Got a good soap recipe. My grandmother made the purest white soap I have ever seen.

 

Please share, would be very interested, I haven't tried soap making yet.



I have the knitting, crocheting and weaving down pretty good.

Cookings not to bad, at least the dog doesn't complain.

 

I've always wanted to learn basketweaving, but don't have anyone to teach me. I can sew and crochet well, butcher chickens and can various foods. I know how to cross stitch, but it gives me headaches, so I don't do it often. I do plan to start quilting this fall.

Please share about the soapmaking. I've watched someone else make it, but never tried myself. Same with candle dipping.

 

Soap making is fun (to me). Yeah, nasty, sweaty, hard work, but when you get done...lovely sudsy soap! Usually a three day job.
When I lived in the cabin I made my own lye-water as it is so darn inconvenient to buy it now.
Lye water isn't that hard to make, it just requires thorough pre-planning.
Save your wood ash from your wood stove. HARDWOODS ONLY!

I usually used a metal 55 gallon drum with a good lid to save my ashes in.
Never ever let your ashes get damp during storage.

For the fat, I used to trim the fats off all meats (except poultry, don't save that, seriously...will ruin soap) and store it in a drum in a shed. Again, tight fitting lid. WHEW! It smells after a few weeks!

I would render down the fat in Spring OUTSIDE. Trust me, outside is the only way to go! I was lucky in that a previous occupant of the cabin had left some huge old rendering pots.All day job...slow, low fire. Stir with wooden paddle.
I used a big old sieve that I rigged to an old broomstick. Dipped it in every half hour or so to get the *chunks* out. When I had it rendered down and all the chunky stuff out, I dipped out the fat and poured it through a very fine sieve into food grade buckets.
I let it cool overnight. Usually hardened nicely.
Next morning, I would get the *scrungy* stuff off the top of the fat in the buckets. (Sometimes there is some brownish stuff and other ickies)

Took the hardened fat out of buckets...there is always some watery leavings under the fat after it hardens.
Then melt it down again in clean rendering pot over low slow fire.
Scrub down the buckets while that is going on.
Sieve it one more time into buckets.

Last day....
Get fat out of buckets into cleaned rendering pot, again, low slow fire.
Get volunteer to stir pot with paddle.
Make lye water.
I rigged up an old fashioned (pioneer style) lye making trench thing on legs. Basically, I made a *gutter* looking thing, loaded the gutter with wood ash, poured simmering water into the top of the gutter and it ran down (gravity) through a couple of good screens to sieve out ash particles, etc. and then into the hot fat.
I used hot water to make my lye water so it would be the same temp as the fat, otherwise sometimes the saponization process goes a bit wonky.
Add lye water to fat, stirring the whole time.
When mixture is right (you learn to recognize this...it gets milky looking and when you pull the paddle out it starts dripping really slow and may actually harden on the paddle), dip into soap molds.
Let dry and then age at least 5 weeks.8 weeks is better. Basically, when you can put your tongue on a bar and you taste soap and it does not burn, it is good to go. At that point, I wrapped it in butchers paper.

Now, I made a LOT of soap at once by this process. At least 100 bars of soap at a time.
If you want to add scent or other additives (such as oatmeal, etc), smaller batches are better.

And preparedmama, I'm with you, I'd rather make it myself! That way I know what is in it!

 

I'm trying to be a pioneer woman. I would love to learn to weave and make soap. There is so much more to learn! But, in the process of learning the things I have, I am throughly enjoying it!

 

Wow Lamb...and PreparedMama...that's a LOT OF WORK! This is something I would probably screw up horribly.
Does it really lather up the same as...say...Ivory?
Does it smell nice?
Do you feel clean?
Does it last a long time? (years)
Does the bar wear down fast or slow?
Does it float? Or sink?
Approximately how much does it cost to make 100 bars...regular size?

 

Wow Lamb...and PreparedMama...that's a LOT OF WORK! This is something I would probably screw up horribly.
Does it really lather up the same as...say...Ivory?

Yes, it lathers up quite well! You can add soapwort (Bouncing Bet) to your water that you use for lye-water and it will give you a very cleansing, luxurious lather.

