Blog of the Soap Pixie

PROCESSING WOOL: PART 2

April 20, 2014

I finally moved on to washing the raw wool. The first bag was pretty clean. I wish I knew who I bought that particular bag from because that person takes immaculate care of their sheep. The second bag was pretty awful in terms of lanolin - maybe it has to do with the type of sheep??? I have no idea.

So... part one: pick through raw wool to get rid of particles like hay or poop. Part two: wash wool.

I thought I ruined my first bag of wool because it looked felted when I removed it from the wash basin but once it dried it was absolutely fine. A few felted spots but not too bad. The second bag I didn't poke at as much so it didn't felt at all but I have to admit that I really don't like the color. I wanted wool I could dye and the second batch doesn't seem suitable for that.

First bag of wool washed

I used a mesh bag to put the wool in. I learned quickly that I put too much wool into the mesh bag, should have just used a few ounces or else a larger bag.

I filled the basin with water at a temp of 130 F and added the fleece scour solution. Lastly I added my little bag of wool and watched as the water turned fro clear to a yucky yellow. The whole house smelled like sheep butt thanks to the steam coming off the water. That's ok though because I love sheep butt :-)

I turned the bag a couple times in the 30 minute soak and then transferred the wool to another basin full of clean water and fleece scour and turned once in 15 minutes. To finish I put the wool in a clean rinse basin and pushed it around a few times until I felt the wool was free of the fleece scour solution.

When done I just let the bag sit in the sink and drain out, when it drained as best as it could I dumped the wool onto a towel and let it sit until it was no longer wet. Once dry I pulled it apart. Now, I have no idea if pulling it apart will make it difficult to card since I am new to all of this but I'll soon find out.

Carding will be part three :)

Hobbies

I DID IT! I MADE MAPLE SYRUP!

April 11, 2014

After 30+ years thinking about it, I finally made some maple syrup. Don't laugh but here it is. This came from a silver maple tree in the city so we get the added taste of pollution too. Haha!

I boiled down nearly 2 gallons of silver maple sap and what you see above is what I ended up with (there would have been a little more but I ruined the 2nd half I boiled by getting distracted on the telephone - note to self: don't answer phone when boiling sap).

My husband drilling a hole for the spile. If you look closely you can see the clear sap rushing out of the spile as soon as we put it into the hole that was drilled.

I don't really care about the quantity this time around I'm just excited that I was finally able to do it. The syrup came from a single tap of my sisters silver maple so if I were to tap that thing several times I'd probably have had a whole bottle. This year was just a little experiment to see how the whole process went, next year I'll be on the hunt for sugar maples and I'll extract much more.

It took one week to get the bag as full as you see it in the picture. It would run ok for a few hours in the day (mostly dripping) but it was just too cold of an early spring to really get going. On the right I'm boiling it down. Next year I'll do it outside.

Since I only had about 2 gallons to work with I boiled the sap inside the house on my electric stove. It took a couple hours but it was fun. Aiyana was the first to sample the end result and her response was "it needs more sugar." My husband was the second person to sample and all he said is "it sure tastes different than the high fructose corn syrup version." 😂

This is my disaster. I'm starting to think disasters are a common theme of my blog. LOL! Of my life. LOL! With every new adventure I start off with a disaster. I thought today was going to be perfect, I should have known it was too good to be true. Second batch of syrup smelled good but turned out yuck and I wasn't sure how to keep going with it to turn it into maple sugar. For the record, I've learned to love disasters... it helps me learn quickly what not to do next time 😉

I'll be eating it (not the burnt stuff) over french toast this weekend.
Happy Friday Everyone!

Hobbies

RAW FLEECE: PART ONE

February 19, 2014

I admit it, I'm a fiber hoarder.

I'm also a book hoarder, a yarn hoarder, a soap supply hoarder, a card supply hoarder and... ok, you get the point.

Problem with raw fiber is you really can't hoard it for very long or else the moths move in so... after stashing this stuff away for nearly a year I decided it was time to deal with it.

Now... just in case you didn't know, this is my first time working with raw wool. I've been spinning fiber for a few years and decided last year while shopping around at the Shepherd's Harvest Festival that it was time to learn to process wool on my own. It's fun buying fibers that are already prepared for you but I think doing it all myself will give me a whole new appreciation for sheep.

