Category Archives: Aloe Soap

Catching Up

Aloe Soap, Apple Pie, crochet, Making Soap, Pie, Pumpkin, Reflections, Sewing, Snow, Weather, Winter

Hello and welcome.

I’ve fallen a bit behind in my posting so today I’m going to be playing catch up.

From the Garden

Back in early October, my husband harvested our squash and pumpkins. Like nearly everything else, we had a nice crop this year. I put a lot of squash and pumpkin in the freezer, and we’ve been including squash in our meals once or twice a week.

We shared some with family and friends and still have some fresh in the storeroom.

I made five or six pumpkin pies in October. They are my husbands favorite.

By the end of the month, he had his fill of pumpkin pie, so we finished the month with apple pie.

But we still enjoyed some butternut squash with dinner.

Crochet

I dropped off the meandering paws afghan (can you see the paw prints in the crochet pattern?) that I made earlier this year at the Humane Society. A donation for them to raffle off at their upcoming pawzar fund raiser.

Soap Making

I also made a batch of soap in October. We liked the aloe soap that I made earlier this year so much that I decided to make that again. If you’d like you can find the recipe in this post.

Things to Celebrate

The holidays will be here before we know it – Thanksgiving in November followed by Christmas then the New Year. As usual I will be spending time making Christmas gifts for the kids and grandkids over the next several weeks.

But first we had (granddaughter) Addie’s birthday to celebrate last Saturday. I made her this hoodie and a pair of matching black leggings. I didn’t get a picture of her wearing it, but it was a perfect fit.

On Sunday we celebrated a Detroit Lions win over the Washington Commanders. Our Lions currently have 6 wins and 3 losses and are in first place in the NFC North division.

We are hoping to celebrate another win this coming Sunday when the Lions play the Philadelphia Eagles who are in first place in the NFC East division. It should be a good game. GO LIONS!

Winter Comes Early

Sunday, November 9, was our first snow of the season. Even though it snowed most of the day it didn’t really start to accumulate until it was getting dark. We only had about an inch of snow around 8:00 p.m. but when the dogs got me up to go outside around midnight this is what I saw.

We had about for inches of snow and it was still coming down. By the time we got up Monday morning the snow was finished, and we had between five and six inches on the ground (and everything else).

We do need all of the precipitation we can get because we had such a dry summer, and since it will melt away as the temperatures warm back up later this week this snow really was a blessing.

Thanks for visiting? Are you looking forward to the holidays?

Keeping Busy

Aloe Soap, Chickens, crochet, Daffodils, Forsythia, Killdeer, Making Soap, Reflections, Starwberry Jam, , , , , ,

Hello and welcome! Spring has been very gradual in getting here this year. It seems like we go two steps forward then one step back. No quick warm up this year. I suppose the slow warm up is good in some ways – it means that trees and plants are slow to bud thus reducing the chances of fruit trees being hit by late season frost/freeze. We have had some rain as well but so far nothing extreme. There have been a few outdoors chores that I have been able to get done, but while I’m waiting for gardening and grass cutting season to arrive, I have had spring cleaning (indoors) and some other projects to keep me busy.

Making Soap

A few weeks ago, my sister told me that her husband wanted to go back to using natural soap. She asked if I would make them a batch. Of course I was happy to do it. When I asked what kind of soap she wanted, she asked for “the shaving soap” or aloe soap which makes a really nice soap for shaving. So, on April 1st I made a double batch of aloe soap. I want some to keep for us.

The above picture is the soap in the molds after several hours. The outer edges are hardening but the center is still a thick liquid. It was in the mold for about 30 hours before it was hard enough to remove. It will be a couple more weeks before this soap is ready to use but I am looking forward to it. I haven’t made this soap in a few years.

Below is my recipe for any soap makers who might be reading.

Aloe Soap Recipe

This recipe is a large batch – 32 bars of soap. It could be halved or quartered to make smaller a batch.

40 oz. Coconut Oil

70 oz. Sunflower Oil

8 oz. Olive Oil

16.95 oz. Lye (NaOH)

45 oz. Water

about 1/4 cup – Aloe Juice (Scrape out inside of aloe leaves and blend in small blender) added at trace.

For soap making instructions see my Soap Making Page.

Making Jam

When I realized we only had one jar of strawberry jar left in the pantry I decided it was time make some more since strawberry is both my favorite and my husband’s favorite. Fortunately, I still had three packages of strawberries in the freezer.

We should now have more than enough jam to last until this year’s strawberries are ready. My husband has worked hard on the strawberry patch, so we are hoping and praying for a great crop this year.

Crocheting

In a previous post I mentioned that I was making an afghan to donate to the humane society for a raffle.

I completed that project. It’s difficult to see in the photo but the puppy paws print run through the burgundy stripes as well.

I then began a new project.

This is a cat pattern that I have not made before. Can you see the cats? I began making this using some partial skeins of yarn that I have. I really just wanted to learn the pattern. I’m not sure yet if it will be a small blanket or a pillow.

A Few Spring Pics

At last, the daffodils are blooming.

Forsythia just beginning to bloom.

I finally got a picture of a killdeer. Rarely have I seen one stand still long enough to get a photo. This one was unusual because it was all alone. Usually there are a pair in the area. I did a little research and learned that migratory killdeer will generally mate for a season and males usually return to the same area each year. They may mate with the same female as the previous year. Non-migratory killdeer may mate for life. So, I wonder, since I didn’t see it’s mate in the area, if it is yet to find a mate for this season.

Our hens like to roost in the lower branches of the spruce trees. I thought it was a picture worth sharing. 🙂

Looking Ahead

The weather is supposed to be warmer this week, and my husband plans to get potatoes planted. As for me I wouldn’t be surprised to find myself cutting grass for the first time this year.