Does it smell nice?

Without any other additives, it has a *neutral* scent if you have done the job right. If you are careless or less than thorough, it has a scent of rancid fat/tallow. If you want it to have a scent, you can add a bottle of essential oil or you can crush up a couple handfuls of fresh mint and toss it in the water you are going to use for lye water the night before, then strain the mint out.

Do you feel clean?

Absolutely! Squeaky clean! Lye soap will get you very clean.

Does it last a long time? (years)

Twelve years after my grandmother died, I found some of her home made soap in her old dresser. Was hard as a rock, but after I used it, it took a bit to get it to lather up, but after first use, worked fine!

Does the bar wear down fast or slow?

Slow, compared to store bought. Usually lasted me twice as long as the stuff I buy in the store. Just (like store bought) make sure you don't leave it in water for long stretches.

Does it float? Or sink?

Sinks. Ivory Snow soap floats because they whip more air into it. (Discovered by accident when a worker left the mixing machine on too long)

Approximately how much does it cost to make 100 bars...regular size?

Uhmmm...wood ashes from my wood stove were free. Fat from animals we butchered, free. Water came from the well.
The only thing it cost was my labor.

 

I knit, sew, crochet, embrodery, love to quilt by hand, cook from scratch, can, freeze and dry. Make jams, jellys and marmalades. I can render animal fat down, butcher the chickens, ducks, turkeys, rabbits, deer and goats. Chopped enough wood to warm us through the winter, and fish and hunt.

I haven't learned how to make soap yet. I figure if someone doesn't like the way I smell, they'll give me some soap. Ha! Ha! Ha!

I just started my first bee hive this past winter. So I hope to make bees wax soaps, lotions and lip balm. I will have honey when the price of sugar gets too high.

Any skills that we women can learn to do will make us a valuable member of any survivalist society. We will be in charge of making our own lives more comfortable. We will be a much saught after group of woman.

 

Ramona, between the two of us, we could rule the world post SHTF! LMAO!
Oh, save some of that honey to put in soap and skin lotions as well as some bees wax. I'll go through my recipes and find you some you can do in the kitchen!

 

Good heavens Ramona....I feel like a fat, lazy pig wife now that I've read your post. My superwoman cape just went limp!

 

that way i getting a lot of women into my group that has a lot diff skills so learn to do diff things that i am weak on.
i can sew and mend my own cloths ..but have a little know how on saop make skills
i can butcher out game as need and cut and cook game as need for my self and others
eat and dry for extras
need to relearn how to put up jams and jellies as need
relearn to put in a large sized lot garden
have great rifle and pistol skills along with reloading and other area of shooting
a lot skills i had when my wife was alive have gone by the wayside for have not used them for a while .and that my problem for i got lazy and did not feel the need to pratice them

 

(Newbie here and working on my first three posts.)


I can make a pretty good bar of soap but I do it with store bought lye. Have been making and giving away soap for about 3 years now. I've rendered beef fat and lard but purchased all the other tallows and oils I use. My eyesight isn't so good anymore but with the aid of a standing/lighted magnifier I crochet. I also can tomatoes, dry fruits and/or and bottle juices (working on the elderberry crop right now). I'm probably too old to be of much use in a real survival setting after the SHTF but I can take care of the young 'uns while mom and dad do the harder work.

 

(I'm probably too old to be of much use in a real survival setting after the SHTF but I can take care of the young 'uns while mom and dad do the harder work.

You know CB that is a very important skill. To have somebody watch the kids so that I could get everything done would be a god send in post times!

 

I can quilt (piecing by machine, quilting by hand) and make clothes quite well. I can knit but I don't have the patience for it most of the time, so my knitting is very plain. I can also do some substandard embroidery.

I am pretty good at dying with procion dyes. In the next year I want to start learning how to make natural dyes from local sources, but have no idea where to start. Can anyone recommend some good books? I am also growing flax but don't have the time to figure out how to turn it into linen. I intend to harvest it for seed instead. Maybe linen will be next year's project.

I've made soap in the past, including rendering the fat, but used commercially produced lye.

I can make jam, relish and chutney but never tried pressure canning. I can bake bread by hand, as well as cakes, pies, biscuits, etc.

