The newest adventure we are taking on here at Bumpkin Farm is the art of soap making!!
Okay, so I decide that making goat milk soap is the way to go. Of course the next step is learning how! How better to learn than Google it??!!
So I find pictures of beautiful bars of soap, recipes galore but one thing they all have is a warning about using Lye. No biggie...I took chemistry...I know how to handle chemicals.
Well, let me tell you, Lye is SCARY!!! The first time we made soap I thought that I would probably end up burning all of my appendages off!!
I followed the directions and suited up in long sleeves, gloves and eye protections, then lo and behold I opened the Lye container and spilled the crystals on my bare foot!
Of course this was followed by my jumping around the kitchen screaming to Farmer Willie that the end was coming and my foot was on fire. I was sure that toes were falling off!
He calmed me down a bit and I realized that I really felt nothing, my feet, toes and all, were fine. Ended up my only injury was a sore throat from screaming so much! :)
Sure, it was a bit dumb to forget to wear shoes, but I learned my lesson!!
Then came the fumes! When you mix the Lye with the milk it and oil it begins to put off strong fumes. I became convinced that I had breathed in too much and my lungs were shriveling up into raisins.
I might have overreacted a bit there too!!
You will be glad to know that each time I have made a batch of soap, I have become more comfortable with using Lye. Now I don't take it lightly mind you, but after taking precautions I realize that it will all be okay!
It amazes me how the process works. How for hundreds of years this process has been used and is still how we make soap today!! You take a caustic substance, mix it with milk and luxurious oils and a reaction happens where they combine, the caustic substance disappears and wah-lah, you have safe to wipe all over you soap!!
Just another amazing example of processes that God set up in our world!! Who woulda' thunk it??!!
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