Thursday, May 10, 2012

Making Soap

I just made 2 new batches of soap. They are on the table all wrapped up til morning. I made the first batch with lard, olive oil and coconut oil. I have been wanting to make a soap using lard for a long time and finally just did it. I added Lemongrass EO and then the zest of 2 lemons. It's a pretty yellow color already so I can't wait to see how it looks after it's cured.

The 2nd batch is just a vegetable base that I am going to cure a few weeks then remill it and add goat milk and Patchouli and Sweet Orange EO. I LOVE this soap.

I have also wanted to make a soap using beef tallow. I have heard that it's VERY nasty and stinky and to NOT melt the fat in the house. I do have a little house next door with a kitchen. I may just do it over there. I've been saving my beef fat when I get bones from the slaughterhouse for the dogs. So I have several bags of fat in the freezer. Just need to make tallow now. Any tips or hints from anyone who has done this before?

I also went into the chicken coop and shoveled up buckets of wonderful comopted chicken s*** to side dress all my gardens with. This is some of the nicest "dirt" on this property. I use all my sheep and goat manure too. Along with the straw and hay they drop. So the gardens are looking really good right now. Especially after all that nice rain yesterday,

Farmer's market was pretty good. There were only 5 of us selling. I sold more soap and rolls than greens. That's ok though. I love them. I bought a bag of fresh collards so I'll cook them with some kale. So had a good day. But it wears me out.

2 comments:

SweetLand Farm said...

thanks for stopping by my blog!
i've never heard of beef tallow for soap. i've only ever made goat and cow milk.
farmers markets are great!!

Kris said...

Well thanks for checking out my blog. I just cut up the 2 batches of soap. They smell so good! And I have got to get some soap molds made. Every bar weighs different. Only got 6 perfect 4 oz. bars. Ugh! Now I am ready to make more.

I will let you know when I render the beef fat. I will either do it outside or next door. I have 2 more qts. of lard so need to make more of that soap. I like how it feels.