipped, piped soaps you've ever seen. I had to be very careful with this soap "batter" because it looked like pink frosting. Even in my rubber gloves and safety goggles, I was tempted to lick my fingers. The resulting soap looks like dessert and is so light and pretty. I have read that it disappears quickly in the shower because of the trapped air. Much to my children's delight, it will float. Ivory soap floats too because of the air rather than the natural ingredients. The downside to whipped soap, it takes 6 weeks to cure because it is mixed at room temperature. The upside is that the colors are brighter and the scent doesn't flash off so less fragrance is needed.

I haven't made much soap lately but I have been cooking up some fun in the kitchen. My girls and I made a larger batch of lip balm. They want to sell it and give the proceeds to our church. It's fabulous and the people that have sampled for me say they absolutely love it. The castor oil leaves your lips a little glossy too. Perfect for that less made up summer look and for young girls that want to wear "makeup".

I also mixed up some Bug Be Gone Balm. It smells a little strange but not bad. It is better them chemicals and I don't feel like I need to scrub myself down to get it all off. It is neem oil, soy oil, beeswax, and a whole host of essential oils with bug repellent properties. It works like a charm. I spent some time out in my veggie garden yesterday picking green beans and spraying for aphids (recipe below) and had no interest from the mosquitoes. Normally they swarm around my ankles and I come back in with 20 bites so this is a definite improvement.

Aphids attack my garden every year no matter how many ladybugs I release. I am an avid organic gardener and don't like to use pesticides. My kids love eating things out of the garden so I am very particular about chemicals. I bought a bottle of insecticidal soap a couple weeks ago. When I looked at the ingredients, I realized I had been taken. There was nothing in that bottle but true soap and water. I have a lot of extra lavendar soap I made for laundry detergent but needed the right proportions. After all, lavendar is a natural pest deterrent. Google saves the day and I found this blog http://tennzen.blogspot.com/ that details homemade insecticidal soap and the results. Mix 1/4 C of grated soap with 4 C of hot water. Stir till dissolved. This makes the concentrate. Mix 1 tsp concentrate with 4 cups of water to make the spray. The best part of this spray is that I don't fear getting it on my hands. It's safe enough for my kids to spray (and probably eat) and the aphids were GONE. This spray should take care of all soft bodied insects and plant bugs. The cost cannot be beat either. This concentrate makes an insane amount of spray...192 gallons!

Salty Disappointment

I made a salty disappointment yesterday, but the hydrangeas are beautiful. They were my inspiration for the color of the salt soap. They are so fresh and beautiful even on a rainy day. The gradations of color from yellow to lime to blue are definitely my favorite colors. Now that I think about it, my house has quite a bit of blue and green. I suppose it is rubbing off on my oldest daughter because she chose a lime green for her "tween" remodeled room. Gone is the pink and pretty and hello big girl brown and green.

I set out to make my hubby some new soap yesterday. He really likes the salt soap and has been taking it to the gym after realizing the soap at the gym was really awful by comparison. I wanted it to be a pale lime green and scented with cucumber & green grass. It would smell fresh and clean to go with the fresh color. All was going well and the color looked good. The soap traced quickly and smelled delicious. I added the salt and stirred, which lightened the color but sometimes the color morphs during saponification. I left it to sit in the oven while I took the girls to the pool. When we returned the house smelled great. I pulled the mold out of the oven and set it in the dining room to cool a bit while we ate dinner.

I should have cut it before dinner. I waited until we had watched Wipe Out and had sundaes before I tackled the now very hard salt soap. As I cut it crumbled into chunks. I think 3 or 4 slices were whole but the rest were oddly fragmented and looked like big hunks of rock found in a cave somewhere. The color is just about white with a tinge of green. Not exactly the color I was going for either. Now they look like slightly moldy rocks. Oh well, at least he will still be able to use it at the gym. I don't know that I will give it to any friends though.

