Making Soap in a World Without - Part 2 of 5 Basic Olive Oil Soap

I have tried a number of recipes.  The recipe below is one of the easiest and more versatile recipes I have found.  This article is an excerpt from a post by Heidi Corley Barto.  It can be made with the NaOH listed in the recipe or with the KOH from the recipe of the previous post.

DIY Natural Soap: Basic Olive Oil Soap

Soap #1: Basic Olive Oil Soap
Bars made using just olive oil should be left in the mold for at least 48 hours. They will need at least 4 to 6 weeks to cure. You can add fragrance to this soap if you wish. Using an online fragrance calculator, select your fragrance and calculate for cold process soap at 20 ounces to determine how much to use.
Ingredients:

Oil

• 567 grams olive oil

Lye mixture

• 73 grams sodium hydroxide (NaOH)
• 215 grams distilled water

Directions:
1. Measure the olive oil into your plastic container. Place the container in a larger pot and pour in enough hot tap water that the container begins to float. Set the pot on the stove and turn the heat to warm. Insert a thermometer into the oil.
2. Goggles and gloves on!
3. Measure the water into a heat-safe glass container. Measure the lye crystals into a separate small glass container. Slowly add the lye crystals to the water, stirring with your spatula as you do so. Do not inhale above this container—there will be fumes that can take your breath away! This mixture will heat up quickly. Insert a thermometer into the mixture.
4. Monitor the temperatures of the two containers. Basically, you are heating up the oil while the lye cools down. You want both to reach 110°F. As needed, refresh the hot water bath or turn the stove burner higher to raise the temperature, or use a cold water or ice bath to bring the temperature down.
5. When both the oil and the lye mixture are at 110°F, pour the lye mixture into the plastic container with the oil. Blend until the mixture reaches medium trace (it will be like thick gravy, and drizzled trails will stay on the top).
6. Pour into your chilled mold (or a clean, dry, quart size milk carton with the top cut off) and refrigerate, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Remove from the refrigerator; spray the top with isopropyl alcohol, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.
7. Remove from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature.
8. Unmold 48 hours after pouring into the mold. Cut into bars and place in your curing area.
Makes 8 3½-oz bars
LYE SAFETY
Mixing lye with a liquid causes an exothermic chemical reaction. This means that lye will heat up any liquid to which it’s added. A room-temperature liquid can heat up above 200°F with the addition of lye.
Always add the lye crystals to whatever you’re using as your liquid. Never add liquid to your lye crystals! Adding liquid to the lye will cause a volcanic reaction—the surest way to get burned. This is a major no-no in soap making!
Always store your lye container tightly closed in a cool, dry place out of the way of animals and small children.
Saponification (the chemical reaction in the soap-making process) uses up the lye, so that there is no lye left in the finished soap. You need to leave your soap to cure in order to make sure all the lye has reacted, and that you have a sturdy finished bar of soap.
It is a good idea to reserve a few tools for soap making, such as an immersion blender, and any containers you use for lye and mixing your soap. You don't want to contaminate food with lye or fragrance oils (despite how tasty they may smell!).

--recipe by Heidi Corley Barto; reprinted from The Natural Soap Chef / image courtesy of The Natural Soap Chef

Making Soap in a World Without - Part 1 of 5

LYE from hardwood ash

So the SHTF has happened.  The dust has settled, and you are moving on with life as you know it.  Items we used to take for granted suddenly become luxuries.  A BIG one will be soap.  Feeling clean, cleaning your clothes, washing dishes or just washing your hair will suddenly not be something you can just go do because your stockpile of soap will eventually run out.  You can trade and barter for it, but that will last only so long and will use valuable resources.  Learn to make your own.

To make lye you need 2 ingredients:  Water and wood ash.  This lye is combined with an oil to make soap.  When the lye and oil react, it is called saponification with the end product being soap.  

