We have wanted to make soap for over 20 years. It appears that this dream will finally be coming true very soon, and we are both very excited. In preparation for this venture, we have done a lot of research. This research resulted in a list of things we needed to be able to successfully and safely make soap. Over the past several weeks we have gradually accumulated those things we need, and now it is just a matter of time, and I will admit, courage.
In compiling information about making soap, I have read numerous websites and a couple of books. I want to link a few sites that provided some very useful information. Some of them deal with lye, and some outline the techniques used during the process.
One of the first things you will read on any site is how important it is to handle lye in a safe manner. And rightly so. Here is a video that specifically deals with handling lye safely.
One of the difficulties I had in my research is finding a recipe and appropriate techniques that match the ingredients we are going to use. You see, our soap will only have three ingredients: goat milk, lard and lye. That's it. There are a gazillion sites that make soap, but the vast, vast majority of them use other oils, liquids and fragrances. We're not. Why? For a couple of reasons. One, if we are going to make soap, we want
it to be as pure and simple as possible. Two, if need be, we will be able to produce these three ingredients ourselves. We will be getting the milk from our goats. We plan to be able to render our own lard from the pigs that will be arriving here in the next few months. For now, we are using store bought lard. We can also make lye from wood ashes, but again, we are using purchased, food grade lye for now. And speaking of wood ashes and lye, I found this video to be really fascinating. We have read many things about making lye water, then using it to make soap, but my question has always been, how do you know how strong your lye is? I know you can float an egg or potato just right, but lye is a caustic and I'm not sure I would trust my skin to this technique. This video gave us a different option. Instead of lye water, make lye crystals.
I'm going to list some other videos and sites that I used to learn about the steps for making soap, even though none of them use the recipe we are going to try, I still learned a lot from them.
- This is the first video I watched on actually making soap, and it is very informative. Becky uses water instead of milk, but this is a basic lard soap. She also uses the lard she rendered from her own pigs.
Once we completed all of this research, we realized there was some equipment we needed to get before we could dive in making soap. I had one book on making soap that I have probably had for more than 20 years, that's how long we've had this in mind. I ended up ordering two more books, but they are mostly geared to recipes that don't involve goat milk and do involve a lot of other ingredients we are not going to use.
We already had some aprons and rubber gloves on hand. And I have a number of thermometers I have accumulated for making cheese. We decided to acquire what I call a point and shoot thermometer that can be used for soap or people.
We have a manual scale that is used to weigh out produce for canning. But the emphasis on being able to weigh out soap ingredients to the ounce, prompted us to invest in a digital scale that can be easily zeroed out after your bowl or container is placed upon it.
Then there was the question of mixing the oils, milk and lye until it comes to trace. Trace, a new vocabulary word for us. We'll get into that much more throughout the process. Most folks I read or watched used a stick blender or mixer. Everyone had the admonition of not running the mixer too long so the motor wouldn't overheat or burn out. Well, we don't have a stick blender, and really didn't see a need for one. Instead we searched for a while and found a mixer whip that would fit in the chuck of an electric hand drill, in this case battery operated. Sound funny? It probably is, but it is what we are going to use. I think it will be
more durable, and we won't worry about it overheating or burning out.
And if the battery dies before the soap goes to trace, we have extras
that we can use. We ordered a couple of different types of whisks, whips
and beaters to try in the drill. I'm sure once we make the first batch
of soap, we will figure out which one works the best.
I have seen where some people use plastic to mix their ingredients and some use stainless steel. Most will tell you to only use soap equipment to make soap and nothing else. The first video I watched where the lye and water were mixed in an old butter tub surprised me. Especially when they discussed how hot the liquid will get when it interacts with the lye.
