Soap Making in the Planning Stage

I found the bucket with the Coconut Oil – I had purchased a twenty pounder awhile back. I recently ordered 4 gallons of Olive Oil from ebay and got it for about $12 a gallon, but I had to pay for shipping as well. The third oil which is basic to my recipe, vegetable oil, is easily obtained at a mainstream grocery in the form of ~crisco~ or something like that. Various other oils could be used such as shea butter, cocoa butter or many others – research into their skin beneficial qualities would provide many other choices but the three basics – coconut (for sudsing action), olive and vegetable are the ones I always use as a base. 

The lye was purchased in a larger quantity from a wholesaler in Dallas. I would have liked to purchase a larger quantity – like a 20 gallon drum, but storage of this very dangerous chemical would have been an insurmountable challenge before I had a safe, secure, dry location to store it. In the meantime I have 5 pre-measured bags of lye, enough for 5 batches of soap.

I don’t use water to mix my lye, rather an herbal tea, refrigerated overnight. My personal favorite is Comfrey, an herb known for its skin-healing properties. I think that making the tea must also establish the correct PH since I never have problems when I make it with tea rather than plain water. I’ve heard of mixing the lye with goat’s milk but someone had a problem with her end product stinging when she used milk for the mixture. I couldn’t say what caused this but I was getting my goat’s milk direct from the farm and never had that problem.

Cosmetic grade fragrance oils were purchased by the quart and I have 3 remaining – sugar cookie, patchouli and the label is worn off the third.

So, those are my ingredients although I could add oatmeal, fresh dried herbs and many other ingredients for varieties in selection and use.

Mixing the ingredients is a key step in the process. Both the hot and the cold have to meet in the middle at temperatures between 120-125 f in order for the chemical process to occur. To facilitate their merge, I use an electric mixer on a stand. The small bowls on these mixers won’t be large enough for the measurements I use so a purchase of a large aluminum bowl (glass too dangerous – I wouldn’t want to take a chance on that breakage) to fit a stand mixer that holds ‘other’ bowls. 

I recently purchased a Sunbeam FPSBHS030 250-Watt 5-Speed Hand and Stand Mixer Combo cookware kitchen that I will NOT be using for soap making – too flimsy. I bought on ebay but amazon sells cheaper. Doesn’t matter what you pay for it, I wouldn’t take a chance on making soap in it. 


In the past I’ve used a SUNBEAM MIXMASTER 12 SPEED STAND MIXER which worked very well. Unfortunately it was lost during a storage move. I’d like to find another and there are several on Craigslist for Kalamazoo. Guess I might have to make a drive over there. KitchenAid makes an expensive one that might be more power than I need for this project.

This is the Sunbeam mixer I’m looking for. Happy Shopping~

A Lovely Day in the Community Garden

We planted today. Three of us planted our own sections and the rest worked on plantings for the Food Pantry. I planted Comfrey=finally, and some Cilantro-a must have, plus Beets, Carrots, Lettuce and a handful of radishes. One fellow’s grandchildren were joining him to have their first experience with the wonder of gardening in the form of radish planting.

We lived next door to the most delightful woman as I was growing up. There was some turbulence in my home during my preteen years as my Father experienced several strokes, heart attacks and eventually, death.

Mrs. Mazey lived next door and she brought a ray of light into my heart. I remember her laying with me as I tried to fall asleep, her asking me to sing her my favorite hymns, all the while, they were working on my father in the living room—the rotation of the red blinking light through the open front door, down the hall and onto my bedroom door. And later as the years passed, she always spoke with me as though I were an adult no matter how immature I acted. She asked me interesting questions and listened thoughtfully to my answers. I'll always remember her.

Mrs. Mazey gardened. She taught me about lettuce and radishes, tomatoes and together with my mom, the joys of bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches on homemade bread, toasted with mayonnaise. Nothing short of heaven.

So, today I planted and I’ll post some pictures in a couple of weeks to show you how its sprouting. In the meantime, our Sponsor, Gene Hanover, Manager at the Watervliet Fruit Exchange has let us know that the first plants are beginning to come in. He has tomato, pepper and cabbage plants; also strawberry, geranium and petunia plants. Additionally the Saturday classes have begun to fill up.

There is no cost associated with the Saturday Morning Gardening Classes, but he does appreciate a holler so he makes sure he’s got enough chairs ready for all who want to come. We’ll be posting the class schedule on the website soon.