Where in the world do you get lye when there are no retail stores?  You make it.  (Lye is less commonly known as NaOH, sodium hydroxide or KOH, potassium hydroxide)

KOH Lye via cooking:

Ingredients:

Hardwood Ash

Water

2 Large pots that are NOT aluminum

Skimmer 

1. In a large pot, NOT aluminum as the lye will eat through it, begin heating water.
2. Place your hardwood ash in the pot and stir.  
3. Continue to heat the water to boiling.  As the solution boils, skim off the "stuff" at the top.  This is the lye.  Place your skimmings in another NOT aluminum pot.
4. When you have skimmed all the solution you can, heat the straight lye in the pot until it becomes dense enough to float an egg.

 You are now ready to make soap.  Tomorrow I will post a recipe of how to make hard bar soap using your lye and animal fat.

CAUTION:  

• Lye is VERY caustic.  
• DO NOT make this without a mask, especially if you have breathing issues.  
• DO NOT make this around small children.  
• DO NOT leave unattended.  
• DO NOT store within reach of small children.

The recipe above is just one of many ways to make lye for soap making.
Please feel to comment or ask questions.

Making Your Own MRE

We have all seen the prepackaged Emergency Survival Foods, you know MREs.  Here is my thing with MREs, most of them taste like crap.  I want to survive, but I would rather survive with tasty food than feel like I am eating dog food for a year.   They are also really expensive.  Being a super dork cheapskate, this goes against everything I am.  My solution, make my own with food I know is good quality and with an ingredient list I can understand.  It will require a small investment, but buy it right and buy it once.  A one-time investment for a long term savings is a win win.

Equipment:

Mylar food bags

Air sucking food saving device (I can't use the brand name) to remove the air

Dehydrator

Desiccant packs

1. Decide what recipe to use.  There are a number of soups, casseroles, one pot dishes you can choose from.  Choose recipes with high protein and calorie content.  If you are using MREs because you are bugging out, you are going to need the calories and proteins.  The only limit here is your brain.
• Here are some of my favorites:
• Chicken Tortilla Soup
• Mashed potatoes and meatloaf
• Chili
• Minestrone
• Chicken, rice and vegetables
• Red beans, sausage and rice
2. Measure out the ingredients for the number of servings you need.  (Remember, these are portable foods and weight is a major factor)
3. Use the dehydrator to dry all ingredients except for powdered spices and powdered dairy.  
1. Meat is cooked before dehydrating.  
2. Beans are cooked before dehydrating.
3. Spices are mixed and sealed in a separate small bag.  
4. For dairy, I use powdered organic choices.  (Powdered milks, powdered eggs and powdered cheese)  I use premade because I do not have the ability to dehydrate those items for a proper shelf life.  If you do?  Go for it!  It makes it even cheaper.
4. Place one-pot items in one bag along with the spices and seal.  One field-ready MRE.  For longer storage, include one desiccator pack in the bag.  Write directions or print recipe label and reconstituting directions to be included in the large bag.  Helpful hint, place an individually sealed water purifying tablet in with the recipe.  Water is too heavy to port, so you are going to need clean water to reconstitute your food.
5. For multi course meals, seal individual ingredients in smaller bags and then seal in one larger bag.  Write directions or print recipe label and reconstituting directions to be included in the large bag.  Helpful hint, place an individually sealed water purifying tablet in with the recipe.  Water is too heavy to port, so you are going to need clean water to reconstitute your food.

When you are packing a go bag and including MREs, remember to add some seeds.  If you are leaving for good, you still want to be able to grow your own.  Seeds are lightweight, and they are imperative for long-term survival.Making your own MRE takes some effort, but it is worth it in both cost savings and clean nutrition.

If you make your own MREs or have some recipes you like to use, please share.  Knowledge = Survival

Thanks,
Happy Homesteading!

Fire Starters - How Do You Make Them?

Rainy days are excellent for indoor preps.  In anticipation of the rain, we planted our Hugelkultur bed with seed last night.  The rain should set the seeds really well.  Today we are free to play with indoor projects.

Since Summer is coming, we are going to need a lot of fire starters for our outdoor fire pit.  We use this pit for entertaining and grilling all summer long.  Cooking outside keeps the house cool, and nothing tastes better than food cooked over an open fire.