On a positive note, moisture bar #3 is fabulous. It is a really hard bar that produces a wonderful fluffy, creamy lather. My next bar will be a rose hip powder bar. I'm looking forward to a new experiment. I also have some shredded loofah to make my brother, the mechanic, some hand soap. I saw a great tutorial for making round soap with a whole loofah. The summer is so full of soapy promises.

I do feel that I am improving. I look back at my first bars that were molded in a shoe box and giggle. I even threw away some really sad bars from my first attempts. I had no idea what I was doing and the bars were perfect illustrations of that fact. I was so proud of them at first and now so disappointed. I think if you decide to make soap, don't give up before you try a half dozen batches. Definitely start with a reliable recipe before making up your own. When you do decide to make up your own recipes, seriously look at a soap calculator and be familiar with the characteristics of the different oils. Most importantly, practice, practice and more practice.

Happy Soaping!

Luscious Lips

Look out girlfriends, there will be some lip balm coming your way soon! The girls and I had a fun afternoon of decorating tubes of homemade lip balm. We made 2 scents, vanilla and lemonade. There are a ton of recipes on the web for lip balm so pick one and give it a go. It was easy and fun. I think the best part of the whole process was making the labels. We made some special labels for some special people too.

In the background is my latest moisturizing bar. It is recipe #3. The first recipe was rather mushy even when fully cured. It is still a delightful bar but not as hard as I had hoped. I played with the soap calc a little further and developed recipe #2 which is below (in green). I added extra castor oil and some clay to make a shaving bar. It is delightful to shave with and smells divine. The recipe definitely made a firmer bar. While I have not sampled recipe #3, it smells heavenly. It is a combination of basil citrus and strong green tea fragrance oils. It is very firm and I cannot wait to try it out.

Here are the recipes for your soaping pleasure...
Moisture Bar #2 (shaving bar)
12 oz. coconut
4 oz. castor
10 oz. olive
12 oz. palm
5 oz. shea
5 oz. sunflower
18 oz. water
6.6 oz. lye
At trace add 2 tbsp. bentonite

Moisture Bar #3 (CPOP)
13 oz. coconut
4 oz. corn
.5 oz. castor (added at trace)
12 oz. palm
4 oz. soy
2.5 oz. cocoa butter
10 oz. olive
2 oz. shea
18 oz. water
192 g lye

Wealth, Greed, Happiness?

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." Matthew 6:24

As I was working on making bathing suits for my girls this morning, it was quiet and I could think. When I'm engrossed in something, I typically have my "talks with God". What has been on my mind lately are the now infamous Jon & Kate (plus 8 unwilling participants). Obviously there are many takes on the seemingly sudden demise of their marriage. The truth probably lies buried amongst the rubble so I won't speculate or pass judgement. The media is reporting staggering earnings per episode and even more staggering are the free goods and services that the couple have recieved. I do believe the Lord provides and they were struggling in the beginning with 6 newborns. The question is did they turn a blind eye to the provider?

That leads to my next question, can you be wealthy and happy? Can you be wealthy and continue to follow God? Isn't it true though that we would all like to try being wealthy. Even King Solomon, in all his God given wisdom, was blinded by wealth and women. The rules God gave him were simple and he still disobeyed. Solomon had it all, peace in Israel, wisdom, wealth, family, a palace, and a legacy for his family and he ruined it for his heirs. Why are we so blinded by worldly possessions? There have been so many examples of this in the news lately...the executives at AIG, Bernie Madoff, Wall Street, etc.

