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Monday, January 19, 2015

How Did It Work Out? Some Updates & Things

You know how it is when you read about someone trying something new, but never hear how it worked out? It can leave you wondering if it was a success or a flop. So I thought I would let you know about a few projects we've written about recently.

First up are the reusable food wraps. I love them. They work great on bowls of stuff. I have yet to try wrapping food in them without using a bowl, but my main goal was a way to cover bowls of things in the frig without using plastic wrap or a plastic lid. I've used them to cover fish, ground meat, coleslaw, onions, herb cheese, and I don't remember what else. The first time I put it over
a bowl of salmon I really wondered if the wrap would stink. Nope. It still smelled like beeswax. The next stinky test was the onion. I was glad to find out that the wrap will not absorb the odor of the food item it is covering. Clean up is an easy rinse with lukewarm water, dry thoroughly, fold up and store for next time. I'm glad I made the smaller wraps while I had the beeswax out making lip balm. I use these smaller wraps the most.

They do get creases where they are bent or folded, and I haven't done anything to cover them up yet. But, from what I have read, you can use hot water and your hands to smooth out the wax on either side of the crease and cover it back up. I am very happy to be using something besides plastic lids or plastic wrap. These appear to be very durable, are quick and easy to make, and are made with more natural products than plastic.

Next, are the reusable panty liners. I am still very pleased with the design I came up with. They are effective for my use, comfortable, easy to make and care for. I haven't made any more yet, we have been doing a major clean up and organizing task. But I will make about a dozen more before long, probably on one of the next cold, yucky winter days. If you have a sewing machine and a need, I would highly recommend making your own. If not, there are many vendors that make a good, quality products. It's an easy way to eliminate the many detrimental chemicals that are so easily absorbed by women's bodies.

The lip balm we made is great. We really like knowing exactly what we are using, and again, eliminating more chemicals from our daily routine. I have used Carmex, and Frank Chapstick, for many years. One thing I found out when I switched to our lip balm is that I seemed to have a kind of withdrawal. I know, withdrawal from Carmex? I never considered it before we switched to our lip balm. My lips got pretty chapped for about 10 days. During that time we had some really cold weather with strong north winds that may have contributed some, but I really think most of it had to do with a Carmex 'withdrawal' period. It didn't occur to me at first, but as time went by, I began to notice an improvement. So, at first, I used our lip balm many times a day to deal with the chapped lips. Now, I only use it a few times, similar to how I used the Carmex. We are both very pleased. I have infused some olive oil with lemon balm and peppermint that I picked from the herb bed for our next batch. We'll let you know how that goes.

One thing I have not written about, nor did I take any pictures of the process, was the simple lotion I made. It is only beeswax, olive oil and herbal tea made from some of the lemon balm and peppermint I picked. Very simple. The recipe called for mixing with a blender, which I do not have, so I used a slotted spoon. Obviously, the spoon did not do the mixing job a blender would do, and sometimes there is a couple of droplets of water on top of the lotion. But it doesn't bother us at all. We really like this lotion. I will take pictures and write about the next batch. I'm going to try using the KitchenAid with the whipping hook on it to see if it will mix it up better.

When I first started using the lotion, I only used it on my hands. My skin is very sensitive to a lot of things. For many, many years the only hand lotion I could use is the original, plain Vaseline Intensive Care. It's a good lotion and worked fine. I cannot use any soap or cleansers on my face at all. They break me out in fine little red bumps. So, I wash my face with water and use Eucerin lotion and nothing else. But, after I used our lotion on my hands and it didn't break them out, I tried it on my arms for a few days. That went okay, so after about a week I got brave and tried it on my face. No little red bumps. I was very happy. But the same kind of dried out reaction happened to my hands, arms and face that happened to my lips. I wondered if it was the quality of moisturizing components of our lotion compared to the chemicalized store bought version. You know, those chemicals we can't pronounce? Things like isopropyl myristate, PEG-40 sorbitan perolrate, glyceryl lanolate, sorbitol, propylene glycol, cetyl palmitate, stearic acid, magnesium sulfate, aluminum stearate, lanolin alcohol, BHT, methychloroisothiazolinone, and methylisothiazolinone. I have no idea what these ingredients are, or what they do to my body. But, you know what? I really think our bodies are so accustomed to, and almost addicted to, all of the chemicals we put on them every single day, that we have withdrawals. When I first thought of that, I thought it sounded kind of weird, but the longer I used our non-chemicalized products, the more I think it is true. I have long considered these two lotions to be good quality products, but until now, I have never read the ingredients. Or tried to, anyway.

Now, I know that the olive oil I have is processed. And the beeswax is processed. And the lard we bought to use in the lip balm has preservatives in it and the pigs it came from were fed highly chemicalized feed. But at least we were able to eliminate many of the man made chemicals that are the basic components of lip balm and lotion. That's one more small step we were able to make. We really hope in the near future we will be able to render our own lard and harvest our own beeswax. That will be wonderful.

One of the things we are excited about is making lye soap. We have researched and gathered the necessary ingredients for a basic lye soap. When time allows, and a few other projects are completed, we will give it a try and share the results. We haven't experimented with many projects that could be dangerous to our health, but making lye soap is one of them. Remember, safety first.

