Curing Soap

I promised more pictures of the soap Sean and I made HERE... but, then we took a weekend trip to Boston- which will be its own post another day.

For today, I have a few quick photos of the new batches of coconut and olive oil based soap I made last week. I poured these batches into some 6x10 metal pans I purchased at the local Dollar Store. They are the right size to make 8-10 bars from each pan. I like using these smaller pans because I can make one basic batch of soap and then pour the mixed (but pre-trace soap) into separate bowls to combine with different essential oils. The lavender and cucumber melon looked exactly the same, a lovely creamy ivory color. And, they popped out of the pan in one clean piece.

The citrus-mint soap is a sunny yellow color with flecks of organically grown lemon and orange zest and bits of green mint. It is very pretty and smells wonderful. I think this soap is going to be a staple for our kitchen because citrus scents work well to remove unappealing odors.

 I removed all the soaps from the pans and left them over the weekend to dry and cure on a wire rack. I could have cut them up into rough bars Saturday, but it wasn't necessary to do so. I opted to wait until our return.

I measured them and cut them on Sunday night- (after we unpacked our gear and cared for the animals)- while Sean started a fire to bring the house up to a more comfortable temperature from the 40 degrees the thermostat registered. I like to make my bars approximately 2 inches x 3 inches in size. Depending on how thick the bars are, these weigh between 3-4 oz each.

I left the bars to continue curing. I will need to turn the bars every couple of days, so they will dry evenly. In another week, I will shape them with a knife and smooth away the whittle marks with clean water. They will look pretty and ready to use at this point, but it will take 4 more weeks before the sopification process is complete and they will be ready to use.

This picture is of the remnants of the soap I cut away while rough cutting the bars. From these, I will make some sample size pieces to share with Customers and potential Customers.

I save the shavings from whittling the finished bars in separate mason jars. Once the month of curing is finished, I melt these slivers down into water and glycerine to create scented, liquid hand soap. Nothing goes to waste!

I am excited that things are moving along with the soap making aspect of our small farm business. My plan to sell 6 of each of these soaps on my new Etsy store has been jump started with several facebook orders! Little by little... but, progress nonetheless.

I am still tired from our days of travel. The critters are all doing well. The house is standing and warm. Things are coming along fine.

Thanks for stopping in for a vist today, friends. I am glad you did!
Sonja ♥

This post was also shared with: Wild Crafting Wednesdays & Backyard Farming Connection Hop #14

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Pickled Beets and Natural Soap Dye

A couple of days ago, I was gifted an enormous bag of beets freshly picked from Ararat Farm in Lincolnville, Maine. I like the taste of beets. Sean was willing to try them. And, the goats can eat the parts and pieces we don't, like the peels, tops and bottoms. We hadn't grown any ourselves this year, so I had not already preserved any. These were all persuasive reasons to try to pickle these to see how they would turn out. 


 The recipe I found called for the beets to be boiled for about 35-40 minutes until they were easily pierced with a fork. I filled my canning pot with the beets and added water to cover them. I decided to try to boil them using the top of the wood stove, which was putting out heat already. It took about 1 1/2 hours until they were tender, but I was in no hurry and it saved on using our propane stove top.

I drained the water which the beets had leeched a beautiful deep, dark magenta. Seeing the color of the water, I had a thought. I have been trying my hand at making soap with mixed results. I like the idea of creating natural soaps without dyes, but I also want to make the soaps pretty in appearance. Why not reserve the water and freeze it in zip lock bags to use in place of plain tap water in my next batch?  With that in mind, I measured out 12 oz portions and set 14 portions to freeze. I don't know if this will work or not, but I plan to make my next batch of soap next weekend, so I guess I will find out.

I left the beets to cool. The next step was cutting off the tops and bottoms and peeling the cooled beets. It was very messy. Even with gloves, my fingers were a lovely shade of magenta before I finished. This was easily washed off with hand soap and warm water.

I mixed a brine solution by dissolving 1 cup kosher pickling salt and 1/2 cup sugar into 5 cups vinegar and 5 cups water. While the salt and sugar dissolved, I added 3 sprigs of dill, 3/4 teaspoon cayenne, 1 teaspoon garlic into quart canning jars. The recipe called for one large onion, sliced into slivers. I layered the cooled beets and onions slices into each jar, leaving about 1 inch of space at the top. Then, when the brine was ready, I ladled it over the beets and other ingredients in the jars.

