Easy Soapmaking For Lazy People Who Don't Like to Stir

Easy Soapmaking For Lazy People Who Don't Like to Stir
AKA "Hot Process Oven Process"

Many soap recipes, in fact, most of them, tell you to cook the soap on your stove, which requires some stirring, more stirring, stirring again, and just when you think you're done, keep stirring bud!  The whole point of stirring is to speed the chemical reactions, and make sure that it completes evenly.  It also ensures that the heat is evenly transferred to all of the mixture, and if you aren't using a double boiler, ensures that you don't burn or scorch your soap!

Some people like the stirring, because it really feels like you're "making" something.  I don't.  I have things to do, and when I first made soap with olive oil, it took 45 minutes to bring the mixture to "trace", which is the point at which the chemical reaction begins.  It splashed everywhere, and I was basically glued to the stove, mixing with a stick blender.

Not any more!  Someone clever, and perhaps a little lazy, has discovered that soap can be just as easily cooked in the OVEN, as it can on the stove top!  Plus, it requires pretty much zero stirring, only once every half hour or so to get things going.  Here's how it works.

Hot Process Oven Process Soap Making

1.  Set your oven to 175 F.  Most recipes will cook just fine at this temp, and it will (mostly) prevent soap from boiling over.  The first time I tried this, I set the stove at 225, but this is too high, and my soap did boil over.  Nice mess, and it was not much fun to clean up!

2.  Mix your oils, melt any solid oils, and stir in your lye mixture.  This will work for liquid (Potassium Hydroxide) or bar soap (Sodium Hydroxide).  Give it a minute of initial stir, just to get things going.

3.  Put your non-aluminum, oven safe container into the oven with a lid on top, and leave it for 1/2 hr.

4.  After the first half hour, a minute of blending with a stick blender will bring an immediate trace, check on the pot every 1/2 after that for about 3 hours.  The last hour, I usually let it sit without too much stirring.  It will get to a very thick, mostly translucent stage that seems like vaseline.  This is pretty much the end, but you can test it by dissolving a bit in water to see if all the fatty acids are reacted away.  The water will be pretty clear if the reaction is complete.

5.  Moving quickly, spoon the mixture into your mold, and let it cool.  Once cooled at bit, it can be unmolded, and cut into bars.  It will be easier to unmold than cold process soap, and is ready to use immediately!

At some point in the future, I will be switching to a number of large slow cookers, which will accomplish about the same as an oven, but it will be easier to check on and stir.

Soap & Garden

I'm right now staring at what I hope is a thunderstorm, creeping up the horizon.  I just finished planting a bunch of seeds in the garden, and a little rain would not be unwelcome!

GARDEN

We bought a grapevine!  I don't know what the grapes taste like, I don't drink wine (or alcohol period), but it seems like something that would grow pretty well unattended.  We also have two rhubarb plants that are gaining size pretty nicely.  They have been there for two years now, and I think I might plant more of them in time.  I really like rhubarb, and it grows really well, even out here on the prairies.
I tried an experiment with a 4 inch drainpipe, cutting holes in it, filling it with potting soil, and planting some strawberries in it.  At first, they seemed to wither and die, but they quickly recovered, and almost all of them are still alive!  It will still be important to water the tube regularly, but I don't think it will dry out as quickly as I imagined at first.  This might turn out to be a viable way to plant small, shallow rooted plants in a "vertical" manner.

SOAP

Ye Olde Fashioned Liquid Soap...is now for sale on Ebay!  By the time you read this, I will have bottled the first of the soap, printed the labels, and posted a nice photo.  For the first month, I am selling at a huge discount!  Most soap of this type would sell for $7.99 to $9.99 for a small 8-12 oz bottle, but I am going as low as $4.99 for the 250 ml, and $6.99 for the 500 ml bottle.  This soap is perfect for handwashing, shampoo, or body wash, and contains only olive oil, coconut oil, and canola oil, which when combined with Potassium Hydroxide (KOH), water, and heat, makes soap!  This is the way that soap has been made for 5,000 years, and it makes a superior, healthier soap.

Thanks for reading, and please think about trying my soap, I will ship anywhere in North America, plus I will totally combine shipping!

Soapmaking: In the Beginning

         Not a very long time ago, in a local galaxy (or maybe a nebula), there lived a young man with his family.  He had no Jedi powers, unless you consider an exceptionally dark farmer's tan to be a useful ability.  He wanted nothing more than to live free on the land, producing things for his family, and things to sell.

Well, here we are in a new spring year, it's finally nice weather, and Disney is the new owner of the Star Wars franchise.  What new things can we expect for the year?  Well, I've finally gotten on the ball with gardening, a part time job is in the works, and we're starting a non-farm business.

