Soap

So I finally got my head into making soap yesterday afternoon. I have been trying for weeks now. I'd just keep putting it off. Or something else would come up. I just really couldn't get into it at all.

But yesterday, I just started putting all my soap making things in the kitchen. Pots, measuring things, oils, EO's, herbs. So then I HAD to make soap. I got 5 soaps made!

Here they all are. All bundled up and warm in their blankets for the night.

This is the sage. I had bought some EO's when I went to Colorado. We went to manitou Springs and there was a little shop that sold them. She would pour fresh oils into little tiny bottles. It was cool. I got 4 there. This one I added some pineapple sage leaves cut up in the soap. It's a veggie base soap. Smells so good!

This is a lavender-rosewood.  And I added fresh lavender to it from the herb garden. It's also a veggie base soap.

The one on the left is the apple cider-cinnamon. Yum! Smells like hot apple cider with spices. I used my apple cider instead of water. The lye turned it red at first. The brown. And it stunk! But now it smells like apple cider. I added cinnamon EO and sprinkled cinnamon on top.

On the right is the orange-clove. I used Valencia orange and clove EO's. then ground up fresh whole cloves and added to the soap then on top. It turned the soap a little brown, but will hopefully lighten up as it cures?

These both smell like fall.

Then this is the lard based soap. I used the thyme and rosemary EO's I got from Col. in these as well as fresh rosemary and thyme from the herb garden. This is a pretty soap. And of course smells amazing too. Can't wait to cut them all now.

As you can tell, I use anything I have on hand for molds. The 2 spiced soaps are in canning jar boxes. And the rosemary-thyme is in a restaurant utensil tray. The lavender rose is in a tin baking pan. I have also used Pringles cans, long metal chicken feeders, shaped molds and also cupcake papers. So anything can be used for making soap. But it is hard for me to get a good 4 oz. bar every time. There is a guy up the road  who made my farm sign that will make soap molds but I can't afford any right now. Maybe some day. They are really nice though.

I hope this will inspire someone else to make some good smelling soap!

A long day

Do you see all these sweet sheep? Do you see a fence to the right? That's how it all started. Just another one of those days...

To the left of this picture is a huge pasture, full of beautiful green grass. And shade trees. To the right, right beside this area, is the garden. And across the driveway is the ram. Does that give you any idea of where this little story is going?

Not see that sweet white ewe in the front there? She started the whole thing. Yes, Fiona did it.

This morning, while I was feeding dogs and cats and milking goats, all I could hear were sheep. So when I finally got over there to check on them and feed them, Fiona is pacing all along the fence line. back and forth and back and forth, like a caged lion in a zoo. So I figured she was in heat. She didn't even bother going over to eat. Nope. Pacing the fence. Back and forth.

This is how I usually go into this area, to feed them and all the other things I need to do. Just easier going over this fence than going through the gate up there at the top of the picture. It has a chain and it's just a hassle to undo. So when I got done, I stepped over the fence. And there went Miss Fiona. Leaped right on over. And so did her daughter, Bonnie. And her sister Leelah. By the time I could get back over there and get to the rest of the sheep, who were going bazerk by then, they were in the garden, having breakfast. I got the other sheep back into the pasture and shut that gate. Ran back and forth, putting up the little fence between the yard and driveway gate. Moved the car to block them from going down the driveway. I had to go get Abraham and John Henry and take them back to the back yard.

By then, the 3 sheep were at the fence, ready to go over there where the ram just was. So in they went. Then had to go get the rest of the by then crazy sheep over to the pasture with the other 3. These sheep hate being apart. That's why the lambs are still with them. So that took about 10 minutes to get them ALL over into that other pasture. Then had to get them up front because I have the chickens out now. And I don't want the sheep eating the laying feed.

THEN I had to go wrestle 10,000 feet of crappy kinky hoses so I could get them some water way up front there. That took another hour. Then got the trough up there and water in it. Got them all situated finally. I think I walked 5 miles this morning.

Yesterday it was goats I was chasing. I forgot to lock them in the stanchions while milking and left to go do other chores while they finished eating. When I got back, I heard noises that I should not be hearing. Got all of them but Sandy. She had other ideas, she did. Got some more exercise chasing her. Such fun having sheep and goats!

And I have been trying to make soap for weeks now. Just haven't gotten my head into it. So today, I started getting things together in the kitchen to get started. The dogs were barking the "someone's here" bark. So had to go outside and cut herbs for a friend. More on that another time. Then it happened again. My friends that got my neighbor's whole property, which is all around me and across the road, for bow hunting, stopped in. It's the first day of bow hunting season. And he got one!! He wanted to use the hose to clean it out. Cool. So the next deer is mine! So it's a good thing I didn't start soap then.

Later this afternoon, I finally go going. I made 5 batches! Rosemary-thyme, orange-clove, rosewood-lavender, and an apple-cinnamon that I used my apple cider instead of water. And the other one is a sage with lard. And I always like to put fresh herbs in each soap. The orange-clove I put fresh ground cloves in the soap and on top. The apple-cinnamon got fresh cinnamon sprinkled on top. And the rosemary-thyme got fresh rosemary and thyme in and on top. Also put lavender in the rose-lavender. I love how my house smells when I make soap. It smells spicey right now.

So, it's been a busy day here. And I just have 1 week til the 150th Civil War re-enactment next weekend. That's why I wanted to make more soap. We're having a country store up at the community center.  I am not really looking forward to all the traffic and people that will be out here then. And the noise.

Maybe October will be quieter and more peaceful?

Blacksmith shop and doctor's office

Next stop on the tour is the blacksmith shop. It also was full of every tool a blacksmith could possibly need.

I love the huge hornet's nest hanging from the ceiling. Don't know why it's there though.

                                                                   A huge grinding stone.

This is the fire pit. I don't know the actual name for this.

Then the doctor's office. There were all kinds of medical books and journals in the desk.

And beautiful bottles everywhere. I love them in the window. You can see some of the other buildings in this shot.

Here's my mom, Iris. We had such fun looking in all the little building and the house.

                                                                       Isn't this pretty?

                                                     More medicine bottles in this shelf.

I'll post some of the inside of the house next. It is amazing in there. I hope y'all don't get bored.