 I processed these for 25 minutes in my canner. Done. They should be ready to try in 7-10 days.

I took the peelings and left over parts to the goats this morning. Ellie loved them. The other goats were pushy, wanting their share, until they stuck their noses in the bowl to have a taste. No one, save Ellie seemed to like them. Oh well, perhaps, they will like them better raw. Hmmm. Worth a try! And, I will try to offer them again because beets are very high in iron and vitamins, so they make a great treat for the goats.

I am excited that the rain has moved off and it looks to be clear weather for the next few days.  The OSB we needed to complete the sheathing of the barn was delivered today. Sean and I will begin working on it in the morning. I can't wait to have this finished and to be able to check this project off my mental to do list. What a relief that will be!

 

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Sonja ♥

  

Chicks, Salsa, Pickles, Soap... Repeat

With autumn in the air, house repair and maintenance, routine and otherwise, are in full swing- in large part to the credit of Daddy Dale's weekly assistance. Sean's parents routinely visit Maine each year. Over the past 4 years that I have gotten to know them better, I completely realize how blessed I am to have the BEST in-laws. I love spending time with them; attempting to win at Spades and utterly losing playing Dominoes, spending time at the local dog park, visiting with a glass of wine on the porch, the list is endless, but this blog is about our farm and it would be remiss of us not to mention all the time they have generously spent helping us around here this summer. Thank you. ♥

One of this summer's goals is to have the barn completely sheathed before the end of October when the weather will start to really turn. So far, the three 10x10 stalls for our goats and horse have been framed, the interior walls sheathed, and almost completely roofed. The front three 10x10 stalls earmarked for our milk room, birthing/isolation stalls, and tack room have been framed. The milk room has been almost completely sheathed outside. The current hold up is that one corner of our would be barn rests in an 8 inch decline. We are at a standstill for sheathing until a foundation for that corner can be poured. It is not a huge job in terms of time or effort. In terms of money, it is more than we have to spend today. We are on our way and there will soon be a post titled Barn Building: part 3. Until then, you can see from these pictures, our progress from last week. We sheathed the exterior of the milk room, framed out the door way and installed the window where it is going to permanently live. Now, to mow the grass inside the building.

Another project which was tackled last weekend, was the taming of our front yard. I think I have posted about the yard in front of our house that is determined to be 3-6 inches of water most of the year instead of a nice lawn area. It can't be mowed down because of how wet and unnavigable it is, so we have allowed it to pretend to be a pond until a true farm pond could be dug in that spot. And, I have resigned myself to occasionally sigh or glare at it when I drive into the yard each day. This summer has given us a bit of a break because of its relatively dry state.

With the help of Sean and Daddy Dale- since I was disinclined to attempt it myself due to its infestation with garden spiders- the spot has been mowed flat. It still needs a good raking and another go over with our new rider, but there is a glimmer of hope that a pond will be dug this year. I can already envision happy ducks and geese playing in it!

Three more chicks hatched from the four eggs in the nesting box outside. Two of them came on Thursday morning. One of these was a full blooded Americauna and the other we are hopeful will be an "Easter egger" cross. (We know the father is Americauna, but the mother is either a Buff Orpington or Rhode Island Red. We won't know if it carries the "blue egg" gene until it begins to lay its eggs in 5 months. We hope it does!) They have already moved into the brooder in the house and are keeping our other 2 chicks fine company. We had another egg hatch on Friday while we were at work. We found the chick when we got home from work, but sadly, it had not survived. There is one egg left in the nest box, which will be candled this morning to check for signs of life. If it hatches and lives, our hatch rate for the broodies is 85%. If not, our hatch rate was 80%.