We're making soap!  Well, that's where we're starting, I have designs on making a number of useful household products, other than soap, or things that have soap as a base, like shaving soap and laundry soap.  Here's the plan:
1.  Experiment!  Soapmaking is an excellent "cottage industry", unlike say, steel smelting, and building airplanes.  It's basically cooking, but with the added element of danger from the lye used to turn oil into soap!  So far, I've tried bar soap, and liquid soap, and they both turned out well.  The bar soap is still in the little plastic molds, and needs another couple weeks to cure, but the liquid soap is nearly ready to go.  My first few tries at bar soap were hilariously disastrous, and the pot boiled over TWICE in one day, hahaha.  Turns out I used the wrong type of olive oil, which reacted waaaaaaaay too quickly.  Easy fix, and the next few tries worked very well indeed!

2.  Start simple:  Let me be honest.  I am not the first person to try selling soap from home.  It may have been done before, and many people are making a small, but honest living selling soap, makeup, deodorant, lip balm, and fancy looking soaps that look good enough to eat.  Most of these are women, and their products are exceptional in quality!  All kinds and flavours of soap, scented with everything from lavender to coffee.  They seem to sell what they make, or else they wouldn't make it.
       I don't want to compete with these ladies of super-soap.  I think the market might be pretty crowded for "fancy" soap, although I think there is room for someone to make custom printing on soap bars as a gift item.  When is the last time you bought a bar of soap with dried herbs in it?  Or a salt scrub?  Or a bar scented with lavender?  I have never purchased any of these things.  I have purchased bars of soap to wash my hands with, and I really didn't care what it smelled like, except that it didn't smell "bad".  I also buy a bottle of liquid dish soap about every two weeks, because we wash our dishes by hand.  The average Joe (or Jane) may occasionally buy a fancy soap as a gift, but what they NEED is regular soap for every day use.  Some of them might be interested in soap that is free from chemicals, and that's where Herbal Haven comes in! (Herbal Haven is the name of our company)

3.  Ebay, Internet sales:  There is a few sellers of liquid soap on Ebay, but most of them seem to be in the US, and I suspect that they find shipping to Canada to be irritating.  I plan to target Canadian buyers with smaller sized bottles of liquid soap. My wife is working on a different line of products, womens makeup, perfumes, lip balm etc.

4.  Getting bigger:  If you've ever made soap by hand, you can appreciate that it requires a lot of patience, something I was not given an abundance of at birth.  Fortunately, there are shortcuts, although it requires some money to buy these time saving devices, it will drastically cut down on the time spent endlessly stirring a batch of soap.

That's about it, I will have some pictures of what we've done so far, and when it comes time to sell, I will link to the Ebay page where you can buy all natural liquid soap!

Year End Report

MEMO

Fm:  Frodo @ Sunset Meadows Farm

To: Everyone

RE:  What happened to 2012???  We thought you were dead!

I haven't posted since May, which in Canada is just about the primetime of spring.  Alas, the warm weather left us too soon this year, we got our first major snowfall on October 12th, and temperatures dropped like 99 luft balloons to car-not-starting-ly cold.

There was no garden this year.  There were no chickens.  I focused this year on curing some debt woes, and the fix is just about in!  Ever since the "credit-crisis" struck the world in 2008, getting a loan refinanced, even on real-estate, has been quite difficult.  We needed all of our debt rolled into the mortgage, but the bank wasn't going for it.  Until now, that is.  Once we've completed the refinance, we will be shaving $1,400 in interest payments off our monthly budget.  That's $1,400 that can be used for savings, car repairs, home renos, and buying things that are on my prepping wish list.  Here's my list, just for fun!

1.  More solar - I can now buy solar panels for less than $1/watt, but I need to invest in the mounting hardware too!  #70mphwinddestroysthings

2.  Wind turbine - Nothing from the ChinEsebay collection.

3.  Landscaping - I need a bunch of permanent planting beds (wooden, 2.5 feet high), surrounded by gravel, and filled with soil.  I never want to fill a planting bed by hand ever again.  The wife wants it to look good, which I am on-board with. #IheartBobcat

4.  Fencing - To pasture animals efficiently, one must be able to move them from paddock to paddock.

5.  Water collection/storage - I need at least 10,000 gal of storage that's connected to the house, and buried underground.  That means cinder blocks, and a way to divert the roof water into it.  I've got 2,500 gal of storage now, about 1.5 months worth.

6.  Trees, trees, bushes, and more trees - And more trees.  Big fast growing poplars, mulched, with automatic watering devices of some kind.

7.  Watering system - For plants and animals.  Either ponds that stay filled year round (difficult), or piping to send water to distant areas underground (expensive)

8.  Greenhouse - Nothing less than 1,000 sq feet of almost year round growing space will do.  I would prefer more like 3,000 sq feet, but I am will to start small.  #motherofallgreenhouses

9.  Batteries - A brand new bank that can store 3 days worth of power.  Very costly, but necessary!

I haven't abandoned my dreams, but I did get reaaaaally distracted this year!  The fallout will last another year, and then we can really start to grow!  I am very excited to imagine the future out here, and the great things that can happen, not just on the land, but in my own family's lives as well!  Stay tuned, good things are en-route...

A long overdue update

The last two months have been very busy!  Some activities are done for the year, like my karate class, but others have taken their place, including soccer, and spring cleanup.