See you there!

Home Grown in SouthWest Michigan

I love Blueberries. They may be Superfood and that’s great, I’m definitely into eating healthy. This weekend is the South Haven Blueberry Festival and it sounds like a fun time for all. But I don’t have to go anywhere this year – I’m surrounded by fresh blueberries!

In southwest Michigan it’s easy to enjoy eating healthy with the abundance of local produce. Fresh Sliced, homegrown tomatoes are on my plate most evenings, with buttered Corn-on-the-cob and something off the grill. Life is good when I’m eating good. Right here, right now, it’s easy and it’s cheap!

Fall is coming, I know. I just got the letter of approval from Wayne State for a May 2011 graduation. This will be my second Master’s degree, this time in Information Science. In addition to eating, I do enjoy going to school, obviously. 100% online, I spend my time doing what I enjoy.

I know, I know, the world around me seems to be crumbling with the stock exchange dropping to new lows, unemployment, war, and all the chaos. I’m just holding steady, maintaining my faith, being grateful for all the good in my life and dancing while I can still hear the music (between bites).

Please comment

I love Google Analytics!! I had added it to my blog awhile back but wasn’t getting any info (I thought no one was reading it)… turns out I missed one subtle detail. BUT, thanks to one of my classes this semester I got the missing piece. So, I’ve been able to see that Yes, Lots of people are visiting my blog and I can see what city they are in but I didn’t know I had friends in those cities.

Please, please, please, let me know who you are. Comment if you like. I’m really interested in your opinion (I think).

I got inspired this week; I noted an ad for a writing contest in the Oakland Press. They want a 3-5 minute script. On impulse I clipped the ad and set it on the kitchen table. That’s an area that gets visited frequently and I need my visual reminders in plain view. A roommate once said that after we hung a curtain on a hall closet, the closet disappeared. Neither of us ever thought to look there when we were searching for something we knew was in the house, somewhere. If I can’t see it, I forget it. Makes for a mess in the bedroom but that’s another story.

So, I need to think of a story for the writing contest. I have a few of them, a few that I think about from time to time and know that I need to develop further, one that I’d like to expand into a novel, a few that would go well in a collection of short stories (maybe not too many of those), but the problem is what is right for a screen play.

I watch movies every day. I get no televised programming on my set… it’s for video only. I vary between Netflix, Blockbuster, Redbox, public library and whatever I hear of next. My current favorite is Netflix because of the streaming video. But that’s taking me off on another subject again.

I took a cinematography class last summer from Texas Woman’s University. It was a distance class but provided an excellent text book, inspirational discussion with classmates and many recommendations for movies I hadn’t yet seen. We studied color, setting, script, music, all sorts of interesting concepts related to film that we normally just process without awareness. I became more aware.

Plus, a friend of mine sold a screenplay and that really got me excited. I picked up a couple of books on how to write a screenplay – a little different than the novel or short story and started thinking about it. So, here I am with a contest requiring a 3-5 minute script. I just have to decide which story to create an excerpt from. I’m on the case.

Library

Libraries are alive and well in 2009. The cornerstone of my youth, brick building on the corner, housing an unlimited number (it seemed to me) of mysteries that kept me awake at night, under the covers, flashlight in hand. They’ve changed a bit.

My current enrollment at Wayne State University in the Library and Information Science Master’s Degree program is giving me quite an education. Libraries are Information Access points. The librarians are Information Access Specialists.

Want the answer to a question? Google it or Ask a Librarian. What’s the difference? Google will provide you a list of websites that have a pretty good chance of providing the answer to your query, if you searched correctly and if you choose a reliable source from that list Google gave you. However, the librarian will probably ask you a few questions to make certain that the question they hear is the one you truly are asking. Then, they will tell you where they found the answer and what it is. Chances are very good it will be an accurate answer from a reliable source and current.

How’s that for an information source? No charge of course. Public Libraries are funded by the municipality, so you paid for the service when you sent in your taxes. There are no charges for the information services, or the movie rentals at the Public Library.

So, why do we hesitate to ask our questions or use their services? I think we don’t know what an excellent resource is available to us. The center is usually close in the neighborhood, but you can talk to them via live chat, or telephone. Just ask for the Reference Librarian.

Get online and find out if the movie you want is available or the music CD and then reserve it online. You can drop by and sit in a comfy chair and browse any of many magazines in all sorts of interests and take home the movie of your choice, free of charge.