I finally finished carving all the soap into bar shape and created pretty packaging for them (I like them, anyway. You'll have to tell me if you agree). And, I made another 2 quarts and another pint of home made liquid goat's milk hand soap from the left over shavings. I purchased some white boxes to help protect the bar version of my soap during shipping. For those of you who have requested samples, they were put into the mail this morning. I would really appreciate it if, when you get your sample, you would comment to let me know that it arrived. Also, you may have noticed a survey on the bar to the left of our page. Please, take a minute to leave me some feedback about the sample you received. I am really excited to hear your thoughts! Thanks!! ♥

Last night, Sean and I harvested more tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. With the weather beginning to change, our tomatoes are all ripening up and looking delicious. We grabbed a basket full of goodness while we checked on all the pens before settling in for the night. After a family dinner at home (of fried chicken, fresh corn on the cob, loaded smashed potatoes, and crescent rolls with Kristen, Meaghan, and their Dad, Chris) and seeing the girls off for their weekly sleep-over, Sean and I worked together to can 3 more jars of garlic dill pickles, and 9 pints of salsa. I love working together on these projects. So far this year, we have canned 19 pints of salsa, 12 jars of dilly beans, and 4 quarts and 4 pints of garlic dill pickles. It is not a lot, but it is a great start, I think!

 

Look at this guy! We found two of these on the cherry tomato plants in our back yard. They are HUGE, about 4-5 inches long and as thick as one of my fingers! They had eaten nearly all the leaves off the plant before we found them. Sean removed them after snapping this picture and rehomed them to the field where they would do no harm.

 

Curious to what they could be, we looked on line and think they might be Luna Moth caterpillars based on ---> this picture we found online. Looks similar to me.

What do you think?

We are glad you visited today. Come again, soon!
Sean and Sonja


Thanks to Tammy from Our Neck of the Woods for identifying this pest as a Tomato Hornworm. Are we glad to have taken them off the tomato plants! These beasties are capable of destroying our harvest. You can read about them on her blog linked above.

 

 

Waste Not~Want Not

 

This is one of my favorite sayings. 

Around here, nothing goes to waste. Not food, not materials, not supplies, nothing.

• 80% of our new chicken coop was built with reclaimed lumber. (You can read about it HERE.)

• Our compost enclosure, our goats' field shelters, and the bunny yard are all constructed from wood salvaged in whole or in part from wood pallets.

• An old parrot cage has been repurposed for use as our chick brooder (works GREAT!)

• Manure from the horse, goats, or chickens gets added to the compost pile or directly to fields which will lay fallow to decompose and enrich the soil before the next planting.

• Tin cans are rinsed and scrapped for money. Glass jars are recycled.

The list goes on and on, but you get the point.

 

Today's project was born out of my having finally finished shaping all the bars of fresh goat's milk soap I made HERE. I still have to cut pretty paper sleeves to wrap the bars in for storage, but I think that will be a project for this afternoon. I ended up with several bars of soap, some sample sized pieces and a whole bunch of soap shavings. "Was there something I could do with these?" I wondered and then, set myself to searching for ideas.

 

I found a post on Lisa's blog Fresh Eggs Daily for DIY Homemade Antibacterial Hand Soap HERE. I did not have all the ingredients, but I thought I would try it anyway substituting what I did have on hand. I liked the look of the hand soap dispenser created from a blue Ball mason jar. 

My Recipe:

4 1/4 cups water
4 oz goat's milk soap shavings
1 tspn liquid glycerin
1 tspn almond oil
1 tspn safflower oil

My Method:

 1. I poured the 4 cups of water into a stainless steel pot, stirred in the soap shavings, and brought the mixture to a gentle boil until all the soap is melted.

2. I removed the pan from the heat and added the glycerin, almond oil and safflower oil. Stir thoroughly.

3. Pour into pint sized mason jars.

4. Let the soap cool overnight. The end result is supposed to be a gel hand soap. Because I didn't follow the recipe exactly, I am not certain what I will end up with, but I was in the mood to experiment a little. As for the antibacterial aspect, mine is not- at least, it is not any more antibacterial than any other hand soap made with borax and lye. It smells heavenly, though and it only took about 20 minutes to make the hand soap from start to finish.

 

I do not have the pump to add to the top of the jars, but I am going to look around to see what I can come up with. I think that rather than buy one of these, I will simply wait until the soft soap I am currently using at the kitchen sink is empty and either refill that container or cannibalize the pump for parts. I like the idea of using the soap directly from the mason jar because I like the country chic feel of the jar. I also think the color of the hand soap in it is a quite pretty butter-cream yellow. And, I will definitely be using it to refill the bathroom handsoap dispenser when that is empty.

How do you reuse or repurpose things at your home?

 

Sonja ♥

 

Also, shared with Wildcrafting Wednesday Hop