This week DF and I are going to try making cider for the first time, so that will be interesting. The closest to alcohol I have made in the past was ginger beer. : We also have a heap of currants in the freezer which we are going to try to turn into currant wine soon.

I am getting good at collecting wild food. This weekend we went mushroom hunting and came home with over 5kg (10 pounds) of ceps and boletes. Not bad for a couple of hours casual walking in the forest.

I can chop and stack wood.

I have a vegetable and herb garden. We have two hives. I wish we had the time to keep chickens and pigs, but we both travel too much.

Future projects:

As mentioned, I want to learn more about textiles and producing them from scratch. I want to learn how to make linen from flax grown by my own fair hand, including spinning and weaving. I want to learn how to make my own dye stuffs.

I want to identify more of the edible plants and mushrooms growing in this area.

I want to learn to make baskets from local materials.

I think it would be interesting to try salting, lactofermentation and other methods of preserving foods. Right now I am experimenting with drying without an electric dryer but it's a very slow process.


So, does anyone have any photographs of their pioneer projects to show? Quilts, bottles of jam, etc? I would be very interested to see what people have produced.

 

The jars of bread that I canned, the one on the far right is what is left of the banana bread canned the end of june, the others are pumpkin that I canned last week.

They are sitting on the bookshelf till I get my storage straitened out, running out of room

 

Canned bread. :wow Now that's something I never even thought was possible other than the canned brown breads I have seen in the past. Will you tell us how you did it? Sounds like something that would be useful.

 

I'm fairly normal for my crowd -- my son attends a Waldorf school, and doing things by hand/from scratch is highly valued. The children are taught all kinds of interesting skills from knitting to woodworking, pottery, copperwork, bookbinding and more.

I can knit, crochet, cross stitch and sew by hand. I kinda suck at doing that machine thing, but I own one for long straight lines.

I can cook and bake from scratch, as well as can fruits, jams, sauces and meat.

I can make my own lotions and bath goodies - still need to try making cold-process soap. Nervous about working with Lye with my little boy around.

We garden, although I'm terrible at it and DH has learned he really enjoys it.

I am handy: for a few years I lived in an off-the-grid cabin that I built. I painted it pink. :-D

 

If i was not already married to a lady with these skills i think id be asking for one of your hands in marriage.:

 

You have mentioned this before Sticks65.What skills does your half do?
We are basically self sufficient here on the farm, bar, flour oil sugar and a few other items, like fuel!!!
I love the pioneering spirit,have placed this in my three daughters,and am blessed to have a husband who loves the same things as I do,the simple life.
The pleasures of making your own sourdough bread,the taste of your own meat,
the wonders of seeing a plant grow ,fruit trees bear fruit, they are all things I love.
Along with being prepared and self sufficient must come a love for these skills, crafts, and experiences.
Enthusiasm makes the difference between clinical prepping and having a lifestyle.

 

My immediate survival "group" (being those I'm in a relationship with) has most of the basics covered in this aspect. I'm fairly proficient with candle making myself, having done so in the past for years with my mother. As for sewing, I can do some basic button/tear repair but generally find it tedious.

(My Lover Rosella however can stitch and sew amazingly well, having successfully saddle and cross stitched our ailing couch back into a moderately decent resemblance of actual furniture.)

As far as soap making goes I've got a recipe for birch bark soap, but I've never made it. (living in an apt with about 2 feet of lawn outside leaves little room for such things that are best done out doors)

My other lover Rhonda is rather uneducated (afaik anyway) when it comes to such primitive techniques, being more capable in mechanical diagnostic/repair. (she does generator maintaining and repair for the air force) She has expressed some degree of interest in it though (namely candle making with the intention of creating insect repellent candles)

If we have any luck with the candles I'll be sure to make a thread with the recipe. (given summers over now however, at least in vermont, we prolly won't be able to do any field testing until next year spring/summer.

