Soap update

After about 26 hours the soap seemed ready to cut...here it is in "bars". It won't win any glamour awards that's for sure... :*)

Now it just needs to cure for a few months. One thing I have learnt from this exercise is to make sure I oil any plastic trays I use in future! I think the milk carton mould works the best so might just go with that.

It now smells more "soapy" than "olive oily" which is good - and the oatmeal / rolled oats make it look a bit like a slice rather than soap.

My first soap

Today I conquered my fear of caustic and made my first batch of soap. I used an 80% olive oil / 20% coconut oil mix, with a bit of oatmeal, plus lavender and bergamot oils.

It smells very olive oil-ish (I used local oil) so we'll see how it works out, and I'll post updates.

I used an old plastic fruit tray for the mould, and the bit of excess went into an old milk carton - which I "should" be able to just slice in a day or so.

First there was sheepwatch

and now it's pigwatch! The dilemma will be when there are pigs AND sheep to watch on different sides of the yard....

D'OH! a deer........

This is how the driver's side used to look..........


I was quite conflicted about having a 4wd until this point - if Nigel had been in our old car and hit a deer at 80km/hr he (and the car) wouldn't have got away so lightly (although the outcome for the deer would sadly have been the same). Luckily the car is still drivable - only the fog light in that panel has been damaged. I'm sure it will be a lot more expensive to fix than it looks.....

it's been a long day

Piggies!

After talking about it for more than 2 years we finally got some piggies today! Although technically they are not ours - we're just 'borrowing' them for a few months from a breeder nearby that needs some paddock space.

Freddie and Lily aren't quite sure what to make of the new 4 legged arrivals!

Today's chutney is

rhubarb.



In the last week I've picked 2kg of rhubarb from our plants, and I think there's at least another kilo left to go

Nice day for it.

Jerry's looking pleased that the pig pen is finished



now we just need some piggies!!!!!!

Jerry can still pull the birds

The pictures say it all really!

New boy in town

Sadly Lucky the rooster is now in the big chicken paradise in the sky....but we have a new boy in town. He's a Dorking rooster and a very handsome fellow don't you think?

And here are a few happy-snaps of the late Autumn vege patch and greenhouse