grandma's old fashion soap

old fashions soap like grandma used to make. i'm not sure is my grand mother made her own soap but i am sure that my grandma durfee did. grandma and grandpa durfee were the ultimate homesteaders. i remember a vast garden, with the biggest pear tree right in the middle of it, and chickens. as a child i loved that place, i think because it was so much different then what was "normal" for me at my house. still somehow i knew that it made more sense to me even way back then. even if i didn't fully under stand what was going on.

we always went there for all the holidays. and everything there just felt right.




my grandma's old fashion soap recipe.

3 pounds of tallow.
water and lye.
add essential oil flavor of your choice


disclamer run any recipes for soap thru soapcalc.com before you attempt at home.

sour dough recipe

sour dough.. now that you caught those little wild beastlys, what do you do with them? well make bread. remember the older the starter the better sour taste you will get so save a little.

keeping the wild things alive is easy, put them in the fridge, and once a week take out the wild things and feed them a tablespoon of flour and a tablespoon of water and stir. leave out for about 10 to 12 hours. and then put them back in the fridge.

when you use some. replace it with the same amount of flour and water. leave out 10 to 12 hours and then stick them back in the fridge.

sour dough

1 1/2 cup starter
4 to 5 1/2 cups bread flour, all purpose will work
1pkg or 2 1/4 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup very warm water 120 to 130 degrees
2 tablespoons cornmeal optional

Instructions

measure out 1 1/2 cup cold starter. set aside and let warm to room temp.

start with 2 cups of flour, yeast, salt in a bowl, stir.

add room temp. starter and the warm water, mix.

add remaining flour as needed to form a soft dough.

sprinkle remaining flour on counter, and kneed dough for 8 to 10 minutes.

coat with oil, or shortening. let rise in a warm place for 30 to 45 minutes or until doubled.

grease two bread pans with shortening and sprinkle in a tablespoon of cornmeal.

divide into two, shape in to loaf. place one in each pan and let rise again 30 to 45 min.

bake at 400 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

bread is done when golden brown and sounds hollow.

a day at the pumpkin patch

scrubbing bubbles

scrubbing bubbles dish cloth

using size 6 needles

cast on 30 stitches
row 1 k1, p1 across row
row 2 p1, k1 across row
row 3 repeat row 1

row 4 k1, p1, k1, * (k1,p1,k1) in same st, P3tog rep from * across row end withp1,k1,p1

row 5 p1, k1, p1, purl across to last 3 st, k1, p1, k1

row 6 k1, p1, k1 * p3tog, (k1, p1, k1)in same st rep from* across row end with p1, k1, p1.

row 7 p1, k1, p1, purl across to last 3 st k1, p1, k1.

repeat rows 4-7 till desired length.

repeat rows 1-3

cast off. weave in ends. done.

grandma's october picnic

today grandma had a picnic. we had ham, and we ate inside. it was fun to get away from my everyday life. we took Ty and the dog with us. i had a great time, just what i needed i didn't have to cook or any thing else, like frantically clean my house in anticipation of the move to the new house. Ty and i had a great time all we did was play all day i guess i really didn't let anyone hold him but everyone got a brief turn.

i worry about the drive i realize that we don't have the most gas efficient vehicle. so for the planet it wasn't such a great move. i guess it makes more sense to drive three hours when we could stay longer. maybe that would make me feel better about the trip.

but where is that line in the sand? where is the balance? I've heard people say that they try to never go anywhere in the car. but that doesn't really answer the question for the rest of us, that have to use the car. maybe someday my answer will be that i don't use the car but for right now, it's not my reallity.

home at last

i've stopped working for the season, even though the store is still open and i still have to over see the day to day happenings. i'm not taking anymore of the shifts.



i have spent the time getting reacquainted with my son. my husband and i are attachment parenting and it is a lot of work, i think it is the hardest thing i have ever done. spending just a month back to work really damaged our relationship. i was able to take him to work with me, but this still wasn't the same as being at home. because at home everything is about and for him.

just when i thought things where looking up. and i thought that the house deal was finally going though. the stock market has a server down turn. these are hard enough times already and the stock market just adds to the tension we all are already feeling. now of course i'm thinking is it really a good time to even be buying a house?

but it does make me glad terry and i have spent so much time paying off out debt. neither of us has credit card debt, we paid off the car loan and now we are just paying for the truck, and i suppose if times really got bad we could sell one.

i can't wait for this house deal to go though. i'm planning my garden and my new simple life all around the new house, it's hard to plant a garden when you live in an apartment but i have managed to have a potted tomatoe plant every year we have lived here. i'm just ready for a proper garden. i have such fond memories of my childhood garden that my sister and mother used to tend. we had a neighbor that had a hugh garden and a small green house that he would start working in in january. he would plant tomatoes and cover them with plastic milk jugs so they where in their own little green houses. it was amazing to watch. and we would ask him for help with our little endevers. which when i was a kid seem like the whole world. i remember having tomatoes for dinner that where still hot from the sun, it was great.

apron

keeping it simple. i just finished a apron i started last night and you wouldn't think this was a big feet or anything but when you factor in a ten week old, a dog, a husband. yeah i'm suprised it's done. the pattern is from frog creek cottage. it's so cute and i'm looking for more pattern on line. i think i'm hooked.

a wild yeast trap

I've made sour dough before, everyone knows how you have to make the starter a week before you want bread. if your really lucky you have a starter that was made 100 years ago by your great grandmother. but for those of us that aren't that lucky. we make ours the week before and hope for the best.

so i made the traditional starter and a week later i made the bread. with out any satisfaction it tasted like white bread. so to the web i went looking for a different recipe; sure as the day is long that the recipe was the problem. Low and behold, San Francisco sour dough with the native wild yeast. so i thought to my self how do i get a hold of some of that wild yeast from my neck of the woods?

so back to the web i go looking for some way to collect, harvest, or trap some wild yeast that i was sure now was the problem to my tasteless dilemma.

