Why We Do The Things We do

I believe many of us are looking for ways to live a more peaceful life. Trained as a Master Naturalist, I look to maintain the quality of our native ecosystems through training designed to help "read" the landscape. This includes understanding the underlying geology, specific inhabitant's (birds, plants, mammals, etc), ecology and the impact of humans on the landscape, including how we conserve our natural environment.

I enjoy taking people on quiet walks in nature, and encourage them to look around and notice all the natural beauty God has created. We notice animal tracks (footprints) so we know who lives there. We discuss the impact humans have on the environment, and some ideas on how they can be good stewards of the land.

This training has inspired me to learn ways to reduce my waste, recycle anything I can, make more of my own food, as well as other products in my home. It's better for me, the environment, and our earth as a whole. Every little change helps, they all add up. Several ways I am going about making these changes are through learning about sustainable living techniques, and permaculture (I will talk more about that on another blog).

Sustainable living is defined as a lifestyle that attempts to reduce an individual's use of the Earth's natural and personal resources. Sustainability has the potential for long-term health benefits as well as environmental, economic, and social advantages. 

I like sharing all that we are learning. Working together we can create a more peaceful and beautiful place for ourselves, our children, and generations to come. Please join me in this journey, as journeys taken together are always more enjoyable!

Water lily.  San Angelo, TX

Soap Making 101

Yesterday was a LONG day but we learned a lot! Who knew you could take an all day soap making class? Who knew some soap was made with tallow (aka beef fat?, or goat fat, sheep...)

The Finished Product

All soap has to contain lye, a very water soluble, and caustic basic solution. That didn't sound so good to me, but if you like to stay clean you use soap! The folks we learned from make most of their soap outside as the fumes are very dangerous. Bad for you, your children and pets. So we used safety equipment and mixed the lye outdoors, as you will see in the photos. My first question was, then why are we using on our skin? This soap process takes about 6-8 weeks to cure and by then the lye has neutralized. It turns into a mild soap containing natural glycerin. 

Safety first!

Rendering the beef fat - creating Tallow

Making soap the old fashioned way. It's a time honored process that the pioneers used. 

Our second batch is thankfully made without animal byproducts!

In a few months, our website SimplyFaithTX.com will be selling our homemade soaps. I am working on a variety of organic soaps; non-scented, mildly scented, kitchen soaps, soaps for your dog, a gardeners friend, shampoo bar soap, and lovely botanical blends. 

Some processes are easier than others; like the dish or laundry soap (see prior blog posts). Good homemade bar soap is NOT a simple, easy or inexpensive process! I always wondered why it was so high priced at craft fairs, farmers markets, etc. Now I know! 

But, like I said before, I really analyzed my shopping receipts and was determined to GREATLY reduce it. In the coming weeks I will blog on how to make your own yogurt, breads, jellies and jams, dog food, and other fairly simple things we can do ourselves to reduce expenses, and really KNOW what is in our your food. 

Today is a beautiful day in Texas, so I want to go out and work in the garden. I've already started herbs in small pots, they are in the windowsill and the cinnamon basil from Debbie has already sprouted. 

Inside I have started: basil, lemon balm, dill, garlic chives, catnip, sweet basil, spearmint and the cinnamon basil. I also have a few avocado trees started and looking good. Tomatoes are in the greenhouse. Swiss chard, and onions in the ground. I planted a little peach tree that already has blossoms! 

Today I think I will make a spot for the potatoes, and plant the carrots, cucumbers, peppers, beets, lettuce, spinach, kale, broccoli.

I ordered a few fruit trees on-line that should be arriving in a few weeks. A miniature apple tree, another peach tree, thornless black berries and an ARONIA
bush. If you haven't heard of ARONIA before, you should check it out. It is fairly easy to grow and has 3x's the antioxidants of blueberries! 

The garden is calling....

Homemade Dishwasher Soap

Dishwasher soap is basically the same as the laundry soap. it will be easy to make your own environmentally friendly, and inexpensive dishwasher detergent too. About a penny a load.

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

1) 1 cup Washing soda  (Arm & Hammer) 
2) 1 cup Borax
3) 1/2 cup food grade Citrus acid (fruit fresh or you could use a packet of unsweetened lemonade)
4) 1/2 cup Kosher salt 

Mix together and place in an air tight jar, like a mason jar or recycle your glass mayo jar, salsa, or pickle jars. For best results put vinegar in your rinse dispenser. 

Tomorrow is our soap making class in Waco! I can't wait until we can make our own bar soap, shampoo, dog soap, and gift soaps like pretty lavender, or refreshing spearmint. 

