July Give Away!

I'm having a give away again! Join my website at www.freewebs.com/natwlsn all members are eligible to win~ a name will be chosen at random. The winner will receive a domed bar of my olive oil soap free! Your choice of fragrance.

Drawing will be held on Sunday, July 12th.

Chicks!!

We just ordered new baby chicks for this year! Yay! Red Sex Link hens, I think we're getting 4 of them. They will look like this >>> cute, huh?

oh, we've had chickens before. lol ~ lots of them. That is what we started off with here. I couldn't wait to have my own eggs. We enjoyed the eggs so much, we thought how nice it would be to have meat birds too! Fresh farm raised chicken! mmmmm .... so we got meat birds....ad then we got more, because some friends of ours had about 48 they wanted us to take...... well...we took them, and it was a mistake. Sooo many chickens! And almost all of them had to go to the freezer.

So we did a lot of processing of chickens that year.

I wont do that again.

Not because it was disgusting or hard to kill a living creature....though it is, .... but it was hard work, smelly, and a lot of chickens to clean up after each day.

So, we are just getting a few egg layers this year again and staying small....

enjoying my farm fresh eggs again.

And yes, if you ask if there is a difference....there is. For most, these eggs dont have to be dipped in bleach. The eggs are darker, richer, and have a harder shell. They dont always seem as large in size, but you get so many, that doesn't really matter.

I can be asured that when I compare one of my own chicken eggs to a store bought egg, mine are better for us in the long run. You can just tell.

And they taste better too.

<<< This is what they look like after almost 2 months or so. When they grow up, they look almost identical to a rhode island red hen. ...Which are my favorite chickens..... but these sex links are supposed to be real good layers. :)

Pet Charicatures

Ok, I'm doing it! I'm offering pet charicatures now!

Why?

Because they're funny, fun, and colorful! That's why!

Shown, is my Charlie Horse. Isn't he cute? This version is done in colored pencils, and I have one on watercolor as well.

If you'd like a charicature done of your pet, just let me know. All I need is a good clear photo. They will be done on 9X12 paper.

$12.00 each

choose colored pencil or watercolor

Any animal can be done for you! Now, lets have some fun, and send me those photos!!

Typical day owning a small farm

If you think that a good sense of humor is NOT necessary to owning a small farm....then you've never owned one!

Having a sense of humor has more often than not ...kept me sane around here.

We not only have a typical small hobby farm, but we have one up North! .... in the cold ... in the very cold. And it is not easy to do when it's cold.

Just today, for instance, the day dropped into the low 30's, maybe high 20's. Windy, wet, drizzly with some snow .... gray sky....you get the picture. All the snow has just melted... leaving my horse stalls wet .... muddy .... disgusting.

I don't want to put my girls in the barn....so they stayed out today in the yucky weather.

This afternoon, my oldest son calls out to me "MOM! Grace is loose in the yard!"

Grace is our little half mustang pony...as seen here ---->

Well, it seems in the wind, the corner post ...you know, the one that has been needing to be replaced all winter.... had given up and fell over. Grace helped herself over the downed fence into the yard, while the other 2 horses looked at her in wild disbelief.

I had to throw on mud boots, gloves, a warm coat, and a hat to go get her. As soon as I step into the yard, she takes one look at me and runs back to the downed fence, crosses the lines and back into the paddock, looking at me as if to say "I didn't do anything!!"

I had to chuckle.

Thanks Grace.... a moment of humor in a very not-so-funny situation. It was COLD. And remember, I didn't want the girls in the barn.... but now my fence is down..... what to do?

Go crazy? Laugh? ....well, thank God for paddock number 2! lol ....which is where they went! Hubby came home, fixed the broken post, and the fence in paddock 1 is all set to go.

...problem now is.... my barn is still disgusting.

..... I really could use a laugh right about now.

Goats Milk Soap Tutorial

I've decided to make a soap tutorial! Let's make Goat's Milk soap! The recipe I'm going to show you is an easy to make soap using the cold process method. If you are using one of my kits, then your oils and lye will be pre-measured for you. Just follow the steps~
If not, measure carefully and precisely! Accurate measuring of oils is crucial to good soap.

The Molds
You can use a variety of things as soap molds, providing it can withstand the effects of the lye. (Never use aluminum anything when making soap!) I love using bread pans from the stores. The soaps turn out so nicely and come out with ease. In the picture, you can see a few of my molds. Acrylic, plastic, wood, metal, silicone ..... They all do well. Silicone is perhaps the easiest, because it's fleixible and the soap does not grab onto it. It pops easily out. some molds are in the sizes and shapes of your bars, making it very simple, others will require you to cut your soap into bars after a couple of days.

