Farm Girl Studio

I have been making bars of soap for years now. I don't think I have had to buy soap in abot 7 years. I love the fact that I can make my soap as pure as possible. I was able to make a batch yesterday. I usually make two batches a year. Each batch makes 8lbs so 16lbs is more than we need. The soap makes great gifts also. I am getting ready for the farmers market that opens May 1st. I hope to have three different kinds for the market. Here is a basic recipe, you can add any scent or additives to this. I love to add lavender petals to this when I make lavender soap. INSTRUCTIONS FOR COLD PROCESS SOAP- BASE RECIPE I This is an easy, mild olive oil soap, good for beginners. Recipe: (Makes 8 lbs.) 24 oz. olive oil 24 oz. coconut oil 38 oz. vegetable shortening (Crisco) 12 oz. lye 32 oz. distilled water 3-4 oz. any essential or fragrance oil Equipment Needed: Scale that weighs in pounds and ounces Large one-gal. stainless steel or enamel pot (use this exclusively for soap-making...

The Wind Mill has shown it's worth. We received our first electric bill for a full month of wind mill use. It was windy about half of the month, but I really won't be able to judge the savings until I have a couple of months to go by. The bill show that for the same month last year we used 77 kw of electric and it was and ave temp of 28 degree and this year we used 42 kw of electric and it was and ave temp of 24 degree. We don't have electric heat in the house, we try to use the wood burning stove as much as possible, but my studio is heated with electric baseboard heaters. I turn them on in the morning when I go feed and water the animals. I let it heat up for two hours and then Willow and I head out there. I turn the heat off when we leave for the day. I tried leaving them on low all the time, I don't believe the heater where turning off when they reached the desired temp. My bill was very high and it was too hot in there. It has not been as windy this month. I will u...