Thanks for visiting. I hope you have a wonderful week.

Soap Update

Aloe Soap, Making Soap, Reflections, soap

Hello and Welcome!

Back in November I wrote about the new soap recipe that I made, and I mentioned in that post that I would let you know how it turned out. I used an oil combination of 40% coconut oil, 40% tallow and 20% olive oil. I also added aloe to it. The types and amounts of oils used in a soap will determine things like how hard the soap is, how cleansing, or conditioning it is and if the lather is creamy or bubbly.

My husband and I have been using this soap for several weeks now so I will share his thoughts as well as mine.

First my husband’s comments, “I love it!” (Short and to the point.)

Now my critique: I find it to be a nice balanced soap. It is a hard bar of soap but not so much that I couldn’t cut it. (In the past I have made some soaps that crack when I attempt to cut them.) It can be worked into a nice creamy lather and it it does not dry out my skin. (Normally this time of year the skin on my calves gets really dry but that hasn’t happened yet.) My favorite part about this soap is the addition of aloe. Aloe gives kind of a silkiness to the lather that makes it a great soap for shaving.

When I posted about making this recipe one of my readers asked me for a soapmaking tutorial. I have decided to break the tutorial up into 3 posts that will be done over the next two or three weeks. If you are interested in learning to make you own soap, you can follow my blog by email or for those with a WordPress account you can follow along in your WordPress reader.

Thank for visiting.

Aloe

Aloe, Aloe Soap, soap, , , ,

IMG_2356

While I was making a batch of aloe soap this week I remembered this article I had written in 2017. I didn’t have many readers at that time so I thought it might be a good idea to repost it. Incidently my aloe soap recipe has changed since I wrote this and now includes yogurt. To learn more about my handcrafted soaps or for information on purchasing them see my Products Page. 

Aloe

If you’re going to have any house plant, and you should, (check out this link to learn why) you should at least have aloe.

Aloe is easy to grow. While some articles that I have read say that it should be placed by a sunny window, I find that it does quite well in the corner of my dining room where it does not get direct sunlight. It does not require a lot of attention. I usually give it  drink of water every 10 – 14 days and this is quite sufficient. I have discovered that it also enjoys coffee, so every 3rd or 4th watering I dilute some of the coffee that is leftover from that morning and use it to water the aloe.  The plants really seem to brighten up after having their morning coffee. I do have to be careful, when using coffee to water the plants, not to get any on the aloe leaves because the coffee will damage the leaves. I only pour the coffee on the soil.

I think everyone should have at least one aloe plant in their home, not only are they helpful for the indoor environment, but they act as first aid in the case of burns. Whether it be a sunburn or accidently touching something hot, simply snip an aloe leaf, peel back the outer part and apply the sticky, oozing gel directly to the burn for quick relief. I also gifted an aloe plant to a neighbor who was having radiation treatments as the Doctor had advised that she use an aloe cream on the radiation burns. We do not deal with other skin conditions such as eczema or psoriasis but if we did I would certainly try aloe before seeking help from pharmaceuticals.

The most common way I use aloe nowadays is as an ingredient in my soap. My aloe soap is probably my favorite of all the different soaps I make. I don’t know that any of the healing properties of aloe remain after it is processed into soap, but it has a luxurious lather and just feels so good on the skin.

Do you have any house plants?

Coming Clean – Aloe Soap With Yogurt

Aloe Soap, homemade, Reflections, Yogurt Soap,

A while back I wrote about making  Aloe Soap with Yogurt  and since my husband and I have recently tested this soap I wanted to share our thoughts on it.

Before I do I find it necessary offer this prelude. When our daughters were growing up we had some pretty strict rules that they had to follow. These rules served several  purposes: help maintain order, live within a budget, teach the girls responsibility and self discipline… One of the rules was that their showers were limited to eight minutes. We generally find that eight minutes is an adequate amount of time for us to get in, wash, rinse and get out. We bought a kitchen timer to keep in their bathroom. They were required to set the timer for 8 minutes and when the timer went off they had to get out of the shower.  It was done on an honor system, but if my husband or I were around when they got in the shower we would occasionally set the timer in the kitchen for 8 minutes to see if they were cheating.

It’s been about two weeks now since I first showered with the new Aloe Soap . I was thrilled with the outcome. The lather was rich, bubbly and creamy, it rinsed off well and left my skin feeling soft and clean.

After I had used this soap for a few days I gave my husband a bar. I didn’t tell him what I thought of it. I just asked him to let me know what he thought. After his shower he told me that he loved the soap. Several (at least four  probably more like six) times throughout the day he repeated to me how much he loved the soap. “That lather is amazing.”

The following morning after breakfast my husband said, “I’m afraid to get in the shower.” His statement caught me off guard and I asked him why. “That soap feels so good I don’t think I will want to get out. I might stay in there for a couple hours until I use up the whole bar.”

“Oh, no!” I laughed. “Eight minutes.”

He said he had already considered finding the timer and setting it. (I’m sure none of the girls took it when they moved out.) He also had wondered, if he did set the timer, if he could/ would cheat.

I found this pretty funny and I thought it was a wonderful testimony for my soap, but knowing that the girls read my blog could I really I confess his temptation to them and the whole world?

He didn’t really get out the timer, and I don’t know whether he stuck to eight minute showers, but I did not notice his showers taking longer than normal. A few days ago he announced to me that the bar lasted him for six showers which is about average for him.

As you now know I did decide to “come clean” because even if the girls try to hold this over his/our head the worst they can do is razz him about it since they are now paying for their own hot water. Hmm, I wonder if they will use this soap.