Laundry Detergent

Made Homemade Laundry Detergent this morning. It is the liquid kind.
The idea is credited to Larissa Williams, my cousin.
The original source is http://duggarfamily.com/content/duggar_recipes/30455/homemade_liquid_laundry_soap_front_or_top_load_machine_best_value

Ingredients:
1 Bar of Fels Naptha Soap (can be found in either the laundry aisle or the bar soap aisle of your neighborhood grocery store. It's actually really easy!)
1c. Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (It has to be washing soda, not baking soda or Arm and Hammer Detergent)
1/2c. Borax (also not hard to find. It will be in the laundry aisle of your neighborhood grocery store)
Tap water

When I first heard of this recipe, I didn't really want to try it. I had never heard of the ingredients and was worried about having to find them in the store. After my cousin, Larissa, mentioned doing the recipe on Facebook, I knew finding the ingredients couldn't be that hard (especially since she mentioned you could find them at Wal-Mart!). So don't be discouraged if the ingredients seem foreign to you. 

Step 1: Grate the Fels Naptha Bar.
           - This was the most time consuming part! I felt like it took quite a while. Fels Naptha is harder than even a fresh cheddar cheese. But it smells good and doesn't take much effort, just time. I'm going to be investigating some other ways to melt the Fels Naptha since the only reason for grating it is to make Step 2 go faster and more uniformly.

 Step 2: Add the grated soap bar to a sauce pan. Add 4 cups of hot tap water. Heat on medium heat until melted and dissolved, stirring continuously.

             -  This step also seem to take quite a while. I did not stir continuously, but pretty close. You do need to stay close to the pot at all times, to stir and prevent burning, but more importantly, when it is close to being done, it will easily boil over if you are not stirring it and paying attention. Mine didn't boil over, but it tried. I would say this step takes about 5-10 minutes.

 

-- Water with unmelted, unheated, Fels Naptha grated bar--

 -- Melted Fels Naptha bar --

Step 3: Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water
          - You should fill this up after the Fels Naptha is melted. Because the water in the bucket has to be hot. If it isn't your freshly melted soap will harden in the cold water. I left the Fels Naptha mixture on my stove on low heat to keep it hot while I filled the bucket. I let my son (2.5 years old) help with this.

Step 4: Add the borax, melted Fels Naptha, and the washing soda to the water. Stir until it is all dissolved.

Step 5: Fill the bucket to the top with hot tap water. Stir, cover, and let stand or 8 hours or more. 12 hours is best.

-- Full 5 gallon bucket with Borax, Washing Soda, Fels Naptha, and water--

 -- 5 gallon bucket covered to stand--

** I am using one of my serving trays on top because my bucket didn't have a lid. My cousin Larissa covered hers with a lid from one of her pans. however, none of my pan lids would fit. **

Step 6: After the soap is gelled through out (8-12 hours), stir and fill your laundry containers half way with the soap. Fill the containers to the top with water.

 --Stirred--

 --My containers this time around--

 --How I got the soap into the gallon jugs--

USE: Shake before use. 1/4 cup per load





Notes:
Next time I hope to have laundry soap containers, not just the gallon jugs. Next time I want to measure the soap to make sure that I am putting in the appropriate amount. I think this batch may be a tad on the strong side, but that's ok. Next time, I'll definitely have better labels and make it prettier. I want to add essential oils next time too.

A New Beginning

Hello to all.
I think it will be quite a while before I have followers, but just in case, I think an introductory post is in order.
I am Lara Dupuis. I am the mother of a wonderful little boy who will be 3 in September 2012 and a wife. We have 3 cats and 1 corgi mix puppy (for now). Later this summer, we are getting our chickens and some goats. We will be planting a 12x12 garden and eventually replacing most of our lawn with native, edible plants. We are embarking on quite an endeavor in our new Homesteading desires.
I feel like we are pioneers, approaching a new frontier with much work to do. However, this to me is a hobby. I find it fun and very exciting! We both grew up in the country, but neither of us had a 'real' country upbringing, very few meat or dairy animals, few homemade clothing, fewer trips gathering native and wild food sources.
To me, this all sounds like a dream. Something out of some of my favorite books. When I was younger, I spent a lot of time reading books about native peoples (Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear series comes to mind, as well as William Sarabande's The First American's series , and now with the Hunger Games Series). I loved to play gather plants and berries, make dyes, salves, mashes, and teas. Now I look out  my window and see two jars full of water, one with blackberry leaves and one with mint leaves. Sun brewed tea is the best.
I pick plantain (what most people would consider a common weed) in the mornings so have for salad or cooked greens at lunch. I can't wait until the berries start to spring up because I have lots of plans for them! I plan on planting roses so I can gather rose hips in the fall (to make jam, jelly, dry them for tea, pies, and even eat them raw). Did you know roses are related to apples? And that rose hips (the seed bulbs that form after the flowers die) taste slightly like apples? Sounds delicious to me!
This blog will be filled with great ideas, adventures, and changes. It will have yogurt and cheese recipes, recipes for making laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, shampoo and conditioner, body wash, and even bar soap. It will have food recipes and tips for gardening. It will have our livestock adventures, tips and mishaps as well. Wish us luck, and hope to have you along for the journey!