My question was, what keeps the chemicals in the plastic from leaching into the lye solution? If the temperature of the mixture gets really hot, won't that release some of the chemicals of the plastic? And, since lye is a very caustic substance that will pit the surface of the plastic, won't that release some of the chemicals of the plastic? I didn't find any definitive answers to these questions, but they have lead us to use stainless steel. We had these two extra 13 quart bowls in storage waiting for something to come along, and think they will work fine. I had also purchased some silicone spatulas a while back to replace the rubber ones I'm using now when they wear out, so now they will be assigned soap making duties.
We debated and thought long and hard about soap molds. There are a million and one different molds out there people use. Specialty shops sell all kinds of molds, and some folks use cardboard boxes with a trash bag liner. Silicone seems to be a favorite of many folks, and we ordered one loaf pan just to see how it does. We're also going to line a regular loaf pan and see how it works as well. I seldom use this loaf pans anymore since I started using cast iron loaf pans for bread, so this pan has been volunteered for the job.
There is also a wide variety of mechanisms used to cut the soap into bars. Some contraptions are quite sophisticated, some use a wide cutter blade specifically made for cutting soap, and some are as simple as a knife. We are going to try out this cleaver and see how it works.
As you can see, it has taken time and effort to research and acquire the needed materials and equipment for this project. We have already learned a tremendous amount and we haven't even started making soap yet. I have the distinct feeling that the learning has just begun. And you know what? I'm glad. It's great to learn something totally new and be so much closer to another dream come true. We don't know anyone that has ever made soap from only goat milk, lard and lye. I can only think of one person I know that has ever made soap period. Just like most other things in our lives, what we know and do, we basically teach ourselves. This time we have the blessing of the internet which has allowed us to do a lot of research, and even watch videos of demonstrations.
Our next soap post will be a demonstration of our first attempt. We will cover much more detail about the equipment we use, and especially the safety aspects involved in making soap. Never take safety for granted. I know there are a lot of folks out there that have been making soap for years. Any advice you can share before we get started will be greatly appreciated. Keep in mind, we are set on our ingredients. I know there are many other things that can be added to soap and for good reasons. But we want to make a soap that can be replicated in a sustainable fashion if we can never order or buy anything else besides what we can raise and make on our own. It is another giant step for our continued sustainable life style. And we're excited!
Until next time - Fern
Hello, Frank here.
Well, it's Saturday evening, the eggs are in the incubator, and the temperature is stable at 99 degrees. I would like for it to be just a hair warmer, but I will address that Sunday morning.
I had to make a couple of changes. In my original incubator, the thermostat that controls the temperature malfunctioned. It operated fully open at about 113 degrees, way, way too hot. So, I got out an older incubator, identical to the first one, and replaced the original. It's thermostat works okay, so now we're good to go on that issue.
The other change was in location. The room in our house that I normally use to hatch birds is also the room we're starting seedlings in, so the temperature fluctuated too much. I moved them to a store room where the temperature is more constant. So, those were the two big changes I had to deal with. Other than that, everything is starting off normal.
Friday afternoon I picked up a batch of eggs from a friend to include in this hatch. They are the brown eggs in the pictures. But the hens that laid these brown eggs used to live at our house. It's going to be interesting to see what type of babies they will produce, because all of the hens were standard mixed heavies and the rooster is a fine looking red Easter Egg breed.
Some of the pictures we have included show adding water
to the troughs with the eggs in the turner in the incubator. When I
started the eggs this morning at about 9:00 am, the turner was at an
angle, which is not the best time for me to add water. It's difficult to
hit the little trough, it's easier to add water when the turner is
level. That's one of the reasons I put the black mark in the bottom of
the trough. As I mentioned in the last post, some incubators are a lot
easier to refill than the one that I have. But, this is what I have and
this is what I'm going to use.
When you put your system together, you'll have to run the wire from the turner out of the incubator. Make sure it's in there so it runs out of the slot that is pre-cut in the incubator. If you do
use a turner, make sure all the little plastic trays are in the holes that they need to be. Also try to keep the turner slightly away from the edges so it can turn freely. This is part of the reasoning why you test everything with a dry run ahead of time.