Supplies:

Dryer Lint, lots of dryer lint

Paper Egg Cartons

Scissors

Natural Twine

Wax

1.  Stuff the pockets of the eggs carton as full as you can with dryer lint or the cotton filler from medicine bottles.  (If you have an animal, sometimes the lint looks a little gross)

2.  Cut each pocket out separately.

3.  Fold sides in on each side to cover the top.

4.  Tie, like a package, with a knot at the top.  Leave about 2 inches of twine to act as a wick.

5.  At this point it is usable but not waterproof.  We use them at this stage for our indoor fireplace.  Follow the next steps to make them waterproof.

6.  Melt wax in a double boiler or a mason jar submerged halfway in water.  When the wax is melted, dip each fire starter inside to coat.  Remove from the wax by the wick and set on wax paper to dry.

Finished Product:

That is it.  These are pretty easy to make.  They last for a couple of hours and use scraps you normally have laying around the house.  We usually make them when we have 4 or more egg cartons saved.

And that is one of the things you can do on a rainy day to continue daily preps.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  Happy homesteading!

A Bit of Something Everyday

During our trek towards sustainable living, we have discovered the best way for us to make continuous progress is to do at least one thing daily towards prepping/sustainability.  Even if you are sick, there are things that can be done.

From your bed:

1. Research and learn about skills you do not already have and read other homesteading blogs for tips and tricks.
2. Pack egg crates with dryer lint in preparation to make fire starters.
3. Work on your homesteading notebook with observations from month to month to look for areas of improvement.  Or, if you do not have one, make a homesteading notebook to organize your short term and long term goals so that when you are working towards sustainability it does not overwhelm you.

Small tasks that add up:

1. When you cook a meal, cook double and freeze for those days when you have no time to cook.
2. Add a few logs to your wood pile.
3. Every time you go to the grocery store buy water and store it.  Even if it is only 1 gallon, it will add up.
4. When you buy seeds for the garden, if you are not already saving them, buy double and save the extra pack in an air tight container stored in a cool dark and dry place.
5. When you make yogurt, cheese, butter, soap, etc. make a bit extra to use for barter.
6. Pick up any clearance first aid items to store.
7. If you have the opportunity for FREE items, take it.  If you cannot use it, trade it.  If you cannot trade it, sell it.  If you cannot sell it, donate it and take the tax write off.
8. Organize a small area of your homestead each day.  If it isn't organized in some fashion, how will you know what you have and what you need.  (It kinda makes you one step away from a hoarder too, lol)

Big Tasks and how to tackle them:

1. If you have a project that is a bit much for just your family members, barter for labor.  Any homesteader will trade labor for goods and future services.
2. Make a plan for the project.  Try to find free resources or the items you need on sale.  Get it when it is in your budget and then complete the project.  Planning will keep your projects from being half completed.  A homestead full of half completed projects doesn't really work.
3. Invest in quality tools.  It saves nothing to have to replace a subpar tool multiple times.  Bite the bullet and save for the better quality so you only buy once.

Those are my thoughts, but I have OCD and plan most days.  Happy first day of Spring and get your garden going!

Creating a Community

Adding other homesteaders to your community increases your skill set and bartering capabilities.  While I am very cautious about who I add to my community, I am all for increasing strength in numbers.  We recently added a couple who have chickens to barter for eggs.  We have a few skills they need in exchange for fresh grass fed eggs.  It's great to add people who have a skill set you don't have to either learn it from them or to barter for their use.  I know nothing about hunting or animal husbandry.  I have friends who do.  Therefore, I pick their brain and share with them some of the skills I have.

Be careful of who you add.  For me, there are two different types of homesteaders.  The ones who want to live a sustainable life style who are prepared for emergencies and the tin-foil hat wearing crazies who use homesteading as an excuse to stock pile an arsenal to wait out the end of the world.  Don't get me wrong.  I am ALL about the 2nd Amendment.  Protection of your life and property is every citizen's right and responsibility.  Just be careful.  There are a lot of nuts out there, and I am not a squirrel.

Changes in Perspective and Perception

Being a survivalist is really about your mindset.  It is not letting circumstance sneak up on you and keeping a calm and focused mind.

Perspective and Perception

When everything seems to be hitting the fan, my perception of events is the difference between dealing and flipping.  Breathe.  Look for what you have, where you are and remember you are ready.

