Eight Acres

 Your grandmother probably had one of these by the sink for doing the dishes. It can also be used to dissolve soap for hand-washing in the laundry or putting some bubbles in your bath. You are going to wish you still had one because they are so useful! What is a soap shaker? A soap shaker (also known as a soap saver or suds maker) is the old-fashioned way of using a bar of soap for the washing up. Its just a metal cage with a handle. You put soap in the cage and swish it around in hot water to dissolve some soap. Then you can easily dry out the soap between uses so that it lasts longer. How can I use soap to reduce my plastic consumption? Like so many things now, we are realising that our grandmothers had some good ideas in the garden and around the house. They had to be frugal and make do with what they had. Naturally that meant less waste, and particularly less plastic. Soap shakers are the perfect way to reduce plastic in the kitchen - no more bottles of dishwashing liquid...

 After I started using a shampoo soap instead of shampoo in a plastic bottle, I really wanted to make a conditioner bar as well. This was after I tried NOT using conditioner, but it became pretty obvious that conditioner was necessary for my hair. I wanted a plastic-free option, so I tried a condition bar, and then of course I wanted to make my own. I hesitated about making a conditioner bar because I struggled to find "natural" ingredients. Eight Acres is all about handmade, natural and sustainable, and it wasn't easy to find a conditioner recipe that would work. However, I eventually decided that close enough was good enough if I could also help people to reduce their plastic consumption and offer a conditioner bar to go with my shampoo soap bar. What is conditioner? Conditioner works by smoothing the hair’s cuticle, which strengthens the hair shaft, preventing breakage. Hair that has been washed without conditioner feels dry, brittle and static. The key ingredient i...

 The Prickly Pear cactus ( Opuntia genus) is native to southern USA, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and tropical South America, this species of cactus was introduced to Australia in the 19th century f or use as a natural agricultural fence and in an attempt to establish a cochineal dye industry . Because of the lack of leaves and the tough outer skin of the pads, the plant is very drought-resistant and thrived in the Australian climate. It gradually took over vast areas of land until a biological control was introduced in the form of the Cactoblastis moth following WWI.     An invasive weed... Prickly Pear is now considered an invasive weed in Australia and is found throughout Queensland, including on our property. Thankfully I often see Cactoblastis larvae on them, so they are not out of control here. Several species of Opuntia cactus are known as prickly pear, and its most likely that we have Opuntia Stricta growing here as this is the most common speci...

Soapmaking Websites that I Love Modern Soapmaking Soap Queen Classic Bells Soap Making Resource Lovin Soap Soapmaking Books that I Love Simple & Natural Soapmaking , by Jan Berry (2017) The Natural Soap Making Book for Beginners , by Kelly Cable (2017) Both of these books are great for basic soapmaking information and step-by-step instructions with lots of beautiful photos, and some lovely recipes which you can follow exactly to create your own soap. Soap Naturally , by Patrizia Garzena and Marina Tadiello (2009) If you want to know more about the sopamaking process, without getting into too much detail, I found this book to be a fantastic starting point. It explains all the different oils and fats, colour, texture and fragrance options. Cold and hot-process soap methods are described in detail. It gives standard recipes and then explains how to devise your own recipes safely. Milk Soapmaking , by Ann L. Watson (2009) For more detail on working with milk/mylk and dai...

 The best thing about making your own soap is having fun with different techniques.  Once you have mastered basic soap making, its very easy to play around with different ingredients to create unique soaps.  For example, embeds, which is just soap inside a soap, are very simple and effective method to make a soap a little be special.    What is an embed? An embed is just soap that you put into your soap batter before it sets, to create different shapes and colours within your soap.  You can buy special moulds to make small soaps for embeds - for example stars or hearts.  Some mould are long and thin to make one continuous embed (that you can cut into small pieces if required) and others are more like ice-cube trays to make several smaller individual embeds (which you can place end-to-end in a loaf soap if you want a continuous embed.  You can also just cut finished soap bars into different shapes - long and thin, chopped up confetti or even t...

