yummy sunday

Okay..... so we got our stash of wood on Saterday and were planning on doing the same mission on Sunday, but during the night, the rain started to fall in a light soaking drizzle that just kept on going till Monday morning. So Sunday we decided to all sit tight in the kitchen/diningroom near the little black woodstove (which was keeping us all very cosy) and enjoy what the rainy day would conjure up.

As usual, whenever at a loss at what to do and especially when we are all stuck indoors, our minds all seem to turn to...... our stomachs! What is it with rainy weather and eating! Our youngest daughter Rain and I decided to check out a blog we came across by mistake the other day called, "Big Black Dog" blog. This has some amazing recipes and interesting stuff on food. Not sure if the name for her blog comes from her two Rottweilers, or from her incredible looking big black stove.... but her family must certainly eat very well.

We found a recipe for sweet dough "butterflies" which Rain and I had fun making in our cosy kitchen and needless to say everyone enjoyed eating! If you're into food, take a look at her blog.

Winter arrives!

Finally, winter arrives with avengeance. After enjoying temps at night, of nothing less than 18 deg. and daytime temps of 26 deg+ and with veggy seedlings still sprouting left, right and centre... suddenly (literally overnight), temperatures have dropped to -1 deg at night and daytime temperatures are not getting much higher than 17 deg, with an icy wind to back it.

So today the whole family decided to get involved in a little wattle eradication, to feed our little black-belly woodstove through the cold nights ahead. This little stove serves directly and indirectly, a multitude of purposes. First of all, it is a good reason to go and do some alien vegetation control, it also warms the house up, providing a real "winter has come and it's time to get cosy" feeling, we also use it for cooking instead of gas and finally, we use the ash it produces in our garden. It even has a little water heating device on the side which we use for hotwater bottles, dishes, etc.

So, although it's so primitive and old fashioned, if used correctly, it is actually quite a "state-of-the-art" when it comes to rural living.

48 already....???

On Tuesday morning, I was woken up with hugs and kisses from my daughters and a steaming cup of coffee from my (still) sexy husband. I lay there totally amazed that I was the ripe old age of 48... Last night my husband and I wondered, where has the time gone, suddenly we have teenage children, the oldest is already 20 and is supporting herself, the next one will be leaving home next year and then there'll just be one child left at home.... plus all their pets of course, which will remain behind!

I still think of myself as a kind of young and cool mom.... until I catch a glimpse of myself in a windows reflection or mirror and realise with a shock.... I'm middle aged and have (almost) grey hair and due to the fact that I don't buy magazines anymore, don't have a T.V. and don't even have a radio.... I'm now completely ignorant to the latest fashions and music and I'm definitely NOT so young and cool anymore!!!!

BUT.... what I do have at my ripe ol' age, is a husband that I still adore, 3 beautiful girls who still take the time to make me handmade birthday cards and phone me, a wonderful farm in the mountains and a job I adore, making soap....

So.... for now, I will settle for being a cool middle aged person, grey hair suits me better anyway and what freedom not to have to worry about colouring it anymore (so bad for you and the enviroment!) and maybe one of these days, I'll be a cool Granny........

making comfrey oil

This my friends will be a valuable lesson... so pay attention! Bare in mind that this is all based on our own wonderful experiences with this herb, which we decided to try after reading so much about it.
Firstly, you have got to start growing the stuff, not just for using in creams and oils but for the garden too, as it has stacks of nitrogin and piles of minerals in it that your plants will just love! As we live in a very hot and dry climate and not knowing what to do with our grey water, I decided to make a Comfrey bed at the outlet. It seems that Comfrey needs a lot of water to keep it lush in our semi-Karoo climate. Comfrey plants should be easily obtainable from any nursery. Before we get started, I must just tell you that I'm also planting it around my fuit trees as a living mulch that I constantly harvest by trimming off the new growth and chopping it into the ground, LIGHTLY, as well as leaving it on top and in and around my your flower beds. Perhaps you can even add it to your earthworm farm (incidently I have not done this and on second thoughts, don't do this, it's a stupid idea.....)

RECIPE FOR COMFREY OIL

METHOD: 1. 750mls pure sunflower oil or olive oil
2. Harvest 500gms of comfrey fresh (or 250grm dried)
3. Put them all together in a double boiler( one pot standing in another with water)
4. Simmer on a low heat for 3 hours
5. Remove and once cooled, strain and store in dark bottle or jar

This you can use, in a 20% mix with almond oil, or aqueous cream, or more olive oil, for bruises scrapes and sprains. This ratio was given to me by the little old lady (who lives in a shooo?) from Krakeel, who introduced me to this wonderfull herb. I just use a 50/50 mixture and sometimes even neat, I guess it all depends on your skin, ie: you might have some odd skin sensitivity.

Here's a tip: Rather than (as I have discovered!) trying to shove 500grm of fresh leaves into a pot (stainless steel or glass) and trying to make it fit, it's easier to dry it first by threading the leaves together and hanging them up and then use.
Here is a photo of one of the many butternuts that came up in the same bed and were totally healthy, the seeds must have washed down our drain.... halellula, yummy, yummy!

Metal Bird by Rain Conterio (age 12)

We aboard the metal bird,
who's big and bold,
strap ourselves to our seat,
ready for a wild fleet,
we leave the ground,
as well as the city sound,
passing tall trees,
buzzing bees,
stretched seas,
we are surrounded by a mask of blue,
we dip and dive,
we look out from our metal dome,
to seas and skys,
that have been often flown,
but still unkown......