Check it out.

The Courage to be Successful

We often think of fear of failure as presenting the highest challenge to stepping off into a new venture, a new lifestyle, a new endeavor, but I think the other side of that coin is more prevalent for some of us.

Not that I haven’t enjoyed a modicum of success in this more-than-a-season lifetime I’ve been here, but not to the degree that I have a vision might be in the making.

I plan to graduate in a few weeks. I’ll be receiving a degree earned from an institution of higher learning, that only in the last few years became a reality that I had any thought or consideration might be one that I would enjoy.

Leaving high school earlier than graduation, I had visions for us of the marital bliss that I saw around me and a husband I thought was to be my permanent partner. He’d been my first boyfriend and as I continued down that path bearing two children by him, I assumed we would weather the storms and settle into a lifestyle similar to our parents. My innocence was probably typical of the age bracket.

Returning to high school night school a few years later and then classes at the community college to prepare myself for a career that would support raising my children by myself, I saw my highest future, sitting at a desk with a regular weekly salary and necessary benefits like insurance and sick pay.

That goal soon was overshadowed by that of a career in computer programming, and after struggling for a few years, was fairly easily reached. It was a little more challenging to achieve and required a move a thousand miles away from my family, friends and the place of my birth.

But, it too, was soon enough, filled with complacency and I yearned for a higher purpose.

Floundering through the creation of small, homegrown businesses and acquiring licenses to perform various and sundry practices, the plans weren’t mature and the addiction to the money provided by the corporate career, of too high a value.

This century and life itself provided an opportunity for me to leave the safety of a skill that came easily and naturally to me. I needed a new plan and a return to school was imminent.

That was 5 years ago and much has changed in that time. I’ve moved back to Michigan, quite unexpectedly, due to the death of my former husband and long time close, personal friend. I’ve all but abandoned any consideration that I will return to computer programming and corporate life. I’ve been educated.

I received a more than worthwhile education from Texas Woman’s University. My world view is larger and more in depth. I truly can see the big picture. I know how a lot of it works.

And now, I begin to see a keyhole, an opening in the universe, where I can insert the skills and knowledge that I’ve acquired over the years to an idea that has been calling for attention from within my psyche. As I write the business plan, I begin to see that it might really work. That’s the scary part.

This morning I have lots of work left to do on the assignments remaining for this semester. I really must put aside my thought of tomorrow and work on today. I will. I have the requisite self discipline, honed to an art form. I’ll eat, drink, breath and think about what’s in front of me today and I’ll get it done in a timely manner.

But tomorrow, tomorrow is right around the corner and I see the light starting to increase as I approach the end of this hall and soon will be able to round the corner, with full expectation of the light of God that is waiting for me.

I can do it. I know I can, I always have.

Second Life

I’m going to have to abandon this blog for a few days, now that I’ve spent way too many hours on it, yesterday and the day before. I’ve got some big assignments due that must be completed, well, and in a timely manner. I hesitate to admit it publically, but I’ve been in work avoidant mode as I’ve spent way too many hours researching videos and coding for this site.

How can I say its work avoidant, and not just taking some time off for R & R? Because last night I was up until almost 4am, working on Julianne Mexicola, my alter ego in Second Life. In other words, these last few days, I’m still sitting in front of the computer, still typing, still gazing into the screen, but I’m not moving forward on my projects, I’m Playing!

If you aren’t up to speed on Second Life, take a few minutes to view the videos at the bottom of this page, below all my blogging. The video selections, which aren’t individually picked by me, just the topics, are gifts from YouTube. The heading is Second Life and they tell who, what, where, and all that stuff about this do-it-ourselves, virtual world being created.

Before I go off on another tangent, and make it an SL kind of a day, I’m going to leave it to you, my reader, to do that yourself and hope you enjoy visiting the 3D world. If not, please, please, get into the discussion on community gardens or urban farming or something. Feel free; in fact I encourage you, to comment on my posts.

Or follow me, something only the crazed attempt to do in the real world.

Sustainability

So what is Urban Farming? In Detroit, seriously? Yes, it’s happening. The alternative to leaving the trashed vacant lots empty and useless as teams of Detroit residents are getting together with help from organizations like Earthworks Garden/Capuchin Soup Kitchen, The Greening of Detroit and MSU to work together creating community gardens.