So here is my trap, all you need is equal parts flour and water, i used a table spoon. and an open window. the really great part is that the wild beasts are all around and all you have to do is provide some food and they come running. Wait 8 hours add another table spoon of each and stir. wait another 8 hours add an 1/4 cup of each wait 8 more hours. Keep up this way until you have enough starter for your recipe. and the starter starts to smell sour. You don't have to worry about anything bad getting into your starter because the wild yeast make it uninhabitable for any thing else to live.


So after my 3 additions and 24 hours i had starter. I mixed it with the first so i had enough for my recipe and I'm pleasantly surprised there is a difference, a slightly more sour result. Not maybe it's because of the wild yeast or the age of the first starter. But I'm willing to keep experimenting to find out. I love sour dough. I've only had good sour dough once before but I'll never forget it and I've been trying to hunt down a good loaf for years. with out any success, so now I'm just going to make it myself.

soap

yesterday i made a batch of lavender soap and to my surprise the stick blender worked marvelously. the soap made it to trace in just a few short minutes. this is way quicker that i am used to and was glad i prepared my mold a head of time.



today it was ready to cut. my last batches took almost a week before they were ready and they are still soft. this batch is amazing and hard to cut. it should be ready to use in a matter of weeks not days like i fear the previous batches will take.

now that i have had a batch of soap turn out satisfactory it is time to experiment with scents. and maybe some other additives like oatmeal.

day to day

i just spent the most wonderful day at home with my husband, tyler and jake (the dog). just cooking, cleaning and knitting. i lined my soap mold and thought about making another batch, but i just wanted to concentrated on centering the family. spending time taking care of each other.

i made almost everything for the meals from scratch. except these instant augrotten potatoes that my husband likes. i honestly have never tried to make them from scratch, but next time he wants them, i will try it.

i'm trying to find recipes that have a sour dough starter base. i started a new member of the family, this sour dough starter and now i want to find recipes. i read how you can just use water, flour and you can catch wild yeast to make a sour dough starter i'm trying it with another batch. so i got a recipe off the net of sour dough pancakes, i tried them. i'm not a fan i'm still looking for a pancake recipe. you have to kiss a couple of frogs. that one was definely a frog at my table.
also in this book i'm reading about nursing and breast feeding one of the ladies in there used her breastmilk to start a sour dough starter. to celabrate the end of her and her childs nursing relationship. that may not be up everyones ally but people have to do what works for them and forget everyone else.

i made meatballs last night for pasta. and i used the left-over to day for lunch- open faced meatball subs on thick cut garlic toast and melted mozzarilla chesse over them just a few minutes in the broiler and they where perfect. we eat well today.

last night i also checked out my carbon foot print. i was shocked. when we move and start growing our garden it will improve. i was suprised at the things they consider and i never thaught of before.

so for to nights dinner we went to the local famers mrket and bought locally grown corn for dinner. it was way better that the frozen i would have fixed if i wasn't thinking about it.

Tyler

just chillen on the couch in the outfit that Amy and Andy picked out for me.

what did you say?

rapped up cozy and warm in the blanket great grandma Joyce made me

sleeping in his bassinet. floating on a cloud.

Tyler's first hoodie, that aunt Diane got for him

Tyler

new born Tyler first day. still at the hospital.

Tyler days old, playing with mom on the couch.

Tyler hours after getting home, sleep on dad.

idiots dish cloth

I'm starting to knit dish cloths. i remember a pattern my mother taught me. i have no idea where she got this pattern or if she made it up her self i just remember using it as a child. and it is as follows:

used size 6 needles

cast on 4 stitches

knit 4 rows

pattern stitches

row 1: k2, yo knit to end, every row for 40 rows

row 41: k1, k2tog, yo, k2tog, knit to end until you have 4 stitches left

knit 4 rows, cast off, weave in ends.

these knit up really fast. they make nice dish cloths, with a simple detail. they are so easy i used to make them when i was learning to knit. so for all the young knitters, there is something they can work on and it's still functional if they don't get it exactly right. something you can use around the house, and every time you do they can be proud of themselves.

soap

I cut my soap today a recipe i came up with all by my self and the soap calculator of course. the first batch was a olive oil soap. i made it and stirred it by hand. I poured it when i thought i had trace but now i don't think i did. when i cut it it was like cutting mozzarella cheese on a very hot day, you know when it sticks to the knife and you have to scrape it off with your finger and you never get it all off the knife. my batch was olive oil based but had some other added oils as well. the trick with soap i discovered is stirring and not just stirring, whisking or beating. A stick blender would have came in handy. I'm not making another batch with out one. i tried to use this old beater we had and never used it worked slightly better that hand mixing but not much i think more power is the key. that is the batch i cut today. the consistency was a lot better. it actually cut and not smooched like the first. when i washed the residue off my hands it actually felt like soap, bubbles and everything.