Homemade Laundry Soap

The subject matter of the first real post in nearly a year? Laundry. The most mundane subject I could think of for the occasion. (I actually thought about saving this post for later, then decided, meh, we all do it…maybe laundry will bring us all together! Let’s see, shall we?) After all, laundry is a part of all of our lives (with or without the recent addition of a tiny human who habitually wets himself).

Three people have asked me in the last couple of months about the laundry detergent I started making a couple of years ago. Before I chose a recipe, I researched MANY; there are hundreds to be found on the Interwebs and in books. One recipe of the mix I finally decided on lasted our household for almost two whole years (in the Age Before Charlie).

The measurements used need not be exact, just generally proportional—so go ahead and halve, double or triple the recipe. If you have a few tablespoons of baking soda left in the box, go ahead, throw caution to the wind and add it.

All of the ingredients can be found in the detergent aisle of most grocery or general stores—the castile soap included.

Laundry Soap

7 cups washing soda (a full 3 lbs 7 oz. box)

7 cups borax

2 cups baking soda

3 bars castile soap, grated (12-15 oz. total).

A note about castile soap: I’ve tried Fels Naptha and Kirk’s. Both work, but I like Fels Naptha better (for no good reason, really, both have the mildest of scents…I like Fels Naptha’s better). Fels Naptha is sold in a bigger bar than Kirks—I just use 3 bars no matter the brand as long as they aren’t vastly different.

Measure washing soda, borax, and baking soda into a storage container. Grate all three bars of soap with a cheese grater or the grating blade of a food processor and add. Mix all ingredients well with a plastic or metal spoon.

The making is done! This process really only takes 10 minutes. Totally worth it.

To use, just add one to two heaping tablespoons of detergent to each load of laundry, depending on the size of load. This recipe should last for 150+ loads of laundry and costs about 6 cents a load, which is far less than half the cost of most store-bought detergents. I spent less than $10 on supplies for TWO YEARS of laundry. Not bad.

Our clothes feel and smell clean and colors remain bright—which is all I am looking for in a detergent. If your house has older plumbing (like ours), you know that detergents that produce heavy suds can back up drains. Suds are also problematic for high efficiency washers. This detergent produces few suds and is gentle on plumbing, machines, clothing, and skin. There’s a lot to like about it.

I keep my detergent in a vintage All pail that my sister found at Farm Chicks one year. I'm sure it hasn't seen detergent for decades. There were no holes in the metal, but the bottom of the bucket was very rusty. I scraped the rust with a wire brush and painted it grey to keep my detergent from damaging the bucket further (and to keep the rust out of my clothes). It makes me happy that I’m repurposing to the original purpose; I think the bucket probably likes holding soap again. (Really the soap should be kept in a container with a lid, but I live on the edge).

Do make your own detergent? Likes? Dislikes? How do you feel about laundry?

Strawberry Jam with Grand Marnier and a GIVEAWAY!

Strawberry Preserves fresh out of the canning pot.

A couple of weeks ago, Ethan and I picked strawberries at a local farm, and I spent the week making preserves. It was nice to pull the jam pot out of the cupboard again. Our eighteen pounds of strawberries turned into the following in our kitchen: 1 quart strawberry vodka (currently infusing in our dining room closet), 3 ¼ pints Strawberry Jam with Grand Marnier, 3 ¾ pints Strawberry Balsamic Jam, 2 ¼ pints Strawberry Balsamic Glaze, 1 ½ pints Strawberry Jam with Mint. And we ate bunches of them fresh by the bowlful, of course.

Some of my favorite recipes from last year are Food in Jar’s Strawberry Vanilla Jam, Landry Etc’s Strawberry Preserves, and Strawberry Syrup (we use it to make soda and sweeten iced tea). This season I added some new flavors to the pantry and rotated out the Strawberry Vanilla Jam, but it will likely be back next season.

Strawberry Jam with Grand Marnier is my new favorite. I can’t taste the Grand Marnier specifically (there’s not a lot in the batch), but I can tell it’s there. It enhances the flavor of the strawberries like nothing else. The jam tastes like fresh, bright berries. I’m looking forward to eating it on toast, and layering it in oat bars.

I like to start batches of jam the day before I plan to can them by cutting the fruit and allowing it to macerate with some of the sugar overnight. The task seems more manageable when broken down, and I think the fruit cooks more quickly after the berries are allowed to sit around in some sugar for a day.

It’s been a couple of weeks since we picked berries and I’m ready for more. I didn’t make any syrup or whole preserved berries (we still have a few jars from last season, but I’m not sure they’ll be enough). This is a problem.

GIVEAWAY!

I hope you try this jam recipe, but if you’re not a jam maker or the kitchen is too hot for jam making, I’m giving away an 8oz jar. There are two ways to enter:

1. Leave a comment on this blog post and tell me what you do with fresh-picked strawberries.
2. Follow a house on garland (there’s a button on the sidebar over there) and leave a comment letting me know that you’re following the blog.
3. Leave your comments by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, July 17. I will select the winner via random drawing and announce it on July 18.

Check the extended post for the recipe!

Yes, this is a Post about Cleaning Floors

Confession: I hate mopping floors. Among chores of the household variety, mopping and cleaning the bathtub are probably the ones I put off most. (I don’t really love doing dishes, either, if I’m telling the whole truth). I do love the way floors look and feel post-cleaning; I just don’t like the cleaning itself. I don’t mind vacuuming, cleaning the rest of the bathroom, or doing laundry. 

