Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Bathe with Goats and Bees!

One of the lovely things about our farm is the fact that we have ready access to many things that make life just perfect! Two of these are goat's milk and honey. My son drinks the two combined, but me? I just want to bathe in it!

This is how we start: castile soap which has cured for two months, cinnamon, and a mold. My son and I made the castile soap several months ago so that it could cure and be just for the second part of our French milled soap process. The honey isn't shown here. Don't you love the little bee mold? Just perfect for "Lazy Bee Farm"!


Here we have the melted castile soap. It was grated down very finely and added to the goat's milk to melt. Very little stirring is done at this point. We wouldn't want to have a lot of suds! To melt the soap and combine the milk, we use a double boiler system. It takes a lot longer, but is a lot safer for someone like me who thinks that burned green beans (just a tad scorched) improves their flavor. I just love the colour of the castile soap and goat's milk! It is very soft gold at this point. Beautiful! This is when we add honey and cinnamon. Can't you just smell it!?

Viola! This is the soap after it has been frozen for an hour and is ready to cut and put on drying racks. The soap cures for another few weeks and is then packaged and ready to either sell or for the tub.

I just love making the soap! It is such an interesting process and makes the house smell heavenly! We have made clove (good for skin circulation), sage (excellent for rashes and skin disorders), cinnamon (soothes the skin), lavendar (can you say, ahhhhh?) and honey (plumps the skin). These will be for sale in my etsy shop starting this weekend. Drop in and have a peek!

I'm off for a soak!

3 comments:

  1. That soap is beautiful Matty! Better not use the honey soap or I'll get an even bigger top from my sister! Lol! I'll have to buy some. I think it would make a lovely tuck in for Christmas presents!

    Jane

    ReplyDelete
  2. Have you seen any of the West Ladies videos from Franklin Springs? I LOVE them, okay... I covet them. I've only seen them on the NRB channel that we get on Direct TV. :)

    One of their DVDs is about soap making and I learned from them how the French Milled soap was made from their basic homemade soap.

    Good to be home!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for dropping in on the farm today! I enjoy your comments!

Warmly,

Matty