Life in Tee Harbor, Alaska

I Made Soap!

Last night I made two batches of soap - bar soap for the bath and bar soap for making laundry soap.  I am so thankful that Crystal had taken the time to write instructions on how to make this soap on her website.  You can find the instructions and recipes here:  http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/makesoap.htm.

I used the recipe for Crystal's Simple Soap and added Eucalyptus Mint scent to invigorate in the shower.  For the laundry bar, I didn't add any scent - I will add the scent when I mix up the laundry soap.  I was very glad that I bought two stick blenders at garage sales this summer to help with the stirring of the soap - it would have taken quite a while by hand!  I poured the bath soap in a plastic soap mold that I bought at JoAnns, a metal square bread tin, and still had a little leftover.  Crystal said that when you look around everything is a potential mold, and I had an airplane shaped cookie cutter on my hutch.  I grabbed that and set it on a plate and filled with the remaining soap.  It will be very cute - I hope it comes out in one piece!

Now I just need to find the patience to wait 3 to 4 weeks for the soap to completely cure before I try it out!  It was fun to make - took my time setting up and getting everything measured out just right.  When the time came to work with the lye, I put on my long sleeved shirt, my goggles and my long yellow gloves.  Just then Rod walked into the kitchen and said I looked so cute, he had to take a picture.  He got the camera, but the batteries were dead.  Darn!  Well, next time we'll take more pictures...

I spent a little time with my 7 year old niece this afternoon.  We went and bought her a skein of blue thick chenille yarn and a large crochet hook so she can work on learning to crochet.  We had a quick lesson on how to make a chain, so she can practice that for awhile before we graduate to a single stitch.  I told her about my grain mill and she wants to help grind flour and bake bread this weekend.  Sounds good to me!

Plastic bag holder

Cloth instead of paper towels

Picked Spruce Tips for jelly.  Tied up in cheesecloth and boiled in 5 cups water for 30 minutes.  Cut homespun cotton fabric in squares for fabric cloths.  Sewed around edges of one to prevent unraveling.  Plan to try these instead of paper towels all the time. 

Laundry Soap

I had seen a recipe for homemade laundry soap in one of my magazines and decided I wanted to try some.  I couldn't find the magazine, so I went on the internet and did a search.  I found a website called The Family Homestead.  She has full blown instructions on how she makes it and it was similar to the recipe I had seen.  So I mixed up a batch - actually it was a triple batch.  Used whole bar Fels Naptha, 1 ½ cups borax, 1 ½ cups washing soda.  Made two large plastic tubs worth of soap.  This should last us quite a while.