Luckily, this batch didn't have any moths fluttering around inside. Being the squeamish person that I am I begged Maya to take the bag outside and inspect it before I'd even touch it. Yay! No moths! In fact, the wool had lost most of its sheepy smell and took on the scent of our house and that's nice, now I'm just working on picking out the poopy parts, which is called "skirting the fleece". This batch of wool isn't very dirty so I'm thinking it was cleaned up pretty good before they sold it to me but it still needs to be plucked over, the short fibers removed and then washed to get rid of most of the lanolin. So when I call this "raw wool" it isn't anywhere near as raw as the stuff that would come straight from the skirting table right after the sheep is shorn.

Once I'm done picking through this batch I'll separate out the good stuff and then wash, card and dye it. Stay tuned :D

Anyone reading this post ever process raw wool? Tell me about it! I want to know what your experience was like.

Recipes

YUM! PASTAAAAAA

November 5, 2013

I am not one to share a lot of recipes, only because I really don't know how to cook that well. I pretend I know how to cook and my family pretends to like what I cook but I'm really not that awesome. BUT... I do have this one meal that I cook pretty well, the entire family loves it and we eat it way too often so I thought it was the perfect meal to share :-)

I got it out of the Food Network Magazine back in 2011 and I love it because not only is it super easy and fast to make it tastes wonderful! You can make it into an almost all organic meal for very little cost. I say almost because I'm not sure if there is organic vodka (???)

Just know that my sloppy cell phone picture taken in my dimly lit kitchen doesn't do the meal justice.

Ingredients

Penne Pasta (Bionaturae Organic Penne)

2 Shallots (from our garden)

Butter (organic valley)

Garlic (from our garden)

Crushed Tomatoes (we use whatever organic brand Valley Natural Foods has available).

Vodka (whatever brand is the least expensive - can you tell I know nothing about vodka)

Heavy Whipping Cream (organic valley)

Parmesan Cheese (organic valley)

red pepper flakes (optional since I've tried with and without and not noticed their contribution to the taste)

Basil (on the list but I don't add it because my hubby hates basil)

Cook 2 minced shallots in a skilled with butter over medium heat until slightly softened, 3 minutes. Add 1 minced garlic clove and a pinch of red pepper flakes; cook 30 seconds. Remove from the heat. Add 1/2 cup of vodka, a 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes and some salt. Simmer, stirring, 7 minutes. Stir in 2/3 cup heavy cream and simmer until thickened, 3 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup grated parmesan and a handful of torn basil. Toss with 12 ounces cooked penne.

I've changed the recipe a little, I add about 4 small shallots and I use about 4-5 cloves of garlic (we love shallots and garlic), which creates a stronger taste and a chunkier sauce but either way (my way or the original recipe) it tastes very yummy!

homeschooling

HOMESCHOOLING WEEK THREE

September 19, 2013

I realize I am lonnnnng overdue for a blog post but I have been trying to get into the swing of homeschooling and figuring out where everything else fits in. So far, things are going pretty well. I don't educate my daughter from 9-3 every day like I thought I would, I'm really lucky if I can get her to sit still and focus for 3 whole hours, generally our sit down work ends after about 2 hours. She's picking thingsup pretty quickly, I guess not having the distraction of 30 other kids helps. I do feel a bit disorganized at times... ok, all of the time. I read the book Home Learning Year by Year and it has made me feel a little paranoid, that maybe my six year old will never learn all she needs to by the end of the first grade, but I'll continue to do my best and only time will tell if I'm doing a good job. Thankfully we are ahead of the game since my daughter is also enrolled in Kumon and has been since pre-school.

So... that's my homeschooling update for the week. I'll be back to posting regularly now that I know this process isn't going to kill me. LOL!

homeschooling

THE BEGINNING OF HOME SCHOOL

August 24, 2013

I'm about to enter into my first year of home schooling Aiyana (my 6 year old). I feel a little bit insane for doing it, just because my educational background has not prepared me to teach. I studied psychology, the only good that is going to do me is helping me identify when I'm having a nervous breakdown over the whole homeschooling process. LOL!

I think I'm prepared. Thanks to my wonderful friend Teresa over at Homestead Notes I was able to find the right curriculum for Aiyana. We are going to be using Oak Meadow, which from what I've read is based on the same principles as the Waldorf Schools.

Waldorf schools emphasize the teaching of the whole child—head, hands, and heart.