The old incubator that didn't work? I'll keep it because the heating element still works.
The circulating fan is fine. The styrofoam container itself is still good and solid.
A word to the wise here, though. This is styrofoam and it will break easily. Trust me, I know. If your little boy wants to climb up on it, which little boys like to do, then you might be going through the whole process again, and not because you wanted to.
I bought a 12 volt incubator last year that I haven't used yet. It has the water trough that is easier to fill. It's one of those round-to-it things. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I believe I mentioned it and put a link in a previous post.
Now for the next 21 days I'm going to watch the incubator very closely. Some things to look for. Keep your temperature as close as you can, and I shoot for 99.5 degrees. Always make sure your troughs have water. Never let them go empty. If you have an egg that had a crack in it that you didn't notice? In a few days it will start to stink, really stink. Also, after 18 days you will need to remove the turner. This is an easy enough process. Make sure the turner is nice and level, and very gently remove it with the eggs in it. We'll talk a whole lot more about this as the time approaches. This is not the time to drop an egg. But, again, we'll talk more about that as the time gets near.
Read your instructions again. Keep little fingers away from the thermostat. It's a good idea if only one person makes adjustments. Reason being, you don't want to have just increased the temperature and two minutes later someone else comes along and increases the temperature. Avoid direct sunlight, this thing will heat up just like a greenhouse. Avoid drafts, know where your heater and air conditioning duct vents are.
So, for the next 18 days, just pay attention. Because in 21 days, I don't care how many eggs I've hatched, I find it to be a fascinating experience. I think I mentioned this before, but hatching eggs is an excellent opportunity to teach reproduction and gestation in a short period of time. Even the youngest kids can understand the need for a rooster and a hen and how the egg develops. I believe this gives kids a much better understanding and respect for birth. I have yet to meet an adult that didn't think that hatching an egg, and watching it hatch wasn't a unique experience.
Unless something comes up in the next few days, I won't be checking in about chickens for a couple of weeks, but there are some things you're going to need: feed, water, containers for both, and a warm, draft free home when your babies do hatch or arrive in the mail. And don't forget, you'll need to give them their first drink. So plan ahead and be prepared.
We'll talk more later. Frank.
Lately we have been consuming yogurt and kefir to increase our digestive health. There are many things in this world to ingest that are tantalizing to the taste buds, but not for the digestive tract. We are trying to remedy some of that. So, does that mean if you eat yogurt and kefir it negates the affects of potato chips and Cheetos? Probably not. But, until they are no longer available, we do enjoy a bag of chips now and then.
We have made yogurt off and on for years. Sometimes it 'makes' and sometimes it is runny. I find it works better if I add a cup of powdered milk to increase the milk solids. The other challenge is to make it where Frank will eat it. He doesn't care for the tangy taste that yogurt gets if it is allowed to culture very long, so we have been eating store bought for a while. But I decided to try again.
I buy my yogurt culture online. There are numerous places you can buy it. You can also buy plain yogurt at the store and use a few tablespoons of it to culture a new batch. As I mentioned in the kefir post, one of the problems with yogurt is that eventually, you will have to get some new culture to continue making it. From this batch I made I will keep out a few tablespoons to start the next batch. But as my back up, I keep extra packets of culture in the freezer for when I need additional fresh culture to keep our yogurt going. This time, since I had not made yogurt in a while, I am using some of the culture I bought. It is a simple process, so I'm not sure why sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
First, heat the milk to 180 degrees. This kills off any competing bacteria, so the yogurt culture can grow. I've always wondered about this step. I don't like killing off the natural bacteria in my raw milk, but everything I have read indicates this is necessary to successfully produce yogurt.
While the milk is heating, I get out my YogurMet and plug it in. There are styrofoam versions of this that don't require
electricity. When I bought this, I didn't realize there were. The only
thing this does is keep the yogurt at a consistent temperature while it
cultures. I put a cup and half of 110 degree water in this vessel. The
water surrounds the tub when it is put in the YogurMet. This helps keep
the temperature consistent. It would probably work just fine even if I
didn't plug it in.