LIVESTOCK

We have goats!  There are now two pygmy nanny goats running wild and free on the farm, and they are pretty dang cute!  They are only about the size of a medium dog, and have little short horns, but they are very playful, and completely non-aggressive.  They like to climb on things, but they typically stay within 100 feet of the house.  We don't have them penned up, but they eventually will be put into a fenced area, and I might be getting a few more of them.  I am thinking about selling them as milking animals, so that people who would like raw milk, but don't have room for a cow could have one of these, and then they could have some milk!

I am also gearing up for my first batch of chickens in 2012.  I will be ordering them next week, and I'm starting with 150.  Instead of ordering all of them at once, I will order smaller batches, raise those, and that will allow me to manage my freezer space better.  It's also a lot easier to manage 150 chickens on pasture than 400!
This year, I will be raising several different breeds, the main breed being the Cornish Cross.  As much as I don't really like that breed, they do grow fast, and they get big.  Last year, my dual-purpose birds only got to 3 pounds in 14 weeks!  It costs $5 per bird for processing, so literally half of the price of the bird was the processing.  My net profit was very low, maybe $1 per bird.  I need bigger birds, or lower processing costs, or both.  I will still be raising some dual purpose types, but mainly so I can have some hens.  Last years flock was all male.

WORK

I mentioned before that I am volunteering with the local fire department, and I am still doing that.  I am not officially a member, but I am hoping that will change this week!  Apparently they are reviewing the budget to see if they can add more members, so here's hoping... Even so, I have enjoyed the training immensely!  There is so much to know that I literally feel retarded, but this summer should hopefully see me learning enough to be a contributing member of the team.  I've also been able to meet some more people, which has been a bit of a challenge, since I don't work in town.

NERDY STUFF

A couple of weeks ago, we had a STAR TREK CONVENTION in the big city that I work in!  Technically, it was a "comic convention", but the main attraction was the entire cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation coming.  I've loved that show since I was a kid, and I determined that I was going to go to this convention!  I took the kids to the stadium, and walked up to the front...and was informed that they were not allowing anyone else inside.  Apparently the fire department had told them to stop allowing walk-in's because they had too many inside already!  I was choked...and we went home.  If they ever return again, I will make sure and pre-purchase my tickets.  Hopefully at least some of the cast will be back next year!

EPILOGUE

Everything is turning green, the weather is great, and I am excited about summertime!  I will also be posting more pictures, and maybe a few Youtubes.  By the way, you can visit my website at
www.sunset-meadows.org
and see pictures, order chicken, or shower me with glowing accolades ; )

Joining the Fire Dept!

Last Tuesday, I participated in my first training night at my local volunteer Fire Department.  Because I live in a rural area, we don't have a huge full-time Fire Dept like a large, or even small city might.  What we do have is thousands of square miles of land that is the size of a small European country!  With homes and people working in the far flung reaches of the county, having a way to combat fire is essential, but it has to be cheap!  Hence, the volunteer Fire Dept, where people like me give time to train, and eventually attend calls that require specialized rescuers and equipment.

I originally thought about doing this when I realized that I need a part-time job.  Rather than take some low-paying gig sweeping floors, or driving to the Big City to do something, I thought I would rather do something worthwhile.  What could be more worthwhile than rescuing people in emergencies?
I'm sure I won't make much money, but I only need a little bit extra to help pay some bills (and traffic tickets), plus, the department will give me all kinds of amazing training, free of charge!  My first night, we learned how to pull someone out of a well using ropes, pulleys, and harnesses.  I got my own pair of boots, pants, and a jacket, although they are well used, they are mine to use during the training.  If I am persistent, I could be a regular member in a few months, and be able to attend calls!

One of the courses that I really want to take is the Emergency Medical Responder, the very first level of Paramedic training.  Once I have that course, and register with the Paramedic College, I would be certified to ride on ambulances as a junior member!  Of course, I would rather ride the fire truck, but they attend many of the same calls.

I will keep updating as I continue doing this, including some pictures of the vehicles, if I am allowed.

HugelKultur planting beds.

GARDEN PLANNING

It's February, but it feels like April, or maybe late March at the worst.  The picture below was taken today, as you can see there is no snow, and the soil is pretty much thawed in the first few inches at least.  Below that, it is frozen, but I was still able to hack into it with a pickaxe.

Soon to be hugelkultur mound

If you haven't read any of my past postings, I will briefly describe the benefits of hugelkultur.  It was invented by a very wise and inventive man name Sepp Holtzer, who is Dutch.  It consists of wood mounds covered in dirt, and left to decay.  The decaying wood soaks up and retains lots of moisture from rain fall, and when it's planted, the roots have access to that water, as well as nutrients from the decaying wood.  A hugelkultur bed that's large enough may not need to be watered at all!  This has some very obvious benefits in a dry climate like mine, watering is a pain, and costs me money.  If I build a couple of these beds every year, I will eventually have enough of them that my gardening will be a relative breeze.  These mounds should be plantable immediately, with the addition of chicken manure to the pile.  The only difficulty is getting enough wood to make a decent sized pile!  

I will add more photos when I have placed all the wood, I will need to wait for the soil to thaw a bit more before I really get going, since I will need quite a bit of soil to go on top.