Flexibility

I had a busy planned today.  Once a month grocery stock up, top to bottom house cleaning and starting fermented foods for the week were all on the schedule.  The schedule doesn't change because that makes me crazy.  However, in the continuing theory of changing my perception and perspective on survival tactics and sustainable living, when I am offered something I need for FREE in return for a little bit of labor the schedule changes.

Rigid schedules and a working goal are very necessary to the sustainable and ready lifestyle.  Planning ahead is a key skill to master because the old adage is absolute truth.  Failing to plan means you plan to fail.  When you create a schedule of goals, add in some necessary flexibility.  It will leave you the opportunity to take advantages of windfalls that come your way without detracting from your prepping goals.

The benefit of this flexibility today landed me all the compost I can use for our growing beds, a new bartered source for fresh eggs and wild game, two large bags of clothes to use or barter out and another sounding board for exchanging knowledge and ideas.  All of those things in exchange for a little bit of labor and a little bit of flexibility.

Hugelkultur

Hugelkultur growing beds are a type of raised bed gardening that conserve water, maximize growing space and are excellent ways to contour your permaculture landscape.

We put our first Hugelkultur bed in this year.  A large portion of our soil is poor quality and with poor drainage.  There are steep grade changes, which make it difficult to farm in a conventional way.

Steps for beds:

1.  Dig out the area your are going to grow.  The level you dig to depends on how high your finished bed will be and how long you want the bed to last.  We chose a depth of two feet with a finished height of 3 feet giving us a 5 foot bed that will last about 15 years.

2.  Place large logs in the base of the bed.  Green logs or rotted logs will work.  If you use green logs, you must add additional nitrogen in the form of leaf mulch, grass clippings, etc. because the green logs will absorb a large amount of nitrogen and water from the soil the first year.  The logs will begin to release these nutrients and moisture back into the bed after the first year.

3.  Top the large logs with smaller branches to fill in gaps.  Here is the fun part.  Log stomping.  Have the kids stomp the twigs and logs to compact them as much as possible.  Really take out any aggression you have on these things.  Your bed will thank you for it.

4.  Add your layer of green clippings at 2-3 inches.  If you dug out sod at the beginning, replace it on this layer with the grass side facing down.

5.  Add your soil in a 4-6 inch layer.  The darker the better.

6.  Finish with a top layer of compost.  At this point your bed is ready to plant.

 

 

Here are the links I used for research. 

http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/

http://permaculturenews.org/2010/08/03/the-art-and-science-of-making-a-hugelkultur-bed-transforming-woody-debris-into-a-garden-resource/ 

http://www.inspirationgreen.com/hugelkultur.html

A Survivalist Mindset

Last year I thought I was a survivalist/homesteader.  My husband lost his job in a very bad economy, and I have been a stay at home mom who hasn't earned an income for 16 years.  I understood quickly I was not REALLY a survivalist.  Planning with minimal implementation and pipe dreams and research amounts to S*&% when things truly go south.  Yes, we had a few month's worth of food stored.  Yes, we had back up income sources.  Yes, we were ready to deal with anything.  Right?  Um, no.

The first six months were no huge deal.  We did our thing and knew we just had to wait it out until a job offer came along.  We lived even more frugally to conserve.  (We are talking less than $1500 a month spent total).  After six months, we were tapping into the last of our emergency supplies in both food and money/barter supplies.  It started to get a little scary.

Finally the husband found a job.  Not a good job.  Not a well-paying job.  Not even a full-time job.  Just a job.  Income is good, but poverty level income will not sustain a larger family.

What do you do?  You do whatever it takes to survive.

Tomorrow's post:

Changing your perspective and your perception.

A One Year Hiatus Really Changes Things...

I took a year off from blogging to get our family settled and generally take care of things.  What I have learned in the year really has changed my focus for our survivalist outlook.

The primary goals are the same - self sufficiency, self-protection and community.

What has changed?

We now have about 1500 sq. ft. of outdoor growing space and are adding more all the time.  Starting out own business has consumed an enormous amount of time and energy.  Research, research and more research.

Daily posts are to follow with the changes we have made, skills we have learned and our thoughts to the future.  I hope that some of what I post will help you on your self sufficiency journey.  Please feel free to add.  Knowledge is power, and there are too many people out there willing to have none.

Peace.