PRACTICAL PARSIMONY: soap making

Showing posts with label soap making. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Making Soap Vlog

No, I am not making soap. I am still flat of my back. But, since I want to save these instructions from Justin Rhodes' wife, I am putting these Instructions in this post. Soap making always seems so scary and intimidating. However, this video doesn't make me afraid...lol. Some day, I will make soap. Making soap won't be because I think soap will never be available again or because I want to be a purist.

However, I once made a trade for postage on a bread maker I sent to someone. She paid the postage and sent me soap for my trouble. Sending me soap was totally unnecessary, but she sent it anyway.

The homemade soap was the first I ever used. My only specification to her was "no scents." I do use scented soaps, but only pink Dove. The homemade soap was wonderful, soft and creamy, leaving no residue on my skin and lasting a long time. Surely, I can make something as wonderful.

As for the thermometer, I am sold. I love it and can think of other applications. Many times I don't make different food items because I don't have a candy thermometer!

Also, I don't have a stick blender because I think it might splash stuff around and get it on the top of the blender, especially where the pieces of the blender join.

Your turn
Do you or have you ever made soap? Do you do anything different from the soap maker on this vlog? Have you ever used this type of thermometer? Are stick blenders as easy to use and mess-free as she makes it seem?

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The Cast

Fancy is my favorite hen. She is one of the three youngest hens I adopted. Because she is so gentle and friendly, she may be the one I rescued when she was being pecked to death after she could no longer stand. She got to live in the house in a box. Sometimes, I let her sit in my lap while she was convalescing. Now, she comes to sit in the swing with me, cuddling up to my body like a cat or dog. She died in February 2012.

Fancy follows me begging, complaining, needing me to do for her. She talks to me in various voices. She allows me to pick her up and carry her. When she became an adult, her head was a darker red and her body was light brown. Around her neck were tips of black feathers. It appeared she had a necklace of jet around her neck. When I showed this characteristic to a friend, he said, "Oh, you have fancy chickens and plain chickens."

Chessie has a broken toe. I broke it! She had a habit of jumping really high and almost sticking. A raccoon ate her in October 2009.

Thelma is the blonde. She is also the largest hen and the alpha hen. I suspect the gigantic eggs are from her. She often squats and presents herself to me. She is top hen, but I suspect she knows she had better be deferent to top feeder of the flock--me.

Louise is the auburn-feathered hen. She looks like the true Rhode Island Reds in pictures. She is almost as large as Thelma. Some days I suspect she is trying to be top chicken. When I got Pepper, I found out Louise is the Alpha hen.

Pepper came here from the same home as the first four. We were discussing putting red pepper on their food, wondering if it really would increase egg production. Pepper is the only name we agreed on. She is terrorized each day by Louise. Even after the worst was over, she was and is still filled with terror and very wary.

Linda is owned by four hens. They allow her to fetch for them. She loves them dearly, so she allows them to boss her around. Linda comes out in the rain to perform chores for them and make sure they have food and water. She begs scraps from all sorts of places to make sure they have fresh fruits and vegetables.

Parsimony is not a vegetable

Parsimony is extreme care in spending money. Stick around and learn about my random thoughts on accomplishing goals economically--dumpster diving aka safari, gleaning, do-it-yourself, sewing tips, recipes, and whatever is happening in my life.

Okay so maybe "parsimony" is not your thing. How about thrift, frugality or just plain saving money? I try not to go the tightwad route as that seems to imply others will suffer from my habits.

Some of my not-spending habits have very much been a part of my lifelong habits. Other habits are newly acquired and are an extension of my lifelong not-spending habits.

I am very imaginative when it comes to substituting or making instead of buying. I will tell you about making a heater for the chickens' water. Not one dime was spent since I had everything I needed right in my basement.

Practicality must rear its head alongside parsimony. For example, I will use the dryer in bad weather or because of allergies in the spring. But, I will not wash clothes in a tub as long as I have a washing machine or can find one.

You may hear more about my four Rhode Island Red hens than you care to hear. They lay delicious brown eggs.

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Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Making Soap Vlog