Community gardens provide food security, healthy choices at that, especially for low income persons. They usually are created in an open space and provide areas of fellowship. They help form strong bonds between neighbors, working together to provide food, while enjoying nature and healthy exercise. Most importantly they provide sustainability.

Community businesses can do that too. Do we need a large corporation to come and build a factory so that we can spend eight hours or more a day inside making widgets to sell to people who don’t need more stuff? Can we create a business where we work together, sharing the load, each person doing work they enjoy and do well, contributing to the whole, creating a useful product that we can sell at a reasonable price and still make a profit? Can we become sustainable in our own backyard?

Something to think about.

Soap Making

It’s that time of year again - Farmer’s Markets and Arts & Craft Fairs, that is. I heard rumors, nothing positive, that Lake Orion might be hosting a FM this year. I’ve sent an email request to the Village Offices for a vendor application, just in case, but haven’t heard back yet.

I’ll be heading to Dallas in a few weeks for the final presentation in my last class, of my last semester in business school and will quickly return, loaded down with personal favorites from the storage unit and high hopes that one more trip will eliminate that monthly bill from my budget.

Soap-making supplies will be included on my list of things to remember as I load the van for the return trip to Michigan. I have plenty of space here to set up a soap-making kitchen and store the bars as they meet the curing requirement.

I’m excited about the possibility of getting back into the fun (and work) of this creative endeavor. Who knows where the trail may lead me?

One thing always leads to another

I pick up a piece of thread and an hour later, I’m amazed to look around and see where I ended up.

Last week’s Free Press had an article on Farming Detroit. Wow, that’s positive. Things are looking up. The work of organizations like Detroit Garden Resource Program, Greening of Detroit, Detroit Agricultural Network, Michigan State Extension and Earthwork Gardens came to my attention when I simply Googled Farming Detroit.

A huge movement is underway in the city that I once visited only during daylight hours and escaped promptly at 5 pm, Monday through Friday. Having grown up in St. Clair Shores, Detroit had a reputation that only worsened after the sixties riots. When I left in 1981, I felt like a deserter and I was. I sought career opportunities in the Southwest and I found them. But now I’m back.

Having visited Lake Orion this past summer for the first time in my life, I fell in love with the abundant lakes, trees and curvy country roads. I live downtown and walk everywhere. I’m finishing up my degree from Texas Woman’s University and am looking into continuing my education in Oakland or Wayne County. Wayne State University attracted me because of the online distance classes. No, I really didn’t want to spend too much downtown Detroit, but there was a certain flavor to the air in the WSU area that I remembered fondly from the old days, especially at Traffic Jam & Snug, one of my all time favorite pubs that I was so glad to still standing and thriving. So, I am just so pleased to see the community gardens and the personal investment into the city of Detroit.

I’m already working on my garden here in downtown Lake Orion. I’ve got the green light from my landlord and collected twelve bags of leaves from my sister’s house in Ferndale that are waiting for the site to be ready. I’ve enlisted a fellow from the neighborhood to till up my spot and plan to get some landscaping timbers this week to frame it in. Full steam ahead as my mouth is already starting to salivate at the thought of home-grown organic Michigan tomatoes in the backyard, next to cucumbers, onions, squash and peppers.

I decided to Google community garden Lake Orion Michigan and found a blog post from someone looking to start a community garden here. Yikes, maybe there is even greater hidden treasure in this lush little village that I’m falling in love with, than I originally thought.

A new tenant, a lady about my age, is moving into the upstairs flat of this quaint house that I rent this weekend and I’ve already told her to feel free to take a patch of the garden for her own. But maybe, there are others. Who knows where this is going. I’m just following threads and enjoying all the flowers I get to stop and smell along the way.

Tickets for Graduation

I’m graduating from TWU in Texas next month. Yes, it took me a ~long~ time to get that under my belt. MBA is a nice add-on to one’s name though, don’t you think?

Due to my pending perm-relocation to the Winter Wonderland, I won’t be in Texas for graduation ceremonies. The University provides six tickets for guests.

A number of people responded to my offer of the tickets for a dollar amount. However, the University has told me that I can’t sell what I was given as a free gift. I can understand that. However, the numbers of people that are requesting my tickets are greater than the number of tickets I have. Here’s what I will do, give them free to the person or persons who provides the best reason for choosing them.

Please post a brief response to this blog post, telling me why I should give them to you, instead of someone else.

They will be given away, I promise.