Soap and stepping stones.
As part of my attempt to become self sufficiant from my own skills and property I made soap. I used cold process and I used Brambleberry.com's lye calculator to make my own recipe. I couln't find any online that weren't HUGE 6-10 lbs of soap at a time. I got lucky when I went to Arch Thrift Stores here and found a perfectly good stick blender. A necessity if you want to make the soap in less than an hour. (Which I felt was necessary so I could be done and clean up before naptime was over.) I didn't want Elijah to get ahold of any of the raw soap or worse yet any bits of lye I hadn't gotten cleaned up. The process was fun though and I think I'll keep doing it so long as I have access to oil and lye. I don't think I'll ever get too excited about coloring my soap. But I'm super excited about learning what essential oils work and what don't. This soap is EXTERMELY strong with a lemon/rosmary scent. I put too much lemon in. So my poor chickens are living in a lemony scented room right now. I open a window for them during the day and try to keep the door open as much as possible otherwise. Just a word to the wise, really research making soap before you go out and do it. Make sure you have all the safey information, and that you put it into effect. Because lye is some serious stuff and if you're not careful with it you can end up in the hospital. Once the soap is curing it's fine, but getting there is science and like any chemistry expirement you should wear the proper gear and work in a well ventilated area. Don't be stupid is all I'm saying. If you are, don't make soap.
I finally had a streak of good weather and got the stepping stones in my garden. Got it laid out and ready for seeds. If you look closely (right above my head in the shadow) you can see that I've already planted my garlic. I am hoping they do well and that choice doesn't come back to bite me seeing as we are a month and half before last frost. Now I'm just working on gettin the front yard ready for me to plant my peppers, tomatoes, and egg plants. Yes, I do not have enough room for everything in my huge garden space. I have to actually use all the pre-existing flower beds for food. Not that I have a problem with doing just that. I feel that the water I do use should be for something that'll give back to me.
I love both of these books. They make me happy and are chock full of good information for anyone with any interest in doing more than just starting a garden. I also got some books on herbal medicine and edible plants in the area. Oh and gardening books one is more useful for me particularly than the other because it sticks with being organic.
My husband started building me my chicken coop today. It'll be another weekend before it's all done, but I'll post photos of it when it is. It's not perfect, he's not a carpenter. BUT I think it's pretty awesome, especially because mine kinda wasn't pretty. Also the Girls will have a lot more room inside this one. So I wont' feel so bad about locking them up all the time. I know I shouldn't feel guilty because they're bred just for captivity, but I loved when Goldie would come to the door and beg. It allowed us a sort of relationship. I'm slowly realizing that's not good with farm animals. They die too often to get so emotionally attached.
Next on my list to learn (might not do it, but learning can't hurt) :
Hand dipped candles
beekeeping
green house keeping and building
second try at making detergent for my laundry
herbal medicine
(slightly off topic) homemade vanilla waffers