Its a sign

Friends of ours, Nic and Gabi and their 40 thousand kids, love coming to visit us from Plett on a regular basis. This we thoroughly enjoy, as it is always a time to catch up on all the goings-on in our old home town. One Friday evening they arrived late, as they had to gather their 40 thousand kids after school, sort out the dogs, then... oops, one dog suddenly went down with bilary(tick bite fever), so off to the vet. So, to cut a long story short, they arrived and after a lovely supper, Nic and Gabi disappeared out the kitchen door and into the night... and I thought to myself, "Well, if the passion gets you, it gets you" and I grabbed my glass of wine and looked around at their 40 thousand kids and hoped that it would be quick, whatever it was that they were getting up to. Anyway, it was not long before I heard them bumping at the kitchen door... Oh my gosh, I opened the door slowly and saw their beaming faces, one behind the other and between them they were carrying a sign. Nic, being a signwriter, had made us an amazingly beautiful sign with the name of our soap business, which is also the name of our farm and the following day was spent marching up and down the perimeter of our garden, trying to find a suitable place to put it up. The sign incidently, did not go up until 4 months later.

Now the beautiful sign is up and our farm has its identity "AFRICAN BLISS". Helping me put it up was my brother-in-law John, my aunt Gwen and the rest of the family standing around putting in their two cents worth...

The Basic Steps of Soapmaking

So many people are curious about the soap making process, that we've decided to show everyone a basic step-by-step method that applies to all soap making recipes. We use a process called the "cold process method" using a variety of pure natural oils, chosen for their various qualities they give the finished soap bar. Some oils give a nice lather with big bubbles and some give a great creamy texture with fine bubbles! Obviously, we also choose oils which will be good and healing for the skin. Making soap is actually a lot like cooking BUT exact measurements are really important, so if you are one of those casual cooks that like to chuck things in, your soap will flop, things have to be weighed to the gram!!!! When you first start out it's pretty daunting, we had quite a few disasters along the way, believe you me it's really sad when you peep at your soap the next morning and it looks like "aliens brains"...
You also have to experiment with essential oils as well, as combinations that smell glorious to you before you add it to your soap mix, can smell utterly gross in your finished soap the next morning! The soap process does change things. Basically soap is a result of mixing an alkali (diluted caustic soda in water) and an acid (your oils) together and the reaction that occurs is called saponification. Please note! To everyone out there having a fit about the caustic soda part, you cannot make soap without it. .... but the reason why soap has to sit and "cure" for 4 weeks, is that by the end of that time, the caustic soda has neutralised and is no longer present in the final bar !!!
The following steps and photos are just to give everyone a rough idea of the process, we have photographed a small batch being made, which was just easier at the time.



STEP 1.
Weigh out all your base oils ( coconut oil, cocoa butter, beeswax, etc) and put into a stainless steel pot and melt over a low heat. An accurate scale is absolutely essential for soap making, digital being the best. Once everything has melted, put aside and allow to cool.


STEP 2.
Weigh your sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) and water. Slowly add the sodium hydroxide to the water and then rush outside (the fumes are awful) and gently stir till its all dissolved. Wear a mask and gloves while doing this and be very careful when handling this stuff, you also do not want to trip over a cat or child with a jug of this in your hands. Let it stand in a very safe place to cool down.


STEP 3.
You need to now have your pot of oils and your sodium hydroxide solution at the exact same temperature. No easy feat, I can assure you but you get more practiced with this as time goes on.... The temperature recommended can also vary from soap maker to soap maker and recipe to recipe, its best to find what works for you and your soap.


STEP 4.
Now that your two mixtures are at the same temperature, pour your sodium hydroxide mixture slowly into your oil mixture, beating as you pour, using a hand beater or a stick blender (which is what I prefer!). When it's a small batch the hand beater is easier. Keep blending until your mixture thickens to a stage called "trace". This is when you can trickle some of the mixture across the top and it leaves a faint line that sits on the surface. This is the signal that a reaction has taken place and that you have basically made SOAP! This is then also the stage when you can add your essential oil combo's, any spices and herbs that you may want to use for coloring and texture. Again, this is also tricky, as not everything survives the soap process and often doesn't come out the way it looked when you put it in! When I first started to experiment with making our Green Tea Soap, I thought I would be so clever and throw in some actual green tea leaves from the opened tea bag, for a wonderful and interesting texture.... well I ended up with a beautiful soap full of black bits.... we didn't mind using it and a lot of our friends liked it too, but I didn't think it would go down well with a customer unwrapping their soap for the first time... but you learn what works and what doesn't.



STEP 5.
Once you've added your essential oils, etc this is also the stage you can add an extra small amount of oil (shea butter, almond oil, grapeseed oil, avocado oil, etc). This is called "superfatting" and will give your soap extra skin-pampering qualities. You can now pour your soap into a mold of your choice. Many things can be used, old yogurt cups, plastic trays, pvc pipes, cartons, etc. Ive always preferred a simple chunk of soap to the fancy molded look but that's just me... If you are using wooden molds, you have to line your molds with thin plastic. Then you pour you soap mixture into your molds and cover with a piece of cardboard and an old towel to insulate it. The soap sits like this untouched for 24 hrs after which you can take it out and cut it into bars. It is always nerve-wracking to check under that towel the next day... has it worked or not!

I think that's why I enjoy making soap so much, you can never get too complacent, as soap making is not an exact science, unexpected and surprising results can happen, things can come out wonderfully... or not! It's creative and addictive and sometimes I feel just like a witch, stirring her cauldron.... and when people tell you how much the soap has helped their skin or how amazing their skin feels after using the soap... well there's nothing better than that!