New shampoo soaps curing...

Love these shampoo bars - and we are trying hard to keep up with demand for them!  New double batches of lemongrass-calendula, and rosemary-sage are both curing.  They are beautiful, and the living room (where my curing rack currently is) smells delicious.  Soon, the curing rack needs to make way for seedlings, which share the same shelves in spring season.

Soap Workshops & Soap Curing Rack

The last two weekends we've had a full house with a series of soapmaking workshops. A big part of the goal of our urban homestead project is education - teaching homesteading practices and knowledge to other urbanites - in the hopes that these skills will not be lost, to inspire simple living and self-reliance, and to bring community members together in an informal learning environment. Soapmaking has, not surprisingly, turned out to be one of the more popular workshops, and we offer several courses each year that always fill up quickly. As it's nearing holiday season, many workshop participants were thinking of simple handmade gift ideas, with beautiful soaps made the traditional cold-process method will be perfect.

Cold-process (as opposed to hot process or french milled) soap involves making soap from scratch, using a combination of oils that are heated, and then mixed with a lye-water solution. Then additives like botanicals, pure essential oils, or clays are added, the soap is poured into wooden molds and cured for at least 4 weeks. The result is hard, stable, richly lathering bars that are long-lasting, mild, and nicely moisturizing to the skin. This is my preferred method of soapmaking as it is a traditional process that has been used by soapmakers for many generations. Advanced techniques can include marbling or layering the soap for additional effects.

It's a busy soapmaking time for Little City Farm too, as many of our holiday orders are coming in, as well as another craft fair this weekend. Here are a few photos of my latest soaps on the curing rack. Each variety uses at least one herb grown & harvested from our own garden. We are working on an online store linked to our website, hopefully up and running by early December. All soaps are also available on our etsy site: www.homesteadherbal.etsy.com

Etsy shop & gallery now open!

We are very excited to announce that our etsy store is finally open! This simple shop will make things much easier for customers who wish to purchase our products using paypal.

We will be featuring a variety of earth-friendly handmade items, including handcrafted soaps, organic herbal products, loose leaf teas, mama & baby items, handmade organic / upcycled children's clothing, buckwheat dream pillows, and vegan baked treats. Everything made right here on our little homestead, in small batches and with great care.

Stay tuned for store grand opening *specials*, blog give-aways, and ongoing new items to be listed in our shop (we're working on the baked goods right now --- yummm, vegan fudge, vegan raspberry cookies...plus some slow food/100-mile recipes coming)...

To view our store go to: http://www.homesteadherbal.etsy.com
Also can be viewed from our website at: http://www.littlecityfarm.ca/herbals-6.php

Hemp soaps

Very happy with the new recipe for my test batches of soaps using Ontario hemp oil, from the Hempola Farm near Orillia. This oil makes a wonderful "luxury" bar as it's so nourishing for the skin! These are by far the nicest bars I've made and I'm going to use this as my base recipe from now on. Hemp oil is wonderful - not only healthy for our skin and rich in nutrients, but it's a sustainable oil as it's an annually renewable non-intensive crop that needs no pesticides, and in this case comes from a source that's within 100 miles of our home (basically local)! Here are some photos of my recent batches: workers hand (with cornmeal scrub); gardener's hand (with oatmeal scrub and antibacterial essential oils); and a nice woodsy patchouli spice bar...mmm. I let all my soaps cure a minimum of 4-6 weeks to get a nice stable, hard bar that is long lasting.

I hope to have my etsy store up and running soon, selling soaps and other herbal products under "homestead herbals". There is a whole line of mama & baby items, including belly salves, tinctures, teas, oils, bottoms up salve, and more. I love testing out these products with friends/family and on our own babe, who has used the bottoms up salve and cradle cap oil with great success! I also attribute my speedy labour and recovery with all the copious cups of birthing blend tea I was drinking (including red raspberry leaf from our garden!) These herbal items really work and it's a joy to use what is growing at hand to make these simple, beautiful, healthful, life-enhancing items. I'm working on a new logo right now for a fresh look - and also slowly sourcing local shops and venues (health food stores, yoga studios, baby shop, etc) to sell these herbal products. All in good time of course, while trying to balance these creative pursuits with caring for our wee one.