We cannot serve both God and money. Maybe it is because the poor are never completely comfortable and the wealthy become complacent that lack of money leads to greater faith. If you do not have money, your faith gets you through the next meal and you are thankful for it. The wealthier the man, the less he attributes his successes to God. The more we have, the more we grumble about the little things that we do not have. For instance, I have a nice house in a fabulous location. It is not a mansion but it is not a starter home either. Rather than focus on the fact that I have a great house, I focus on the things that are wrong with my great house like the peeling wallpaper, the broken cooktop, the sinking sunroom with the wavy ceiling, the weather worn deck, the broken tub in the master bath, and all the things that annoy me daily. All those things are minor and I should be thankful that I have a house at all. I do believe that God answers prayers and the minor annoyances will be fixed when the time is right. What would I complain about if they were fixed? I bet I will complain about something else though.

Times are tight but happy days are coming again. We just need to make sure we acknowledge who is in charge. Hint: It is not us!

Extreme Clean

Yesterday was a long day. I started in the morning making some liquid soap. I just got Making Natural Liquid Soaps by Catherine Failor in the mail and decided to make a universal castile soap. It takes 3 hours to get the paste done. I decided to use my crock pot rather than a double boiler. Unfortunately, the crock pot is not extremely large and there was not a lot of room to stir. My arm was insanely tired by the end of this experiment but the resulting paste yielded 2 gallons of liquid soap. They are currently lined up on my dining room table like beautiful jars of jello to sequester for a week or two.

In addition to making liquid soap, I promised the girls we would have Spa Day. I had received another new book, Organic Body Care Recipes. It is loaded with fun lotions, potions, and scrubs. We made some mud masks and walked around for 20 minutes with our faces drying and cracking. We followed up with a vinegar/lemon astringent and some homemade lotion. The results were fabulous and my 10 year old claimed her skin had never looked so good. I guess you don't need a good detergent to get your skin squeaky clean. Maybe we don't even want our skin to be squeaky clean.

I made the decision to use gentler cleaning products in my home. It was a change in mindset at first. I couldn't remember what to use where and had to repeatedly consult my Clean House, Clean Planet book. Over the last couple years, I have transitioned to knowing just the right product for every circumstance, even dog vomit. I do not own a jug of bleach. I don't even venture down the cleaning product aisle at the grocery store. I am not tempted by the newest, most fabulous cleaning fad to come down the line. I used to buy them all with their wands and cloths and promises. I know better now. Why didn't I change my personal care first? Maybe I needed to test my natural cleaning products on something less personal first. If my house could take it, then maybe it would be ok for me. If my house didn't smell or turn green, then maybe I wouldn't either.

I have a friend that is trying the "no poo" experiment. Basically, you give up shampoo in favor of baking soda and vinegar. The result is supposed to be fabulous for sad, thin, lifeless hair. The point is to get your natural oils back rather than the mineral oil we get from conditioners. Another friend has given up industrialized soaps in favor of some liquid Dr. Bronners in the shower. Of course, I have given up purchased soaps in favor of my own. My husband said there were so many bars in the shower he didn't know which one to use. My daughter used face soap for her entire body because she didn't know it was face soap. I also just started using the Oil Cleansing Method on my face. So far my skin looks and feels much better. I will continue and keep updating.

An update on the homemade laundry soap...
I used it to wash the nasty dog bed and it did an amazing job. Here is the recipe in case anyone is interested. 2 bars soap, 2 C borax, 2 C washing soda, 1/2 C oxyclean Grate soap and then put everything in the food processor and give it a few pulses. Use 2 tbsp. for a front loader or 4 tbsp. for a top loader. I cannot advocate using it in a front loader in light of what my appliance repairman father said, but I can say that it does work to clean really well.

The HE Debate

One of the most intriguing ideas bouncing around the internet is the notion of homemade laundry detergent. The Duggars promote it on their show posted atop their recipe for Tater Tot Casserole. Frugal families all over the country are cooking up their own batch of liquid "gel" detergent. Others, that wince at the notion of a giant bucket of goo inhabiting their laundry rooms, blend up some powdered laundry soaps in their Cuisinarts. They display the powder in vintage mason jars tied with coordinating ribbons and place them strategically where others will see the efforts of their inner Martha Stewart. The common theme is the cost savings. Homemade detergent works out to a $.01 a load. There is blog after blog singing the praises of homemade and offering tips on where to find the ever elusive Washing Soda.