As the milk is heating, I add a cup of powdered milk. If I don't add the extra milk solids, the yogurt will be more of a drinkable consistency, instead of more pudding like.
After the milk has heated, you can leave it sitting until the temperature decreases to about 110 degrees. I put my pot in a sink of cold water and stir it around to expedite the process. Otherwise, I will wander off and forget to check it, then it will be too cold and require more heating. I have learned this from experience.
After the milk has cooled I pour it into the culturing tub. To adequately dissolve and disseminate the culture, pour the culture powder into a small bowl, add a little of the heated milk and stir until it is thoroughly mixed and the culture grains dissolve.
Then pour the culture into the tub with the milk and stir very well, for about a minute, to make sure the culture is well distributed. If you don't, there may be pockets of milk that don't thicken up as well as others.
There have been times when I checked the consistency of the yogurt and it was still rather runny, so I left it a little longer. I have also added more culture. Then I found out that neither technique will result in a thicker product, it will just create a tangier flavor, which is not what we wanted. I have learned to watch the time more carefully and follow the directions on the culture package. Surprisingly, some cultures call for different amounts of time. This one indicates four to four and half hours. The last time I made this, four hours was not quite enough, so I use the four and a half hour time frame. This time I set the alarm so I would not forget to put it in the refrigerator at the right time.
It turned out a good consistency, thinner than store bought, but not runny.
I set aside some of the plain yogurt to save for culturing the next batch. Then I put it all in the frig. As it cools, it stops the culturing process.
We like sugar and vanilla to flavor our yogurt. For this 2 quart tub, I added 2/3 cup sugar.
And 2 capfuls of vanilla. Yes, capfuls. In other words, I take the lid off of the vanilla bottle and fill it up twice. I used to use a measuring spoon, but realized the cap was just about the same, so I use it instead. Stir it up very well to dissolve the sugar. It's edible right away, but I like it better after it sits for a while first.
This is another instance of really enjoying something made from our ingredients with the least amount of additives. Skimmed goat milk, powdered milk, culture, sugar and vanilla. And it's good for you to boot. And sometimes, Frank will even eat it.
Until next time - Fern
Hello, Frank here.
Hi Everybody. Okay, we have talked about housing, chicken breeds and along with housing we talked about how many chickens per square foot. Now we're going to talk about what to do the day the stork brings your baby birds. Unless you have a hatchery close by, 50 to 100 miles, then your birds will either be coming, probably that is, from a local feed store or by U.S. mail. Our first batch came from a local hatchery. It was about 140 miles round trip on a nice summer day, pretty drive. I will tell you more about our first day with chickens later on in this post. But either way, whether feed store or U.S. mail, your baby chicks are going to be exactly what I just said, babies. And being babies they will have different needs than adult hens and roosters.
So let's start with feed. Most people start their baby birds on some type of chick starter. You might say, "Why wouldn't everybody do this?" Well, because chick starters as general rule are also medicated and some folks just don't like medicating their birds starting from birth. I don't put any chemicals in my garden, but I do start my baby chicks with medicated chick starter. I can't tell you that the birds grow up healthier or stronger, it's just something that I choose to do. Chick starter is what's called crumbles. It's about the consistency, and maybe a little smaller than the breakfast cereal Grape Nuts. It kinda looks like it too. And
it's probably made from about the same ingredients. We feed our adult birds laying crumbles. But there are also laying pellets. It's hard to describe a pellet, but it's about a quarter of an inch round and extruded. If you've ever been around cattle, they are also fed with pellets except that they are about an inch in diameter. So, if you choose to not feed your baby birds a medicated starter feed, you can start them with regular laying crumbles. It's just one of those choice things, but most folks do start their babies with some type of baby chick feed. You don't need to get the feed wet or make it soft as you do with ducks and geese in many cases. And there is no other feed that you need to give your baby birds at this time besides either laying crumbles or chick starter, which is a crumble.
