Once a year I make soap. It doesn’t take a lot of ingredients, but it does take a lot of work, to make several years’ worth of homemade healthy, clean soap that doesn’t dry out your skin like commercial body soaps can. Many of the ingredients I have to order (i order mine from Essential Depot), but our home raised grassfinished beef tallow and my neighbour’s beeswax are key ingredients as well.
We don’t manage bees on our farms, but our neighbour does and he shares beeswax with me. Lots of ways to farm. Thanks to our neighbour, Kevin, for caring for bees and their hives and producing great honey. He stopped by last week and gave me some wax.
Agricultural production opportunities abound, but none that i’ve found come without dedication, hard work, and passion. It’s unlikely you’ll become financially wealthy either, but there is more to life than that.
Cheers!
tauna
so these soaps in the last pics is yours! awe… how great – well done
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thank you! they are not as fancy and pretty as what talented soap makers sell, but they are serviceable enough for us and for gift giving. These are the ones i gave to my neighbour as a thank you for the beeswax.
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i was not sure but when I see the name of your farm at the end of one of the tags I realized they were your work! how exciting! you must be very proud about yourself – it is art and giving to neighbours as gifts is equally awesome 🙂
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It is a bit of art, science (chemistry), and math to make soap and there are sometimes failures, thankfully, not many through the years that were complete failures – most i could at least salvage. But it is nice to know that they are clean, healthy, with the glycerin still inside and with other oils added. Most commercial soaps remove the natural occurring glycern then sell it back to you in the form of lotion because the soap they make dries out your skin.
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hah haaa 🙂 they are very smart. so we need to but the soap AND the lotion.. bot.. that is my experience too. your neighbours and household are lucky 🙂
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beautiful bars…
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thank you!
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Very nice! I’m sure you neighbor enjoyed them very much!
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He did and actually stopped by yesterday after his mail route and personally thanked me. He also said he gave one of the bars to his mother and it made her smile. That makes me smile.
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They are beautiful. I hope you post the recipe sometime. I’m sensitive to chemicals in soaps, and I plan to add bees to our homestead next year. This would be a fun project.
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If i can find them, I’ll be happy to! thank you! good luck with your bees! they would be a great addition to any farm, but i don’t have the time and, well, i’m scared of getting stung.
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