Honey and oat soap

I had my first go at making a soap with some add - ins. Up until now I had stuck to my "cheats" castile recipe but thought it was time for something a bit different. It was really no more difficult than making a regular batch.

I'm surprised at the beautiful rich colour the bars have turned just from the addition of honey and ground oats. And it smells as good as it looks, with no artificial additives. I can't wait until it has cured long enough to use.

The recipe is from * this really great book I borrowed from the library, there are heaps of recipes in here I want to try. 

I was so enthused by my last batch that I saw this new book for sale and jumped on it. Actually, it's not really "me", the recipes are a bit more complicated than I want to achieve and it just doesn't ooze the simplicity that the other book has. Now I wish I had bought the library one instead, ah well, that's impulse buying for you!

*Affiliate link

The Simple Life

It's quite a popular topic nowadays, the "simple life" and how to obtain it. Do some people spend so much time pursuing this so called simplicity and their ideal of what that is that they miss the point entirely? 

Is the simple life about living the dream or living the reality? The dream for me is a country property and earning a good income through a  handmade business. The reality is suburbia, traffic, very little time to devote to a business of any kind and a very limited budget. But that's not the point, right? 

The point is, what can I do right now to live the simple life given my circumstances? 

I was pondering the simple life and what simplicity means to me. It occurred to me that one of the most rewarding parts of simple living is that you can take very little and turn it into something 
special.

Home made bread for example. Usually 4 ingredients. Inexpensive, ordinary ingredients. Add time, love, technique and you have something awesome.

Weaving is another example. With threads and a loom I can make the most beautiful variety of things.

Soap making? Once again, very few ingredients. A bit of time and attention and you have a whole batch of creamy, natural soap for your family.

That property in the country may or may not ever happen, in the meantime I will try to be grateful for all I have and all I can do. And if it does happen, I guess I'll be well prepared :)

Silkies and soap making

I have to show off Mary's new silkies, they are so gorgeous! If you have ever considered having them, I do recommend them, especially as children's pets. Don't those feathers look soft, they're more like hair than feathers. Look at those comical hair styles :)

I'm not sure how old they are (forgot to ask!) but they're not laying yet, so still young.

These two are classic, they're totally inseparable, even though the dark black one is much younger. They spend their days roaming our backyard and the best part is they don't scratch up the garden and make a mess like the Isa browns do!

Soap making revisited. My second attempt - a different recipe this time. While the last batch of soap was nice it was nowhere near what I expect in a bar of soap. Too slimy and soft. This time I've opted for a castile recipe using beeswax and palm oil (sustainable of course!) to hopefully make harder, long lasting bars.

Looks like custard, the beeswax gives a beautiful golden glow and a really lovely, honeyish scent.















And finished! After resting overnight I'll be cutting bars tomorrow, then curing for 4 weeks (that's the worst part - waiting).

First soap batch :)

Woohoo, I finally did it! Something I've wanted to do but put off for years (too expensive an outlay for equipment, too scary!) Those were my excuses anyway.

After chatting with Julie I realise this was something I could do on a really tight budget. I got a cheap stockpot that was missing a lid, inexpensive silicon mould and stick blender, husband fashioned a curing rack for me out of bamboo from our backyard and probably the most expensive ingredient was the coconut oil, which I had to order online.

I used this basic recipe and found the whole process very easy (how cool to watch that beautiful saponification process!) Using lye is not fun but entirely manageable when you follow the safety precautions really carefully.

Now for the really hard part - waiting 4 weeks for the soap to cure!