Water. Water is the first thing that you should provide your baby chicken. This is going to be hard to believe, but a baby chicken knows how to run, play, peck, eat, scratch, but you will have to teach them how to get their
first drink. So, before any feed or anything. Water. And you say well, how do I teach them how to drink? By example? No. Assuming you have a water bottle with a tray on the bottom turned upside down, when you get your chickens home, whether they are in a bag from the feed store, or a box from a hatchery via U.S. mail, they will need that first drink. Take out the first bird individually, hold him in the palm of your hand, put your thumb on the back of his little head and gently poke his little beak into the water, but don't hold it there. Hold him up, let him get a taste, and you can tell when they swallow that first little bit. Then repeat cycle. Now this sounds easy enough, but you've got a two or three day old bird in your hand. It's the first time you've ever done this and that little chicken is not going to cooperate. So, be patient, you're both learning at this time.
A little side note here. If for some reason you have a dead baby chick, do not feed it to your cat or dog. You do not want your pets to develop a taste for chickens. And on rare occasions, you will get a baby bird that is deformed. This is going to sound cruel and gross, but I wrap them in toilet paper and flush them. Proceding right along here, in our last batch of hatchery chicks, we had one with it's head backwards. Since it would never have the ability to eat, it would never, never thrive. This is what I'm talking about. You will someday have to get rid of a baby chicken. If you have children, try not to make a big deal out of this. It just happens.
Now continue taking every bird out of the box or bag and make sure every bird gets a good drink. Then you can introduce the food.
Okay, we've got food, we've got water. So where are you going to put these little critters? They need to be in a warm, 95 degrees, draft free, well lighted, predator secure environment. You can use about anything you want to use. If you have a chicken house secured with electricity and you have a corner to put them in, some type of heat lamp that they can gather under, a type of floor that is not slippery, this is a pretty good location, because the first week is the most critical time of all.
Here is the way that we have done it for years, or something close to it. We get a large cardboard box. Refrigerator boxes, paper towel or toilet paper boxes, things like that. By the way, I have raised baby chicks in large ice
chests and Rubbermaid totes, whatever fits for you. A little warning here. If you're going to keep them in your spare bedroom, put a couple of large trash bags underneath the box. Then we take large trash bags, fold them and duct tape them inside to the bottom of the box. Then we use newspaper as flooring. We masking tape it down around the edges. Some folks would disagree with this. They claim it will develop leg problems due to a slippery surface. We have never had this problem. You need a thermometer inside your box. The birds need to be at 95 degrees, and you can lower the temperature five to eight degrees per week. So when you duct tape the thermometer to the inside of the box, don't tape over the numbers you will
need to use. Put it where the thermometer measures it's temperature from at head level for the baby chickens, about 3 inches from the bottom of the box. Heat can be a sensitive issue. Too much heat will kill your baby chickens, not enough heat will also kill your baby chickens. If your heat source comes in contact with your cardboard box, it can cause a fire. I have never used a heat lamp with a cardboard box. Never. Here's how I do it. I take a light weight extension cord. Follow me here now. At the hardware store you will need to buy two inexpensive, small light fixtures. One, the first one,
needs a two prong plug that goes into the extension cord and opposite the two prong plug is a standard screw in light bulb socket. Okay, that's good for one light bulb. What I do next is buy an adapter that screws into that socket that allows you to use two light bulbs. It looks like a 'Y'. Then I use two light bulbs appropriate for the heat that I desire. Next get a 1 x 4 that will go across the width of your box, wrap your extension cord around it about four times, then you can adjust the heighth of where the lights are hanging by rotating your 1 x 4 up or down. The bulbs should not touch the chickens or any part of the cardboard box. This is one of those things that you will need to experiment with a few days before your chicks arrive. Why two bulbs? Just in case one bulb burns out. Have a good selection of different wattages. As your birds get taller, raise the lights up. You can put in a lower wattage to lower the temperature. If the birds are too hot, they will move away from the light. If they are too cold, they will gather under the light and there is a chance that a weaker bird may suffocate. It seldom happens though. So watch your birds. How do you keep the heat in? Take some cardboard pieces and lay them across parts of the top of the box. Don't cover the whole box though, because if it gets too hot, it will kill your birds.