The Supplies

Pictured are the few supplies necessary to cold process soap making. Mixer ~ Small scale ~ Lye ~ Goggles ~ safety gloves ~ 2 pots in stainless steel or glass ~ stainless steel spoon ~ thermometer ~ oils ~ goats milk or cold water ~ fragrance oil


The Recipe
This is a very easy soap recipe, requiring easy to find ingredients.
It turns out wonderful soap everytime. It gives a beautiful lather, soft skin, and teaches you the basics of cold process soap quickly and without much fuss. Makes about 1 pound
4.8 oz. soybean oil (shortening) ~ do not use creamed versions or cheap brands ~ they will not harden well in your soap!!
5.5 oz. Lard (use a deodorized variety)
3.6 oz. Coconut Oil
4.8 oz. goats milk (freeze your milk prior to using. Thaw slightly and make sure it still has some chunks of ice in it when you make your soap. This helps it withstand the heat of the lye)
1/4 cup of Lye crystals


Let's Make Soap!!
Accurately measure out each oil, putting them in the smallest of your 2 pots.
Place them on a low-medium heat and completely melt them. I do this over a wood stove. Today, I have my oils heating up while we boil down maple syrup!

Next, measure your milk and pour into the larger pot, the one you plan to mix the soap in. ***Put on your goggles and gloves at this point *** Lye is very caustic, do not let it touch liquids until necessary.

Slowly add the lye to the goats milk, stirring as you go. Go slowly, making sure the crystals dissolve between each addition. Once it is all added and dissolved, set it aside. The Goats milk will thaw and turn orange as the lye heats it up. This is because the sugars are being carmelized by the heat. Surprisingly, your soap will still come out white.

Set the milk solution aside to cool ~ Once the oils are melted, set that aside to cool as well.

Once the oils are cooled to about 100 degrees F you are ready to mix.
Pour the oils into the lye mixture and slowly stir with your stainless

steel spoon.

Now you can mix with an electirc mixer. It doesn't matter if you use a hand held one or a standing one.
Mix at medium-high speed until you get a thick pudding consistency, called trace. This will take about 10-15 minutes.
















Your trace will be a light creamy color and be noticeably thick. If it does not look like pudding, keep mixing ... it will get there.

Stop mixing, and stir by hand, be sure there are no air bubbles in the soap.

Trace is when you can now add your fragrances, colors, and other additives. Some good additives for goats milk soap are

Aloe Vera, Vitamin E, Honey, crushed oatmeal, and lavender flowers.

For this small batch, I add about 1 1/2 tsp of fragrance oil. This is Cranberry. I test the scent as I stir. Always stir in your additives by hand. You can make your fragrance slightly stronger if you desire.
OR skip this part for a mild soap with no fragrance. This is great, because it allows you to practice the soap making process.

Now your soap is ready to pour into your molds. Move quickly, and pour evenly to fill each mold. You should

get about 6 3.5 oz. bars.


Set aside for at least 24 hours. Then remove from molds. If they stick, try setting it into the freezer, just until the surface of your bars freeze, but not solid. Then they will pop right out.

Cure your soaps for at least 3 weeks before you use them.

Practice this recipe a few times. You will quickly become more familiar with the cold process method of soap making!

Then....you can move onto some more difficult soap making :)

Good luck!!

Soap kits are available to go alongside this tutorial! Only $12.00 each, plus shipping~ This does not include your

goats milk!! If you need me to add goats milk, please let me know, it will need to be cold packed and will raise the price.

Natural Soaps over a Natural Fire

I strive to make my soaps as natural as I can...down to the last detail! All of my oils are heated over a wood fire, all year long. During the summer, I have an outdoor woodstove to do my soaps on. I love it, because it lets me outside to do my work, which I completely enjoy.

And what is not to enjoy? We are on a dead end road in the middle of the country, with beautiful scenery around us. The birds are chirping, and my horses are in the paddck across from me snorting and swishing tails. Clean laundry is on the line, and my fire is crackling away as my oils slowly melt. I have a cloth covered picnic table holding my molds, fragrances, and lye water, all ready for my oils to be done! The fresh smell of honey is in the air from our nearby bee hives, and the bees are busy buzzing around the trees. My gardens are in bloom, and my kids are playing in the yard ....hopefully nicely.

Sounds serene, doesn't it? mmmmmm

This was our dream. Green grass, fresh air...just good clean country living.

I take advantage of what I can...but always give it back. I put my love of this life into my work as a soap maker. How can't I? I love the natural beauty of my country home....so I want my soaps to bring some of it to you.

This is why I use a wood fire instead of my stove top. This is why I choose to be outside when I make my soap. I'm inspired to create when I'm surrounded by what I love. I can put my deepest heart into my products when I just feel GOOD inside.

This is what makes me feel good. Knowing that I'm doing what I love, right down to the very last detail. When I say TRUE country soaps....well,...that is what I mean.

MAPLE SYRUP time!!

mmmmmmmm It's that time of year again!

We are tapping our maple trees and getting a lot of sap this year! Our first 2 large jars of syrup were done last night...ooo does it taste good! :)

How is it done? Easily!

The trees are tapped, simply put in a little metal spicket piece, like a plug with a small chute on the face of it and hang a bucket or milk jug from it and collect the sap as it drips in.

When we get to about 5 gallons, we start to boil it...(and collect more....5 gallons will yield only about a quart of syrup)

The sap continues to boil down until it turns into a dark rich yummy syrup mmmmm

We then can it in a hot bath and store it away.....then make homemade pancakes as soon as possible!