I've reviewed the curriculum several times and I love it. 90% of it is hands on learning and what child doesn't want a hands-on education over sitting at a desk all day? None that I know of. I think even my 13 and 17 year old are a bit jealous that they didn't get to learn using Oak Meadow.

I'm not the most organized structured person so I've decided the best way for me to start is to keep Aiyana on the same schedule as her sisters. She'll be home schooled 5 days a week, 9 am - 3 pm. That way her sisters are not around to distract her (they'll be at school) and I won't feel like I'm all over the place. I think in the beginning it will be easier if I stick to what I know, which is the pattern the schools follow, except most of what we'll do will be outside and hands-on as oppose to sitting at a desk all day. Once I get more comfortable and start to see what Aiyana's learning style is, then I'll make adjustments.

I'm not as nervous as I was initially. Having friends like Teresa and Natalie give me home schooling advice has helped a lot. Teresa has been such a great source of information and always a confidence booster, I can't thank her enough. If it wasn't for her I would never have found the courage or the right curriculum to be able to home school.

The last thing I had to prepare after getting the Oak Meadow materials was a system for keeping track of grades, subjects we will be focussing on, field trips, etc... I decided to just start with a search online and when I found a few sheets to guide me I downloaded a bunch of cute clip art from Etsy and made what I think will help me keep Aiyana's education in order. Since it seems like everywhere I looked someone wanted money for just these basic sheets I've decided to upload them here and share them for free. Why would someone expect others to pay for a silly little grading sheet? I hate when people charge for EVERYTHING.

So... here they are. Hopefully they can help anyone who may be just beginning to home school like me :)

If you have any trouble downloading these, please let me know.

family

FUN IN THE BOUNDARY WATERS

August 21, 2013

I meant to post this much earlier but I didn't get around to uploading all of my BWCA pictures to the computer until now.

In early July our family took a trip up to the BWCA (Boundary Waters Canoe Area), one of our most favorite places to visit in the U.S. We spent 4 days canoeing, hiking, fishing, camping in addition to looking for bears and wolves. Unfortunately we didn't find any wolves or bears :( but maybe next time.

It was a great trip (aside from the whole "losing my dog" situation). Our guide Kate was absolutely amazing! We met Kate back in winter 2011 when we were up in Ely for a Wintergreen dogsledding adventure but we didn't have the pleasure of her guiding us on any sort of trip until this year. She's fantastic with kids and overall just wonderful with families. Our daughter Middy is tough to please but Kate kept her busy, didn't take no for an answer, and in the end Middy really enjoyed being in the BWCA again and having Kate as a mentor. Middy learned to bait a hook with leeches, remove her fish from the line, build and start a campfire, prepare and cook camp food, identify wild plants, etc... Some of the valuable things that not many kids get to learn today.

I really liked that the trip our guide Kate and the owner Jason from Ely Outfitting Company planned for our family was perfect for the energy and enthusiasm level of our kids. We stayed at one camp site this year, were able to visit several different areas in the BWCA, divide equal time between hiking around and canoeing and we also had some fun fishing and the kids were able to squeeze in some swimming. Kate is such an awesome guide that when we had one day of solid rain she still managed to keep the entire family entertained by playing cards and other games.

I recommend Ely Outfitting Company and any one of Jason's guides to anybody interested in visiting the BWCA and not wanting to think about possibly getting lost because you have no idea how to read a topography map or a compass (like me) or if you don't want to go through all the work of packing enough food, finding and transporting a canoe and other equipment. With Ely Outfitting Company it is all done for you and worth every penny spent.

Here are some of our pix from this years visit to the BWCA:

Gypsy resting in the canoe.

Pure and beautiful BWCA water (courtesy of Kate Ford).

Aiyana releasing her floating art (courtesy of Kate Ford). Kate had the kids create art from pieces of nature and when they released their floating art into the lake they were to make a wish.

Sunset in the BWCA (courtesy of Kate Ford). Kate got up really early to take some fantastic shots of the BWCA.

Early morning in the BWCA (courtesy of Kate Ford).

Middy with one of the fish she caught (courtesy of Kate Ford). This little baby was returned to the lake.

Me showing Aiyana how to bait a hook with a worm (courtesy of Kate Ford)
This was actually a good lesson for Yana. She learned a bit about the process of fishing and what it all entails in addition to seeing a living thing going from nature to her plate. She decided that keeping fish and eating it wasn't for her (she liked catch and release much better), she also decided on this trip that she'd much rather use fake bait over live bait.