 Lately I have been working on a shampoo soap bar and now I'm ready to share it with you too! I have been through some transitions in my life, and hair care is no exception!  I remember at high school I had a huge collection of hair "products" and I liked to regularly dye my hair strange colours.  Fast forward to my mid-twenties and I started to use only organic products, no dye, minimal products.  I gradually reduced the amount that I washed my hair, to the point that it was only once a week and the giant bottles of organic shampoo and conditioner would last an entire year!   In 2011 I got the idea to trial not washing my hair at all , I just rinsed it with water occasionally.  It was kind of an interesting experiment that I continued for several years.  Then I gave the "no-poo"  baking soda and vinegar method a try after reading Lucy AitkenRead's book Happy Hair - The definitive guide to giving up shampoo: Save money, ditch the toxins and r...

 Beef tallow is a wonderful ingredient for handmade soap.  It makes a hard, longlasting soap, that is a gentle cleanser.  And on top of all of that, it is usually fairly cheap and easy to find locally.  While you can buy tallow (check out your supermarket near the butter usually), it often contains other additives and it is far cheaper to render it yourself.  Tallow is just rendered beef fat  The best fat to use is the kidney fat, as it is usually hard and white, so it makes a nice white tallow.  We have used the fat from beasts that we have had butchered, and I've also bought fat from butchers and abattoirs in our area, if you ask around, its usually available somewhere.  It doesn't take much effort to render fat into tallow, and the best method I have found is a slow cooker (or crock pot).  Basically all you're doing is melting it and straining out all the bits of sinew and stuff that isn't fat so you have a nice pure tallow.   ...

 One of my favourite websites for soapmaking ideas is Jan Berry's The Nerdy Farm Wife .  I also found her Natural Soap Making eBook really useful ( see my review back here ).  And she recently published a couple of real books: 101 Easy Homemade Products for Your Skin, Health & Home: A Nerdy Farm Wife's All-Natural DIY Projects Using Commonly Found Herbs, Flowers & Other Plants  (affiliate link) And Simple & Natural Soapmaking: Create 100% Pure and Beautiful Soaps with The Nerdy Farm Wife’s Easy Recipes and Techniques  (affiliate link) Both are packed with useful recipes based on natural ingredients, especially herbs and botanicals.     There are two things I like to get from soapmaking books.  One is actual recipes that I can use and the other is ideas for ingredients that I might incorporate into new recipes.  I don't expect to make all the recipes in a book, but I do like to be inspired with some new ideas.  I like...

 Selling my soap at markets and to friends and family has made me realise how many questions people have about handmade soap.  Here are the answers to some of the common questions I get from people who are interested in using handmade natural soap. 1. All soap is made with lye Soap is made by reacting fats and oils with lye.  Lye is also known as caustic, caustic soda or sodium hydroxide.  If you've used caustic to unblock a drain, that's exactly what I use to make soap.  Our ancestors used wood ash to make potassium hydroxide lye for soapmaking by percolating rainwater through a barrel of ash from a wood fire.  This was a very inexact science, and so the soap was often very harsh. These days we can buy very pure sodium hydroxide lye and weigh it out to make sure we use exactly the right amount in our soap.  Most soapmakers (myself included) actually use a little less lye than is really needed, so make sure that the soap has extra fat (this is ca...

I've been wanting to try making soap with milk for ages.  We haven't been milking our cows, so I was waiting for a friend to have enough goat's milk to spare.  I know I could just buy milk, but that seemed like a strange thing to do (you start to forget that milk comes from the shop when you've been milking a cow for a few years!).  Anyway, I was happy to wait as I had plenty of other soap to make. While I was waiting, I also received a review copy of a new soapmaking book called  The Natural Soap Making Book for Beginners: Do-It-Yourself Soaps Using All-Natural Herbs, Spices, and Essential Oils  (Affiliate link), by Kelly Cable of the blog Simple Life Mom .  Kelly has an amazing Etsy shop full of soaps and natural lotions, so I am very excited that she has decided to share her experience and recipes in this book.  And seeing as it contains several goat milk soap recipes and my friend finally had some goat milk to spare, I recently got my chanc...

