So, I'm just stuck when it comes to thinking of things to blog about.
We don't have kids.
I don't run a business of any sort.
Things around the farm are relatively the same every day.
I feel boring.
First batch of homemade soap!
So I've been doing a lot of research lately on making homemade soap. Have you ever looked at the ingredients on your everyday soap? Wether it be the soap you use in the shower or the stuff that sits at your kitchen sink. It's some nasty stuff!!
For example, my husband uses Irish Spring in the shower. I HATE the smell, but he likes it, so whatever. But look at the ingredients list...
So I looked up some of the ingredients and if you read down the list you'll see Titanium Dioxide, check out this link...moderate risk of causing cancer and can be dangerous when inhaled...HELLO!! You use it in the shower...where there is a lot of steam...inhaling the fumes it's pretty much inevitable. The last 6 ingredients on the list are all made in a lab. And you do realize those are being absorbed into your body through your skin. Sounds wonderful to me! (Can you hear the sarcasm??)
This is the ingredients label to the liquid soap I use in the shower. Not a huge fan of if but I got it for super cheap with a coupon...Olay
I can't even pronounce 98% of those ingredients. Needless to say, I'm done using that stuff.
Now I'm not a total health freak and everything I eat doesn't have to be organic and all natural or whatever, however, I do pay a lot of attention to the ingredients of things that I put IN my body and ON my body. And after doing some research about soaps...it just grosses me out, and frankly scares the bageebas out of me!
So...I decided I was going to start making my own soap. Not only for us to use, but for me to sell.
I spent a couple of weeks researching recipes, techniques and watching a lot of you tube videos. Finally bought some supplies off of ebay and ordered all my oils and got to work this past Wednesday. I wasn't to sure how it was going to turn out, but it was a fun process.
To my surprise...so far so good. I now have 44 bars of homemade soap that are sitting in our spare bedroom curing. It will be about 3-4 more weeks before they are good to use, but I love they way they look & smell so far.
One batch (22 bars) is just plain/unscented soap. And the other batch (the speckled one) is Lavender-Rosemary...it smells amazing!! I can't wait to use that one.
The unscented soap (right) has palm oil, coconut oil, castor oil & canola oil. All the oils go through a chemical reaction called saponification when mixed with lye & a liquid. That is what turns it into soap. If you do the calculations correctly, there will be no more lye left over after the chemical reaction and you should have a 5% overage of oils, which will really help hydrate your skin.
The lavender-rosemary soap has olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, lavender essential oil, rosemary essential oil & some ground up dried rosemary. Then the same saponification process.
Those ingredient lists are a lot more appealing to me that the ones off the body soaps that we have been using.
I've got some other recipes that I'm going to make and can't wait to see how those turn out too. Our little town has a great farmers market in the summertime, so along with all the veggies that I'll be selling out of our garden...I'll also have soap for sale.
Welcome, Spring!
Today is the first day of Spring, isn't it? I think that's right. I love love love this time of year. So much nice weather and it makes me want to spend all day outside working in the yard or in the garden or just cleaning up around here...wich is what I've been doing a lot of!
I miss blogging. I've only kept up with a few of my regular bloggers, but I want to be back and see what you all are up to this time of year!
We are taking a break in our lambing right now, I think our youngest baby is about a month old. They are all so stinkin' cute. I just love to go out there and watch them run and jump around. We still have 4 more ewes to go...well 3 for sure & we need to get one more ultra-sounded. We are hoping she's just short bred. Meaning, really early in her pregnancy.
The vines are starting to put on some green. I love watching the progression of them. Right now when I look out the back of our house at night I usually see a beautiful sunset and just a little bit of green on the vines...I love that.
The trees all over were in full bloom the past 3-4 weeks, but with the rain and all the wind these past couple of days, they are pretty much all done. Sad. I love when everything is all colorful and in bloom! I spent about 10 minutes in an orchard down the road from us taking some cool blossom pictures. I've been wanting some to put on canvases and hang in our laundry room. It just amazes me that these lovely little flowers are going to produce almonds to help a farmer pay their bills for the year.
I'm starting to prepare the garden area for planting. I started my first round of seeds last week and a lot of them are huge already, I can't believe how fast they grow. When Chris was discing the garden area last weekend, we 'found'...or the disc found...a random water line that was capped off. We have no idea where it had gone to or where it's coming from. So that water line needs to get recapped before I can plant. Just waiting for the giant mud puddle to go down.
Along with all the ranch stuff, I am watching the same 2 year old as always. Cutest kid and surprisingly well behaved for being the dreaded 2 years old. Along with him, I'm now watching a wonderful 5 month old that belongs to some sweet friends of ours. I have Caylob 3 days a week and the sweet baby 2 days a week. One day with them both and one day with neither. My weeks are busy...especially my Mondays...but I do love it. I'm able to make a little extra money and still stay at home.
That's all for now. I'm off to bed. Hope you all are doing well, and I'll make sure to check in more often!
Also, if you'd like to keep up more easily with what's going on around here you can follow me on instagram at farmerswife85
I miss blogging. I've only kept up with a few of my regular bloggers, but I want to be back and see what you all are up to this time of year!
We are taking a break in our lambing right now, I think our youngest baby is about a month old. They are all so stinkin' cute. I just love to go out there and watch them run and jump around. We still have 4 more ewes to go...well 3 for sure & we need to get one more ultra-sounded. We are hoping she's just short bred. Meaning, really early in her pregnancy.
The vines are starting to put on some green. I love watching the progression of them. Right now when I look out the back of our house at night I usually see a beautiful sunset and just a little bit of green on the vines...I love that.
The trees all over were in full bloom the past 3-4 weeks, but with the rain and all the wind these past couple of days, they are pretty much all done. Sad. I love when everything is all colorful and in bloom! I spent about 10 minutes in an orchard down the road from us taking some cool blossom pictures. I've been wanting some to put on canvases and hang in our laundry room. It just amazes me that these lovely little flowers are going to produce almonds to help a farmer pay their bills for the year.
I'm starting to prepare the garden area for planting. I started my first round of seeds last week and a lot of them are huge already, I can't believe how fast they grow. When Chris was discing the garden area last weekend, we 'found'...or the disc found...a random water line that was capped off. We have no idea where it had gone to or where it's coming from. So that water line needs to get recapped before I can plant. Just waiting for the giant mud puddle to go down.
Along with all the ranch stuff, I am watching the same 2 year old as always. Cutest kid and surprisingly well behaved for being the dreaded 2 years old. Along with him, I'm now watching a wonderful 5 month old that belongs to some sweet friends of ours. I have Caylob 3 days a week and the sweet baby 2 days a week. One day with them both and one day with neither. My weeks are busy...especially my Mondays...but I do love it. I'm able to make a little extra money and still stay at home.
That's all for now. I'm off to bed. Hope you all are doing well, and I'll make sure to check in more often!
Also, if you'd like to keep up more easily with what's going on around here you can follow me on instagram at farmerswife85
