Monthly Archives: January 2015

Laundry soap – 2015 batch #1

homesteading, laundry

blog-laundrysoap5 years ago, we were so excited to find a laundry soap recipe that we could make for pennies for our family. We LOVE the fact that we save so much money on just that alone in our budget. I mean think about it, how much laundry soap is needed for 10 people!!!

W do make our soap about every 3 months.  But, for a smaller family this could last you 6-12 months.

Ingredients:

  • 5 gallon bucket (reusable for additional batches) I picked mine up at the Chino Valley Ace Hardware
  • 1 whole bar of soap (used Ivory- it was really soft and easy to grate)
  • 1 cup Washing Soda – I found this at Chino Valley Ace Hardware (not at Walgreens or Safeway)
  • 1/2 cup Borax – Found this at both Safeway and at Ace Hardware
  • 3 Gallons (48 cups of water) plus 4 additional cups of water
  • 1 tablespoon Essential Oil (OPTIONAL) – I used some older stuff that I had… my next batch will only have about 20 drops of Young Living Oils in it.

Directions:

  1. Boil 4 cups of water
  2. Grate bar of soap and add to boiling water
  3. Stir until dissolved (took about 4 minutes.)
  4. Add 3 Gallons of warm / hot water to your 5 gallon bucket. (3 gallons = 48 Cups)
  5. Add the dissloved soap to the bucket and stir
  6. Add 1 cup of washing soap and stir for 2+ minutes with a long handled spoon until dissolved
  7. Add 1/2  cup borax and stir until dissolved (about 3 minutes)
  8. OPTIONAL: add 1T of essential oil and stir.
  9. Place lid on tight and let it sit overnight.

homemade laundry soap

laundry, recipes

blog-laundrysoap

 

5 years ago, we were so excited to find a laundry soap recipe that we could make for pennies for our family. We LOVE the fact that we save so much money on just that alone in our budget. I mean think about it, how much laundry soap is needed for 10 people!!!

We do make our soap about every 3 months.  But, for a smaller family this could last you 6-12 months.

Ingredients:

  • 5 gallon bucket (reusable for additional batches) I picked mine up at the Chino Valley Ace Hardware
  • 1 whole bar of soap (used Ivory- it was really soft and easy to grate)
  • 1 cup Washing Soda – I found this at Chino Valley Ace Hardware (not at Walgreens or Safeway)
  • 1/2 cup Borax – Found this at both Safeway and at Ace Hardware
  • 3 Gallons (48 cups of water) plus
    4 additional cups of water
  • 1 tablespoon Essential Oil (OPTIONAL) – I used some older stuff that I had… my next batch will only have about 20 drops of Young Living Oils in it.

Directions:

  1. Boil 4 cups of water
  2. Grate bar of soap and add to boiling water
  3. Stir until dissolved (took about 4 minutes.)
  4. Add 3 Gallons of warm / hot water to your 5 gallon bucket. (3 gallons = 48 Cups)
  5. Add the dissloved soap to the bucket and stir
  6. Add 1 cup of washing soap and stir for 2+ minutes with a long handled spoon until dissolved
  7. Add 1/2  cup borax and stir until dissolved (about 3 minutes)
  8. OPTIONAL: add 1T of essential oil and stir.
  9. Place lid on tight and let it sit overnight.

Pepper and Frankie…welcome to our homestead

Goats, Uncategorized, , ,

Pepper, our newest Nubian goat2015 is the year that we transform our home and gardens to a self-sustaining homestead. Our first step is adding goats for milk and meat.  I know… Some think that this is strange. But it is our way of life.

On December 27, we got to bring Frankie home. He is a neutered St. Croix sheep and the companion to Pepper, our new Nubian goat. Pepper was taken to our friend, Jessi’s homestead for breeding. ( www.westcreekfarmstead.com ) she got to come to her new home on December 29. Frankie cried and cried for Pepper. You should have seen him when we got Pepper home! He pranced around!

What a sweetheart Pepper is, too.  The kids are loving every minute of having them both here.

Frankie, our new St. Croix sheepWhat is our goal with goats? With Trystan’s severe intolerances to both gluten and lactose, we hope to add milk back into our household and want to make our own cheeses.  Don’t get me wrong, we do have some milk and cheese In the house, I just want more! We want to make our own soap as well. We should, keeping our fingers crossed,  have a baby or two born at the end of May.  We know that Trystan’s tummy can handle goat milk too.

Over the last month, the kids and I have put up a fence, built and installed 4 gates. We had many of our amazing neighbors drop of supplies while we working. We had a chicken coop and a wooden goat feeder were also given to the kids. We are truly blessed!