I don’t have a picture, but my house sure smells nice!
Today is actually the first day I’ve made soap in the new house.
The whole house looks like a construction site, so I didn’t really want to add to the chaos, but I’m glad I did.
I was so tired from driving 200 miles trimming horses yesterday that I took a nap this afternoon and woke up to baby goats making a lot of racket and the sky was very dark. I thought I was way late for feeding, but nope, it was just 4:30. One of the babies had gotten her head stuck in the hay feeder and they were all upset due to the sudden change in weather. We were just about to get hit with a thunder storm!
Well, the storm passed with nothing more than rain and I was feeling pretty sick so I puttered around and got my soap molds cleaned and lined and everything in place. I found my gloves and my colorants and made up a batch of Black Raspberry Vanilla soap. I put some of the soap into a separate container before pouring and colored it using a deep purple peacock color. Once I poured the rest of the soap into the mold, I added the colored soap and swirled.
Once the swirl was done I added the dividers so in one mold I have three separate logs of soap. In about 24 hours the soap will be ready to unmold and cut and I’ll get 24 6oz bars of soap. I’ve got 4 of these molds and can make 100 bars of soap a day if I want to.
So far I’ve never wanted to.
But, it was FUN! I love making soap! I don’t like making Whipped Shea Butter, and although I like making lotions, I dislike the bottling part. But the soap is fun all the way around. Despite not being able to find my safety glasses and having to use CG’s REALLY dark sunglasses, and splashing my face in several places with the lye/milk mixture…I enjoyed it and feel like I accomplished something today.
Not that I didn’t accomplish anything yesterday, but several of the horses I trim have foundered, and one of my own is getting more tenderfooted each day…due to the grass I’m sure. This is disheartening to me and quite depressing.
I don’t know what to do with my own horse. He’s skinny as a rail and needs the grass as he doesn’t seem to gain on hay, and I’ve been giving him a lower starch grain….I guess I need to figure out something else.
But anyway, soap is happy. Soap is fun. If you wanna learn to make it, come over and see me and I’ll show you how…just bring a hard hat!
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Shantara's Soaps 
Have you tried a fat supplement like Nutrena’s Empower or Buckeye’s Ultimate Finish? It adds calories without making them hyped. It used to be the base of Huck’s diet along with beet pulp and Triple Crown’s 30% protein supplement.
It’s hard to get the TC30 now in my area (all the Southern States went to Agway), so I’m trying Purina’s new Strategy HealthyEdge – a high fat, high fiber diet with low daily feeding amounts (something like 3# for maintenance). It looks yummy, Huck likes it and is putting on weight – but he’s also on pasture (up to 8 hours a day right now with all this grass) so that could help too. And he finished his ulcer meds. So who really knows. But he’s looking good.
So I’m giving the Strategy Healthy Edge twice daily, about 1.5# each. Before and after our rides he gets soaked beet pulp with Empower mixed in – the beet pulp to protect his tummy since I don’t want ulcers again and the Empower for extra calories. Plus grass all day. And grass hay and a flake of alfalfa at night (again, for the ulcers).
Your soap sounds wonderful, by the way!
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