We will continue to learn and experiment with eliminating more chemicals from our lives. We really feel that the more naturally we can live now, before we have no choice, the better off we will be. If we can learn how to make our own natural care products with minimal, hopefully renewable ingredients for the most part, then when the stores are empty, we won't miss them as much. Don't slow down and let a life of learning pass you by. There is so much to learn and do, the journey is a never ending process. It will keep you young and ticking.

Until next time - Fern

25 comments:

  1. I have a recipe for pine tar soap that goes by volume, not weight (I think this is a better way to learn.) I'd be happy to share it should you desire to make this wonderful soap.

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    1. We are going to use milk, lard and lye, Mrs. G. I want to learn with some basic ingredients that I can replicate if the need arises. Making lye will be the most difficult part, but we have been researching how to do it. The milk and lard will come from our goats and pigs. I appreciate the offer, but for now, our goal is to use only these three ingredients.

      If you would like to post your recipe here for others to see and learn from, please do so. Thank you for sharing.

      Fern

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  2. I really
    Irked making soap. I need to make Another batch. Thanks for sharing how your projects worked out,

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    1. After we get started making soap, Sandra, and figure out how easy it is, kind of like the lotion and lip balm, I'm sure I will like it as well. I look forward to hearing about the rest of your lambs! Thank you for sharing.

      Fern

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  3. I really enjoy reading your blog; thanks again for taking the time to keep it up. Thanks, too, for the updates on your projects. How is it going with your 'shampoo/conditioner'? Take care, SJ in Vancouver BC

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    1. I continue to use the same shampoo/conditioner routine with the baking soda and vinegar. There have been a few times this winter that my hair seemed a little drier, then I only used the baking soda on my scalp, and not on the ends. I only wash my hair every other day right now, as well. Come summer time when I get hot a sweaty everyday, I will probably go back to everyday again. I am glad you enjoy your time here, SJ, and thank you for the question.

      Fern

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  4. Thanks for all the tips, I am all for reducing the chemicals in my life! Another idea for bowl covering, is just put a plate/saucer on top like gramma did. Speaking of chemicals, I took my truck through the automatic car wash today and during the wash cycle the soap that was sprayed on was very smelly! Not a pleasant smell, kinda chokey. I was sitting there trying to breathe through a glove till the rinse came on.

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    1. Frank cannot hardly walk down the laundry soap isle in the store, Beth, without getting a headache. The fragrances are just overwhelming. It's the same way if someone at church wears too much perfume. He can taste it. We don't use any scents at all. Thank you for sharing your bowl covering idea.

      Fern

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  5. I enjoy making my own soap, shampoo, and lotion. However, I've been out for some time and need to make more. I'll be making homemade soap next weekend, as well as lotion. The weather was too nice to be inside doing that type of thing this weekend!

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    1. I hope you write about your soap and lotion, Goodwife, I'd like to see the process and your recipes. The weather here has been wonderful. We finally have sunshine again and the temperatures have been in the high 60's. Thank you for sharing.

      Fern

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  6. Ps, I have quite an extensive series of blog posts over on my blog about my homemade shampoo excursions!

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    1. I went over and read about your shampoo. I use baking soda and water for a shampoo, with a vinegar rinse, like yours. It was a good read. Thank you.

      Fern

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    2. Thanks for stopping by and reading! :)

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  7. Thank you for the updates.

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  8. I always thought it would be hard to go all natural because I would miss these things. Good to know I can do it! Gonna look into it!

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    1. Best of luck, SFG. It's an interesting journey.

      Fern

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  9. Once you have made soap, you will wonder what you were ever worried about -- it is really very straightforward to make. It is the only thing I use on my face, and the most gentle, after years of trying all sorts of things. Good luck!

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    1. I really appreciate the encouragement, Karin. Does the soap you use on your face have lye? We've always read and heard that lye soap is so harsh, but I'm hoping goat milk lye soap won't be. We are really excited about the possibilities when it comes to making a very simple soap. Thank you very much for sharing.

      Fern

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    2. The recipe I use has tallow, olive oil, coconut oil, and lye, and it is lovely. As I said, it is the gentlest cleaner I have found for my face, after 25 years of trying 'gentle' and 'sensitive' cleansers. I often add some essential oil, tea tree is my favourite, so fresh. It is all our family uses, and I also use it to make homemade laundry soap. I do plan on trying other recipes that only use tallow and lard, for the time when other oils are no longer available. There is no reason why lye soaps should be harsh, as long as the lye to fat ratio is correct to saponify all the lye. Quite the opposite, since the process produces glycerine, which the soap industry removes from commercial soap to sell separately for more money.

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    3. Great information, Karin. Thank you very much.

      Fern

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  10. 'oklahoma pastry cloth' has a lovely tutorial on soap making.
    she sells it.

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    1. It is a very nice tutorial, Deb, with lots of pictures. Thank you for sharing this site.

      Fern

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    2. All soap is made with lye. No lye. no soap! Oil/fats combine with lye to make soap and glycerin. With finished soap, there is no more lye left....it has turned to soap. Also, if you make lotion with water, you MUST use a preservative or some nasty bacteria will grow in there and you could get all kinds of infections. You could use Vitamin E if you use your lotion within a short time. There are other natural preservatives, too.

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    3. Thanks for the information, Tewshooz. I need to look into the water/bacteria/infection aspect of making lotion.

      Fern

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