On my list this week was mopping all of the floors: kitchen, bathroom, and hardwood. Our house has beautiful hardwood floors—the most beautiful I’ve ever seen, in fact. The boards are over three inches wide, some are nearly twenty feet long, and they have chamfered edges. They are lovely. When I moved in, the house had wall-to-wall carpeting covering (and likely protecting—thanks, old lady who used to live here!) the wood. Before doing anything else, my dad and I ripped up the stained, nasty carpet and threw it in the dump pile. (For someone who doesn’t mind vacuuming, I don’t have that much carpet—herein lies the problem). 

A dog, cat, and two people make for a lot of dirt. I mop the kitchen floor fairly often, but I don’t get to the hard wood nearly as much, partly because I hate mopping, partly because the floors hide most dirt. (I sweep and vacuum the hardwood frequently—we don’t walk through the house with Pigpen-like trails of dirt following us). It was beyond time to mop the floors, to CLEAN the floors this week. 

The difficulty of cleaning hardwood floors without damaging them is all in what you use for cleaning and making sure you don’t get the floors too wet. Our floors are old and haven’t been refinished, making care even more important. 

To clean the floor, I used cider vinegar and water, according to the following ratio: 

1 cup cider vinegar

2 gallons water

Wring the mop out so that it is more damp than saturated—you don’t want water to sit on the floor for very long. Vinegar is a miracle cleaner, diluted with water, it is mild enough for the wood, but is still able to clean like nothing else.

After cleaning, I mixed up a recipe for natural floor polish that wouldn’t build up on the floor, and also wasn’t full of chemicals. 

½ cup olive oil

4 T cider vinegar

6 T vodka

Place everything in a spray bottle, shake it up, spray onto the floor, and buff with a dry mop cloth. The olive oil adds some shine (just a little; it doesn’t make everything slippery), the vinegar cleans (again), and the vodka helps the moisture evaporate quickly. 

I read many recipes for cleaner and polish that added essential oils to mask the vinegar. I chose not to use any because essential oils can be toxic to pets, especially cats. They walk on the floor, lick their paws, and bad things happen. Simple cleaners are often better for everyone. 

I’m still not a fan of mopping floors, but I do love the way the floors look and feel. I think the floors like it too. 

Rhubarb Syrup

This week Ethan and I are weeding and adding compost to our garden spaces, planning the garden, and enjoying the sunny, cool evenings. In the last two weeks our rhubarb plants have gone from barely poking out of the ground to being nearly two feet in diameter. Spring, she is here. 

Before I go on, I have a confession: I am not the greatest rhubarb lover the world has seen. I prefer rhubarb mixed with other flavors. My dad will cut a stalk of rhubarb from the plant and take bites. Raw. Without sugar. I’m did not inherit that gene. I have come to appreciate rhubarb more as an adult, but I still like rhubarb mixed with another fruit or vegetables. Strawberry-rhubarb anything? Yes, please. Rhubarb chutney? Indeed. Rhubarb Jelly Barbeque sauce? Sounds great. 

I canned a lot of fruit syrups last year. I’ve become a fan of making drinks at home with club soda and homemade fruit syrups. I don’t drink a lot of soda, but I do enjoy one occasionally (especially in the summer). Flavoring my own made sense. No artificial anything or extra preservatives, just fruit, sugar, and carbonated water. (We have a soda maker now; I highly recommend one if you’re inclined to purchase club soda often. There is less waste and you can make the soda water as you need it. We love ours). 

Rhubarb with citrus and vanilla was one of the syrups I canned last summer and am still using now. (I like to can syrups in Weck juice jars. They are easier to pour from and they’re pretty—I’m a sucker for pretty jars).

Making your own flavored syrups doesn’t require much effort, makes for a MUCH healthier drink, and opens up a world of creative flavors that are unmatched by processed canned sodas. Rhubarb syrup is delicious. Put this recipe on your rhubarb list when it’s ready for harvest. 

I based my recipe on several I researched, sticking to a simple ratio of rhubarb to sugar and adding my own supplementary flavors.

Rhubarb Syrup and a soda. Delicious.

Rhubarb Syrup with Citrus and Vanilla

makes approximately 4 cups

1 ½ pounds rhubarb, chopped
3 cups water
zest of 1 lemon
zest and juice of 1 orange
½ vanilla bean, scraped
2 ½ cups sugar

This recipe can easily be made and stored in the refrigerator for immediate use, but is also safe for canning, which is what I did. Refrigerator space is precious around here.

Combine the rhubarb, water, lemon zest, orange zest, and vanilla bean in a non-reactive pot and bring to a boil. 

Reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 10-15 minutes, or until the rhubarb is soft and has given most of its color.

Place a fine-mesh sieve over a bowl and strain the rhubarb juice—this should take about 30 minutes. Pressing the rhubarb in the sieve will make for cloudy syrup, so just let gravity to the job for you and take a break or get your canning pot ready while the juice drips through the sieve.

To can, fill your canning pot with your jars and cold water and bring to a boil. When the pot has reached a boil, turn the temperature down and simmer for 10 minutes or until you’re ready to fill the jars. Place the lids in a small saucepan and bring to a low simmer to soften the seal.

When the juice has strained, compost or discard the rhubarb solids and zest and place the juice back in the pot along with the juice of the orange (strained to remove pulp) and the sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the syrup has thickened slightly.

Remove the jars from the canning pot. Fill with the syrup, leaving a full ½” headspace. Wipe rims, apply lids, and screw on bands. Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes (15 minutes for Spokane due to elevation).

When the time is up, pull the canning pot off of the heat and let sit for 5 minutes, then remove the jars and allow them to cool on a towel-lined countertop. Check the seals and store in a cool, dark place.

To make soda:

Add approximately 2 tablespoons syrup to a glass of ice, top with club soda, stir, and drink. It really is surprising and refreshing. I’ve also combined the rhubarb with strawberry syrup or Satsuma syrup. The combinations are great. I don’t ever use much more than 2 tablespoons of syrup, but it is easy to adjust for taste.