 

I brought this up in another setting when we were talking about what skills would be needed post SHTF. The group was all male and talked of guns, and being able to walk thru the forest unseen, and what can of Dinty Moore stew to eat first. I brought up that one of the first skills relearned should be craft and child care. I got a lot of interesting looks on that one.
I've been creating my own home for years. The mentality to create what you need out of nothing, to make do with what you have or find a substitute will be my biggest weapon and skill post SHTF. I think the proper mindset is valuable.

 

I cross stitch, do beadwork, knit socks (I specialize), I can sew, understand the principles of clothing construction and quilting. I bake and cook somewhat, but am usually a running disaster in the kitchen......

 

understand the principles of clothing construction

Now there's something I wish I knew!! :thumb:

 

I am pretty crafty. I knit and crochet, but not too well. I can make nice blankets, but I am having a hard time with sweater patterns. I need to sit down with my mom and have her help me. I am also a novice at sewing and quilting. I have been teaching myself over the past year. I haven't made hand dipped candles in quite awhile. I did that alot in high school. I also cross stitch, garden, bake, etc. I just started canning the veggies from my garden this year.

 

Lord, y'all put me to shame. I can knit, crochet and cross stitch but only simple things. I can quilt - again simple. I'm a very good cook. I can sew well enough that no one would be wearing an arm hole where the neck should be! I can cook breads, cakes, cookies and other food stuff from scratch - not bad when you consider I grew up thinking all dry goods came from Betty Crocker and all veggies were Stokley's. I can and do, plant a garden. And it's organic so I wouldn't be lost without fertilizers to use. I make my own compost (fertilizer) and am aware of inviting earthworms to live with me and why that's a good thing. Hey, that's also fish bait which would be a help. However, I know nothing about making soap, keeping bees and the only thing I know about dissecting chicken parts is to take it out of the wrapper the grocer packed it in. There is so much to learn. That is why I hope to attend as many get to gathers as possible and learn all that I can. Oh, and I'm keeping detailed notes in hopes that if I am not around my notes would be of use to someone else. That might be an idea for all of you do=it-yourselfers. You know how to do these things BUT does anyone else in your family? Your family will prosper with you along but will they suffer if you are gone? Perhaps you could make afew notebooks and write out/draw step by step instructions. I figure with my age and the medical concerns in our family, the best I might can do is leave as much knowledge behind as possible for the next generation.
Things I would like to learn:
soap making
map reading
candle making

As far as the canned bread!!! Oh my goodness. I never imagined such could be done. Does it last a long time and is it hard to do?

 

What an excellent post, Sherriallen. I never even thought about leaving a notebook behind in hopes that future generations could learn from it. Gives me something to think about and yet another new project to get started on. It is from letters, diaries, notes, etc. that literally ALL of the knowledge of the past has been preserved. Of course, in today's world, much of this information has been posted on countless websites--one of the great blessings of the internet.

As for canning bread, I, too, never imagined such could be done. Yet I have done it successfully, thanks to the info on this forum. I recently opened up some banana bread that I canned maybe a month ago. It was slightly "sour" but by no means inedible and tasted really good, both straight and with some home canned apple butter on it.

 

Isn't this wonderful? We are learning, helping and encouraging one another even though we are hundreds and thousands of miles apart. I'm so glad to hear your testimony about the canned bread. And I'll testify also. Just today I made my first candles. And as we speak I am trying Lamb's fat rendering technique. Hopefully I'll have soap soon! So, I think that's 2 of the 3 things I said I wanted to learn. Trouble is, y'all give me so many more ideas. While searching for video's and trying to build my confidence up to make candles I ran into a video to make homemade laundry detergent. I'll be trying that also this week. I am 51 years old and trying these things for the 1st time. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks!

Thanks for the thumbs up on the bread. I'm still not sure about it but maybe I'll go and try it soon. Apple Butter sure seems mighty nice though.

 

I live on a working farm that sells dozens of varieties of fruits and vegetables using only family labour. Don't let anyone tell you that Americans can't work hard on the farm to produce our own food.: I start the seeds in the house in January/February the plant/fertilize/weed/harvest them up until frost in late October. Not to mention all the perennial plants like trees and berries.