Have you heard of a soap saver?  I hadn't until recently.  A friend mentioned to me that she was putting the small bits of soap in a sock and that I should think about crocheting a little bag instead.  And then they keep popping up on social media, so I thought I would give it a go.  Am I the only one who hoards the little end bit of soaps that are too small to use?  I have a bit of a collection of them.  So I whipped up a little soap saver sack and filled it up with a few odd soap ends and I'm very pleased with the results.  If you can do basic crochet, they are very easy to make, but you can also knit or sew a simple soap saver (or last resort - use an old sock!). Crochet soap saver pattern I used cotton yarn from the local market.  You could use any yarn.  I liked cotton as it can be composted (wool, hemp, bamboo or sisal would also be compostable). Chain 6, turn Chain 1 and single crochet back along the chain Don't turn, but k...

I'm not saying that I never make soaping mistakes, but I have figured out how to get my recipes right 99% of the time.  I am on a soapmaking group on FB and every day or so someone will post that they forgot to add an oil or a butter to the recipe, or wondering why the soap hasn't turned out right.  I am surprised because I don't have this much trouble.  Here are three tips from my experience with soapmaking that will help you to avoid soaping mistakes: Accurate scales You can skimp on all equipment except for scales.  It is absolutely important to have stable and accurate scales so that you can measure exactly the right amount of fats/oils and caustic.  One of the biggest causes of soaping mistakes is inaccurate measurement of oils or caustic, which results in incomplete reaction and soap that turns out too soft (or too caustic/ high pH). Keep it simple The more complicated your recipe, the easier it is to make a mistake, leave something out or mea...

I may  have mentioned this before.... soap making is addictive!  Once you start, you just want to keep making more soap.  And not the same soap, you want to try all sorts of different soaps.  I made the mistake of joining a facebook group called Saponification Nation  and now my facebook newsfeed is full of glorious soaps, in all colours and shapes, which makes it even harder to resist the urge to experiment.  One soap that kept popping up a few weeks ago was soap made with beer. I generally prefer not to use ingredients just for the sake of it, I like to know that they are adding something to the properties of the finished soap.   As you know, I don't like to use artificial ingredients either (colours or fragrances).   When I read about beer in soap I found out that beer adds sugar to the mixture, which increases lather.  I use tallow in my soap, which has limited lather, so anything that adds lather could improve the soap.  ...

Blog reader Jeriann Ireland offered to send me a post about homemade health and beauty products.  This is of course an interest of mine, as I make a lot of different products myself.  Some are just personal experiments and some I share on my Etsy shop .  My reasons are much the same as Jerriann discusses in this post - save money, know the ingredients and take control of your health.  Jeriann is a writer and crafter who makes homemade body care products and fun craft items, mostly as gifts for her friends and family. She loves learning about beneficial and harmful ingredients in everyday products and finding alternatives that fit her health goals. See more of her writing at dairyairhead.com . ********* I used to think that “health and beauty” as a category was a bit odd. Health and beauty aren’t necessarily related. You can be healthy and ugly, and you can be beautiful and sick. But when you look at what society considers beautiful, it’s often tied to ...

Soapmaking seems to be quite an addictive hobby.  Luckily I can sell it, otherwise we would have soap to last a lifetime already.  My latest recipe uses honey and beeswax from our hives, and oatmeal. Oatmeal has a soothing effect on skin, and also helps to retain essential oil scent in the soap.  The honey provides both colour and healing properties.  Beeswax is added to this soap to make it harder and provide a subtle honey scent.  This soap will get very hot due to the honey.  When adding beeswax, its best to cut it into small pieces or grate it, so that it will dissolve quickly, otherwise you will be stuck stirring your fats and oils after everything else is ready! Like all my soaps, I like to use tallow in the recipe.  You can read more about why I use tallow and find all my other soap recipes in the posts linked further down.  I am currently working on an ebook with all my tallow soap recipes and a step-by-step guide to cold process...