I want to make a "gardeners friend" soap. I love working in my garden without gloves, I know some people say you should always wear gloves but I like the feel of the cool earth between my fingers! But my hands sure get dirty and extra dry with all the hand washing. 

Cuticle cream is a must for me! When we went to the faire in November I got a good recipe for that...something else to blog about later.

I've been making my own dog & cat food...which reminds me suppers almost ready. More to follow...

Homemade Laundry Soap

I like the idea of reducing my monthly living costs and my footprint on our planet. One thing I started doing was looking at the items I buy at the grocery store and analyzing what was costing me the most each month. One area that I found most expensive was related to cleaning supplies, and laundry soap. 

Borax, Washing Soda, Lye Soap, and Baking Soda

Homemade laundry soap is easy and inexpensive to make.  There are a lot of recipes on the Internet and this one was simple and quick. You only need a few items, and most of them can be found at Walmart. I haven't sat down with a calculator but the cost seems to be just pennies a load. 

Homemade Laundry Soap

You will need these items to begin;
1)   A large bucket with a lid ($5 at the local tractor supply)*
2)   1 cup grated lye soap (Cracker Barrell offers them)
3)   1/4 cup borax
4)   1/4 cup baking soda 
5)   1/4 cup washing soda 
6)   1-2 gallons of water - if making liquid soap

Using a cheese grater grate the lye soap. Then spread the lye on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper to dry overnight. Mix all the ingredients together. If you want want to use the laundry soap in the dry form use 1-2 tablespoons per load.
*You won't need the large bucket if your making dry laundry soap. 

If you want to make a liquid laundry soap place ingredients and a gallon of water into a large pot. While stiring, warm up the batch until all items have blended together. Pour into the large bucket and add another gallon of warm water. Stir well. You could add a few drops of essential oil if you wanted scented soap. 

Note: About once or twice per month you may want to add a cup a vinegar to your wash. I know it is very good for your blankets, sheets, and cleans your machine, and it does not make your laundry smell like vinegar.

I recycled my empty liquid laundry soap dispenser. I refill it as needed.

A New Beginning

Where do I begin a new blog? I recently purchased a new website, www.simplyfaithtx.com . I am building it now and will publish it once I have something decent out there to share.

Simply Faith is based on the concept of working as hard as you can, doing all you can to be successful and then Simply have Faith in God that it goes well. I make natural products, using simple recipes that I can offer to my friends, family and hopefully customers. We are in the beginning stages of this new venture, and I thought a blog logging our journey may be interesting. 

We began with making homemade soap. We gathered supplies from the craft store, Michael's, and some essential oils from Sunflower. In no time we had made an oatmeal & honey soap with oats to help remove dry skin. We made lavender glycerin soap with lavender buds too. However, after using them I was not satisfied, nor was I willing to put my name on the product! Back to the drawing board. I wanted to create our own soap base, not purchase it. After much research, we decided to sign up for a class based in north Waco. They had an old recipe and taught a day long class in soap making. Bingo!

Saturday, we take the much awaited class. I am really looking forward to it even if I have to get up at the crack of dawn to drive almost two hours! 

More on that later.

My friend, Debbie, and I been learning, reading, and taking classes on many topics. In general, how to become self sustaining. Learning how to grow our own produce, canning jams, preserves and jellies. We are working on Cheese making, making our own bread, laundry soap, and learning how to make our own baskets. I am considering buying land in the Texas Hill Country (beautiful!) and moving out so we can really become self sustaining. Researching various farm animals, visiting local farms...how far can two women from Chicago take this interesting life challenge?

Debbie and I met in an serendipitous way. I had recently been RIF'ed from SuperMedia, the old GTE yellow pages. I knew I didn't want to go back to corporate America, but where would I find work? I was on unemployment, and searching. I had worked for GTE more than 21 years...I love animals, nature, art, and working with children. Could I really make an income with any of that? I began volunteering at places I thought I may want to work. The Fort Worth Botanical Gardens, Fort Worth Nature Center and looking for other opportunities. In googling wildlife in North central Texas, I found, Metro Wildlife Rehabbers. I called and before you know it I was speaking to various women who rehabilitated bunnies, squirrels, opossums...they were interesting but not quite what my heart wanted. Bonnie suggested, I speak to Debbie, she rehabilitates raccoons. Perfect! I had a lot of interest in those smart, curious creatures!

The day we met, we realized we had a bunch of things in common. We are both from Chicago suburbs, both raised Catholic, her ex-husband worked at SuperMedia too, and yes, I knew him. So much in common, it had to be a sign! Neither of us believed in coincidence...so came the beginning of a new friendship. She was holding, well they were climbing all over her, three baby raccoons. I KNEW I wanted to do this!

My babies: Willie, Diana, & Kate