I can crochet, but don't do it too often. I can sew, but need to stock up on some thread since I've been ignoring that part of prepping. Luckily my mother lives next door, so she does most of the canning. I help sometimes, but after a long day of hard work it's hard to come in and can until midnight. :
I generally man (or woman) the food dryer and have dried fruit with natural sunlight as well as the plug in machine.

I've made goat milk soap and really like it but am out right now. I've never made homemade lye, but will have to try that soon.

I take care of all my animals medical needs. I've had to turn baby goats around before they were born. Taken animals that looked and acted dead and brought them to great health, and I've unfortunately had to dig large holes when old age or disease takes out livestock. But, each illness or death is a learning opportunity. I personally never want to be in a situation when my meager vet skills are called apon to help people. But, at least I have antiseptic that can be used for surgery (labeled and intended for use on animals).

I've even made yeast bread without any yeast. It takes a couple of days but it's nice to know that it's possible.

 

I cook and bake from scratch, can make bread and yogurt, jam, peanut butter, light a fire, make firestarters, newspaper logs, soap balls and I'm learning to garden. I also make my own cleaning products and home remedies.

 

Sorry to bump an old thread, but it seemed worthy of bumping. I knit (can crochet a bit, but far prefer knitting), sew, bake and cook from scratch, garden, and can.

My favorite thing by far, is knitting. I find it so calming, and it makes beautiful things. I would like to learn different techniques to improve my speed, though. I knit English style and would like to learn Continental and other styles.

 

Hi, What a brilliant thread! I've never seen it before...

My Great grandmother used to judge the Farmers' institute needlework comps so Mum taught us all that rather early in a fairly fascist way. You'd show her your lovely little hollie hobbie crewel pic, she'd turn it over and look at the back. LOL! So womanly pursuits:

sewing incl patterndrafting; maching & hand
Crewel, cross, various embroidery techniques, quilting (old style template & new machine) my favourite is crewel. By a country mile but I'm not finding many patterns
Crochet, knitting, rugmaking (rag - very easy! and latchhook - a bit of a waste of time...) I'm learning spinning but can't weave properly at all yet. My spinning is, um, overwound and lumpy. "Good for socks!" says the friend who is teaching me. "They'll never wear out!" (Cos nobody will ever wear them, them being so lumpy...)
Cooking, baking, bottling (or as you call it canning), pickling, preserves.
Cleaning, gardening,

And the 'ladies' pursuits of course: a little bit of piano, half a skerrick of guitar, reasonable hand at five hundred. Setting the Table, Drawing the Curtains, Picking up After People and Arranging Furniture. : Lol. Can do a mean Clean Out the Pantry too...

Things I Cannot Do Yet (and maybe Never.)

Have never tried alcohol production although my stepfather used to do vodka from potatoes and cider from apples, not to mention feijoa wine;
killing sheep although my uncle & stepfather used to but it involves slitting their throats... can butcher one though (anyone can, sheep are easy.)
Cheese-making though I'm interested.

I can manage basic animal care although very, very rudimentary. Couldn't kill the rabbits so they had to go (in the freezer but the kill guy thought it was funny.) I'm learning with the animals; currently psyching myself up to 'dock' the little boys dangly bits and tails. Yes I know, weak! Most of you are probably laughing at me but it makes me wince!

Have chickens, garden, 3 2tooth ewes I was going to breed but they're too leery so are going in the freezer, 2 baby lambs, 1 baby calf who thinks he's a baby lamb, a steer that ran away living till freezer time down the road at a cost of 'a couple of decent bottles of wine'. Have a 3 or 4yo orchard starting to kick into action now and the ley I put in last autumn is coming up now. Full of poppies - so pretty!

Appear to be fairly useless at fruit tree pruning but that's a learned art Iguess. I've never started an orchard before, have only ever maintained established trees.

So that's me.

 

I tried my hand at spinning, too. Not something I want to have to depend on. I do have a small table top loom that I love. Don't feel bad about not being able to kill the rabbits and such, I couldn't do it either. I couldn't even chop the head off the chickens.

 

I guess my family is in trouble. I can cook, garden, start a fire, and bake. We live in a townhouse so many things are impossible to do. I could probably raise chickens, but we can't have them. I know, we need to get out of here, but that is not possible until my son finishes school. Two more years.