What have I been up to? Need you Ask..

Making soap of course.  I have delved into making soap with wine.  There is a knack, that's for sure.  Oh but the sweet sweet smell.  Pure and ripe fruit, who knew?

Look how pretty!


THIS IS WHAT'S NEW TOO:
I also made some SHAMPOO.  There is NO SODIUM LAUREL SULFATE (BAD, BAD, BAD!) This will rival any natural shampoo on the market!
This soap is an act of patience, patience and more patience.

Look at the transformation.....

Bubble Bubble Toil and Trouble.....

Then it became the BEST Shampoo ever.

Oh, yeah....did I mention we make Hospitality Packages for B and B's and hotels.  Cool huh?!  All natural too. 

Look out Crabtree and Evelyn here we come!

Cherries, oh those pretty cherries.

Well have you ever had one of those experience where at the end you thought "What was I thinking." I was at my Farm Chicks meeting and we were talking about canning safety. I live in Eastern Washington where we grow a ton of food. Well, it is cherry season. We have had a lot of rain, it does not rain here very much (we are in the dessert), which is not good for cherries. They swell and split, not so good! One of our farm chicks, mentioned that her family has an orchard and they were not picking their cherries because they were not pretty enough for our store so they are leaving them on the trees, it is not worth it to pick. I could not believe it. What a waste, well she said we could go pick all we want. Rweally, I said that too, can u stand it? I was having a Scooby Do moment.

We the next day, we hopped in the van and headed to Mattawa. I took 4 buckets and two people to help. We got there finding the trees we started picking and picking and picking. Then greed set in, greed in the respect that the cherries were right there there were lots and lots. I could hardly stand it. It took us about and hour and a half to pick all the buckets, did I mention they were 5 gallon buckets. THAT IS ALOT OF CHERRIES, ALOT!

Don't worry it they all go used. I froze some for my dad to make wine with, we took some to work a whole bucket they were gone by noon. I canned the rest. I am ready to open a jar. Did I mention they were Rainier Cherries. Nope I don't think so. I won't eat eat too many, oops too late.

What else does WD 40 do?

I would have to say that WD 40 is quite the little miracle products.  I really try my best to not use things that are bad for the environment or my family.  BUT, let me just say with a big BUT that sometimes I fail, out of frustration, laziness or just plan brain deadness. 

We live in the Tri-Cites, Dessert with very very hard water.  Our water is so hard it dries like chalk, I am not kidding.  We are looking at moving from our home and I really wanted to get those darn bath tubs clean.  Of course they are fiber glass and everything you can use on them is taboo.  RIGHT!  Who listen to the manufacturer any way.

I have tried Comet, Soft Scrub, Oxyclean and Bleach (at the same time)  and could not get that hard water stains off.  You know the ones, the ones that look like you are a pig and you never clean your tub.  It is totally gross.  Makes me wonder, never mind that will conjure up all other things.  Any way, where was I.  I guess I figured what the heck, I'll give it a try.  (I saw it on the Internet how bad could it be. ) 

I sprayed it in just a spot, ok a rather large spot.  Got the scrubbiest scrubber I had and was ready to go to town.  I let it sit 5 minutes, it was hard to wait, but it did it.  I put a lot of elbow grease it to it and it was smooth and white.  So, I went on the hunt for WD 40, sorry honey!  I sprayed and waited and scrubbed.
I was so proud.  WOW!!!! I was so exited I ran to the store and bought the extra large bottle and moved on to the next bathroom!  I was on my way. 

Here is my tip with the WD 40, follow it up with a little Dawn dish washing liquid on a washcloth and wipe down the spots you used the WD 40 on.  Just a little safety precaution, ask me how I how.

Happy Cleaning
M

Soap, Soap, Oh...How I Love Soap

So I have a blast making all my liquid soap combinations.  From:  My new Citrus Basil to Lemony Lemon /w Lemon Grass, to Lavender to Lavender and last but not least Lavender Mint.  Oh, how I love my soap.  Made with all natural ingredients and essential oils.  I even have a shampoo in the middle.  I love my shampoo!! Even my hubby likes it.  I haven't quite figured out how to make a nice cream rinse yet, but I WILL!  Nighty Night Getting up early for the Market!

Strawberries, yummy, yummy

Nothing like a walk in your garden.  I picked 1 lb of Strawberries just from my little garden.  I have already picked 2 lbs and have several more coming.  I love the fact that we have very few slugs.  I has rained so much in the last 2 weeks we feel like we are in the Puget Sound not the Dessert.  I know this will make a great summer for our crops. 

The cherry growers are worried about the cherries getting to much water.  It makes them split.  There will not be as big of a bumper crop as it was laster year, but the cherries are bigger.

Did you know...the growers hire a helicopter pilot to fly over the crops to blow off the water on the cherries. $12,000 an hour, we are in the wrong job!

Kisses

Wine? Any one?

Well let me tell you living in the Heart of the Wine Country in Washington does have its advantages.  I made WINE Soap.  Yes, I know why would you want to smell like a bottle Merlot.  Well let me tell you why...As we know wine has so many good qualities beneficial for the skin as well as your body and mind.

I still make the soap with all the nourishing properties of a rich hand made soap, but the sugars in the wine bring an intense fruit smell.  I made my first batch using my Dad's "Island Bell" wine.  A nice Rose'.  It smells fabulous and I have just made it imagine when it is ready to use.  Take a look and let me know what you think.

I just took it out of the mold this morning so it is a little damp.  I am so excited.  Imagine the color with a nice Cab/Sav or a Merlot.

I cannot wait.

Look, now i know where everything is....

Did you ever just want to pull your hair out, because you could not find your Metal Spoon or your Measuring cups.  Well let me tell you that keeping your Soap stuff away from your Kitchen stuff can be a challenge.  I finally solved that problem.  I found a great utensils carrier and it fits all sorts of items.  So when I got to make soap or lotion, I just grab it and take it to the kitchen.  It is metal so my metal measuring spoons stick right to it.  My funnels and hand mixer even fit.  Too Cool.