I got caught up in the hype and made up a batch of soap specifically for laundry. I made it 100% saponified, or very close to it, and set it out to dry. I tried making up the gel that seems so popular but mine never quite turned into gel and I was not quite sure what to do with the giant bucket of odd looking water. What if my dog drank it? I'm nothing if not a kitchen chemist so I dumped it down the drain and chalked it up to experimentation. After all, I have 9 bars left with which to experiment.

The Tide bottle was just about empty and I was ready to make another attempt. This time I set my sights on powdered detergent. This week was insanely busy with dance recitals, dress rehearsals, a sick dog which took us to the vet several times, my dad in town, and then the usual homeschool day to day. I figured I would wait until after this all ended to make my laundry soap.

Did I mention my dad is an appliance repairman? He started his business to save enough money to pay for my birth. That was over 30 years ago and he is well respected in the DC area for his integrity and honesty. He was the one I called when my Maytag frontloader finally washed it's last load. He said buy a Whirlpool so we bought a Whirlpool. It was not cheap but I do love the machine. While he was here, he looked at my machine and said "DON'T use anything but HE detergent". I don't know if he noticed my guilty look, but he continued saying that it will ruin the pump if I use other laundry soap. I didn't have the courage to ask if homemade soap would be ok. I envisioned him passing out from the horror.

So here is my predicament, how many loads would I have to do for a $.01 to make up for killing the $200 pump in my washing machine? Is it worth it and how would I explain to my dad why I need a new pump? Maybe I will only wash a few loads a week with homemade and do the rest with HE. What is an eco-friendly laundry lady to do?

Rainy Days

Who couldn't use a giant smiley face on a rainy day? Actually, I thanked God for this rainy day. As our homeschool year is winding down and things are ending for the summer, I am thankful for a day of being at home. The rain just makes it more convincing to stay home, inside, catching up on sewing, soaping, and reading.

I am reading the whole Bible this year. It's been a goal on my long to-do list. This Bible just happened to fall into our hands by accident. We were buying a Bible for the angel tree last Christmas and were in a hurry and there were so many to choose from so I picked up this one. When I got home and had more time, I started flipping through it and realized this was not the right Bible to give to someone that did not have one. Over dinner I told hubby that I would take it back. He flipped through it and thought it might be useful to keep. It sat on the dinner table for a couple weeks and then got moved upstairs where I saw it everyday. It nagged at me constantly and finally the middle of January I relented and started reading. I had a few weeks to catch up since it is The Daily Bible.

I have enjoyed the stories of the Bible, but admit that I had to slog through the laws. Thankfully, they were grouped by category, which made them a little more bareable. I am now in the midst of the Psalms which are uplifting. They too are grouped by category which means reading groups of battle Psalms followed by praise Psalms and currently Psalms of thanksgiving. I'll be honest, I dread reading them because they are getting monotonous, but once I get into them, I find things that I need to hear.

On a soapier note, I whipped up a batch of laundry soap last night. I made some coconut and soybean oil soap which was almost 100% saponified (no extra fat). I scented it with some lavender essential oil and popped it in the oven to sit overnight. It made a delightfully hard white bar that I was happy to chop up this morning. I'd like to try the powdered version because it would be easier to keep but I think I will have to use the liquid version because our water won't dissolve powdered laundry soap.

I also have a batch of goat milk bath soap curing. I've been playing with the soap calculator at Soap Calc and it is fun to see what different oils do to the hardness, lather, and moisturizing qualities of soap. Next up is a batch of shaving soap.

Hubby also told me the other day that he is getting spoiled by my soaps. He used the nasty stuff they have at the gym the other morning and said he realized how much better my soaps work and feel. I'll take that compliment and keep going.