Making Castile
Castile soap is one of the oldest known soap formulations, originating in Spain, and made with olive oil.
True Castile soap is 100% olive oil, and is the mildest of all soaps.
True Castile soap is 100% olive oil, and is the mildest of all soaps.
Adding lye solution to olive oil
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Blending
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Ready to pour in the mold
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Almost done
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Then we wait, the mold will be covered, left to sit a minimum of 24 hours, for the entire chemical reaction, saponification, to take place. Once complete, the newly formed soap will be firm enough to cut. Castile requires an extensive cure time (drying), a minimum of 6 months, but I prefer to cure for 1 year. To compare, a non-castile soap only needs a minimum 6 weeks to cure, but longer is always better.
 Our very popular "50 Shades" in the mold
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A handful of Self Heal from my property
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Around the farm...
The king of flowers and bird seed, we plant many sunflowers to provide food to many critters, but especially the birds when they go to seed
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A very busy bee, on a thistle that I will allow to grow and go to seed to feed our many yellow finches that live here year round
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Jewel Weed, a natural remedy for poison ivy, nettles
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Elder Berries, we have dozens of these bushes, the flowers and berries have many herbal uses, not to mention, bird food
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Thistle gone to seed, very pretty in the sunlight
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The creek on our farm, in the spring when the snow melts, this is a fast moving 'river', but here, in late summer, it's a bit more relaxed
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One of my hard working friends, wondering what I'm looking at!
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Calendula in my garden that will find it's way into an oil infusion
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