Another side note. If your thermometer has a red ball on the bottom, your chickens will spend hours pecking that red dot. And also from birth, they will know that things hovering above are dangerous. I don't know how and I don't know why, but they know it. Now you need to have something to go across the top of the box, like rabbit wire, to keep out your friendly cat or dog. And when the chicks get to be about two weeks old they will become escape artists. So have your box set up ahead of time, check out the temperature day and night. When you've given all the babies a drink and put them in their box with their feed, the temperature in the box will start to go up. Pay attention.
Alrighty, next topic. A plugged vent. This is not what you think it is. If the temperature is not just right and the humidity is not just right a small percentage of the baby chicks will develop a crust on their butts or anus. When the birds defecate it will crust over, therefore blocking the chicks ability to vent or poop. And then the little guy will die. This will happen pretty early on in the birds development somewhere around seven days or so. So, what do you do? Get a wide shallow pan, put water in it. Get a handful of paper towels. Hold the little chick with it's crusted area facing toward you, wet the paper towel and get the crusty spot wet. If it's real, real hard, dip the opposite end from the beak into the pan of water. This soaks the crusty area and very gently remove the dried poop with the paper towel. You can't just pull it off because their body is still very fragile. This won't happen every time by any means. But it will happen. And I believe it's caused by a prolonged high temperature which causes dehydration. So, when you see this, you need to remedy it immediately. Now, it's not the same as a bird pooping and having a small amount of wet poop on it's butt. But if you find one bird with it, you'll probably find more. So, scare everybody down to one end of the box and pick up birds and start checking butts. Like I said, this might happen once or twice when the chicks are at a very young age. It's commonly called poopy butt.
Electrolytes. This is a supplement that we put in our baby chick water. Ask around the feed store and see if they have any. If not you can buy these products from Jeffer's or when you order the baby chicks from the hatchery they will tuck a package in with the baby chickens. I would highly recommend this to get your chicks started right.
Vaccinations. Some hatcheries will offer vaccinations for diseases that could occur locally. So check and see what they have to offer. It normally doesn't cost much. Some people get their birds vaccinated and some don't. Different hatcheries charge substantially different prices for vaccinating birds. Some have big, big differences. This is something that you need to pay attention to in figuring the cost of the bird. We have our birds that come from the hatchery all vaccinated.
About hatchery or feed store baby birds, I would highly recommend hatchery birds. The feed store birds have been handled by numerous people, not always gently and your not always sure about exactly what breed or sex of bird you're getting. If you order birds from a hatchery, barring any unforseen circumstances, when your chicks arrive you will know exactly what you're getting. Sometimes baby birds die. This is life. But the more reputable hatcheries will either refund or replace your birds in your next order.
Just like bringing any baby home, you need to be prepared. Feed store, co-ops, big chain animal supplies will have baby chick feeders, waters and extra gizmo stuff.
Now let me tell you my chicken story. When Fern and I got our first birds, this was pre-internet days, and we had read as much as we could about bringing baby birds home. All the literature said keep your birds at 95 degrees. So, on a nice summer day, in the southern part of our great country, we drove back from the hatchery with the heater on in the vehicle to make sure our baby birds stayed 95 degrees. We've grown a little since then and we laugh about it now. And speaking of laughing, I hope you have practiced your clucking. For your entertainment, I have included a video about how to cluck.
We'll cluck more later. Frank
