pintrest is turning me into a pioneer woman

Not THE Pioneer Woman - just a plain old ordinary pioneer woman. For the last few months I've been using body and hand scrub, gifts from my friend and my sister. For Christmas, many of the gifts I gave were handmade. And this weekend I made my own laundry detergent. All of these inspired by pintrest. Does someone have a board for decorating a sod house? Even better - building your own sod house? I feel just like Laura Ingalls Wilder.



Homemade laundry detergent was pretty simple. My sister made a batch several weeks ago. She likes using it and has convinced me to give it a try. Like my ancestors, I had to do some hunting and gathering. Actually, that was the hardest part of the process. I went to get the needed ingredients and came back with only one of the three. The next week, I tried another store - nothing. After about three or four attempts, I found the ingredients. Now I only needed a bucket. I went to Lowe's and forgot to get it. Then I went to Walmart and couldn't find the lids or anyone to help me locate them, got frustrated and left. On another visit to Walmart, I tried again but still couldn't find lids or help. I decided to just ask Lovey to bring me one of his buckets. He told me that he would - two weeks later and still no bucket. This week I finally found lids with the buckets at Walmart. When I brought it in Lovey said, "I had you a bucket ready." Really, doesn't do me a bit of good if you never bring it home! I just smiled and told me that I decided to just buy one. I'm sure Laura never had these problems with Alfonzo.

Finally, I had all of the needed ingredients and equipment. I followed the recipe here.

First I grated 1/3 bar of the Felsnaptha soap into a large pot.

I used a the fine grate side of a regular cheese grater. The soap has a clean, almost lemony, smell.

sorry for the blur - pioneers don't have time to worry about focus

I added 6 cups of water and turned on a medium heat. While the Felsnaptha was dissolving, I realized that I should have taken a picture of the soap before cutting it. So here's the bar - with 1/3 of it missing. It soft enough to cut easily with a large knife.

After the Felsnaptha dissolved, I added the Borax and the Arm and Hammer Washing Powder (1/2 cup each). And stirred until everything dissolved.  Then it's time to move everything to the bucket.

Pour 4 cups of hot water in the bucket and add the soap mixture.

These two  were very curious. With all the baths Lucy has taken this week, she was probably worried that I was mixing some new concoction to wash her.

Stir in another gallon plus 6 cups of water and let it sit for 24 hours.

Almost half of a 5 gallon bucket filled with detergent for just a few bucks. My sister made hers around Christmas, she shared some with her daughter and some with my daddy, and she is still using the first batch. It lasts a long time.

And now the cows need milking, and I have to get busy on my next project. My next DIY post will cover how to tan and cure your own bearskin rug. And that bear is not going to skin itself.