I am not a prepper, I am NOT a prepper, I am NOT a PREPPER!

No, we just like our food fresh from our own pantry!

Wednesday we went to the Excelsior,MO Mennonite community. We bought this 1/2 bushel of peaches for $12.

So over the weekend I put up 21 pints of peaches.  I also canned 11 pints of pinto beans and 9 pints of chili beans.  

I then rewarded us with this lovely peach pie!

I also made 5 pints of pizza sauce. I froze it in individual containers, 25 in all! Not pictured is the 6 pints of spaghetti sauce that I made at the same time. 

The blacksmith made soap the past few days. On the left is a pumice soap, similar to Lava. On the right is a mild Castile soap.

It's been a very productive weekend.

I repeat, I am not a prepper! (Not sure about the blacksmith though) We just love our fresh stuff!

99 bottles of beer on the wall . . .

99 bottles . . . wait I mean bars of soap.  

Well we don't have 99 bars yet, but at the rate he's making it, we soon might. Yesterday's batch is the white soap he calls a "Castile" style soap. (And Margie if you're reading this you know you might have homemade soap at your house soon.) (Phil did you get the recipes I emailed you?)

Valentine's day is fast approaching. Today he made me the heart hanger to hang my Griswold/Wagner muffin pan. When he gave it to me, he said Happy Valentine's day a little early. And why that clock has military time, I have no clue.

Today we rearranged all our cast iron skillets.  They range from #I to a #8. I am still looking for a #11 Wagner skillet. There will be no more pineapple upside-down cakes again until I find one.  (Thanks favorite BIL Pat, for stealing mine)

Soap making

It all started with 8 ice bags full of beef tallow.  It had to be diced and ground. (Trust me, cause I forgot to get a picture of that.)

It was then rendered over a gas burner, in a cast iron kettle. After partially cooled, it was filtered through one of my embroidered tea towels. Yes, my vintage towel. 

Here the blacksmith with his safety glasses on is heating the tallow and coconut oil. To that he added pine tar. We have found that pine tar soap helps dry skin and other skin aliments. 


The glasses and an open window are necessary as he first mixed distilled water and lye. This mixture is dangerous and can be an accident waiting to happen. 

When you add the lye water (after it cools to 93 degrees) you mix with it quickly with the oil mixture using a beater blade and a drill until the mixture starts to set up. 

It is then poured into wooden trays he made. As you can see he got 1 and 1/2 trays full of soap. It was then covered it with heavy plastic and several layers of heavy towels.  It has to cure over night. 

The next day he cut it into 2 inch x 3 inch bars. 

We now have 51 bars to cure out. This process will take about 2 to 4 weeks. If we would be stingy and keep it all, it would be enough, we figure, for about 2 years. 

Soap Making

I have been waiting to use up my last box of store purchased laundry detergent. I am almost there, so it's time to make laundry soap. A first for me. This recipe was published in Country Circuit magazine, A Three Rivers Electric Cooperative Production (my employer). We have had nothing but good things said about it.




This recipe will make a 5 gallon bucket full of liquid detergent. From friends who have made it, supposedly it can cost you less than $10 to do a year worth of laundry. I had to go to the blacksmith shop to borrow BT's Borax and Washing soda. No he doesn't do laundry in the shop! He uses the borax when forge welding. He uses the Washing soda in his cleaning tank to remove rust from metal.



I see at Drugstore.com, the Borax cost $8.69 for 76 oz. and The Arm and Hammer Washing soda is $5.99 for 55 oz. You only need 1 1/2 cups of each to make a gallon bucket of detergent. The Ivory soap is abut 50 cents a bar. I bought all of these supplies locally.

So here's the pot I used. See my Gnome on the Range is guarding it too.








So here's the recipe:
1 1/2 cup Washing soda
1 bar grated Ivory Soap
1 1/2 cup Borax
1 1/2 cup Powdered color safe bleach (optional) I did not use this.





Mix grated soap with 9 pints (that's 18 cups) warm water in a stock pot and heat on low stirring until dissolved






Stir in Washing Soda, Borax and bleach powder. Stir on low till foaming consistency.





Pour soap into 5 gallon bucket and fill with hot water, mix well. Set aside for 24 hours or overnight to thicken. Stir occasionally during the first 24 hours.


Use 1/2 cup per load of laundry. And as a side note, when you wash with this it will not suds. But then suds aren't what clean your laundry, they can actually dull your wash.