Monday, November 10, 2008

It's raining!

I am so excited. We have been saving the wood ash from our 2 wood stoves for making potash. Today, we started having rain again. I have a 18 gallon tote outside to collect as much of the rain water as possible. We are supposed to have rain off and on all day. By the weekend, I will have enough ash to start making the potash. I just need to set up an area where I can safely put the ash hopper. I already have an idea of what I will be using for the hopper. Either an old 5 gallon bucket or an old 18 gallon tote. Either one will work well. Just need a small hole near the bottom for the liquid to drain out of. I already have a container to catch the liquid in. We get glass gallon sized jars from a sandwich deli. They are too heavy to use for storing our dried goods in the pantry. The heavy glass would work good for storing the liquid in until I am able to make soap.

I found a recipe for making the soap that gives approximate amounts of fats & lye. I am excited to try making it to see if the recipe is an authentic one. Whether the soap comes out soft or forms a hard bar, we will be able to make use of it.

3 comments:

Robert Sagor said...

When you are able to make the potash, please post about it! I have been wanting to start making my own soap for a while now. Thank You!
Laura

Granny Simplicity said...

I will certainly be posting the results. There are so many of the old ways that are being lost. It seems that each generation more of the old skills are no longer known or taught. Anything we can do to preserve the knowledge may become a blessing to future generations.

Anonymous said...

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I too am making soap, but have to purchase my lye from our hardware store. I was so blessed to find it there, but I'm not sure for how long he will carry it. I would love to learn how to make my own lye for soap making. Please let me know how to go about doing this as well as how strong it should be in soap making. So many questions! I was a little scared to make it on my own.
TY
Sister-In-Christ,
Karen