Thank You 2012

To all who ordered soap this year, I want to wish you a heartfelt thank you and a very Merry Christmas from Ranch Rustics!

Petey/Kim

It's almost CHRISTMAS time again!

Here is the 2012 Christmas lineup!

Lavender

BlackRaspberryVanilla-1 LEFT

Tangerine Swirl

Bay Rum-SOLD OUT

Wild Roses- 2 LEFT

Unscented Honeymoo

Apricot Almond Honeymoo

Fiesta (CoconutLimeVerbena)-SOLD OUT

This Sud's for You (Beer soap)

Eucalyptus Spearmint

Bergamot/Chamomile

WhiteTea&Ginger- 1LEFT

Honeysuckle

G'oatmeal MilkNHoney-SOLD OUT

in addition to the above, we also have a new soap, CRACKLIN' BIRCH which is a great scent reminiscent of the holidays with a spicey evergreen scent and COUNTRY APPLE.
In addition, there is plenty of DRAGONMOO- A naturally colored, deliciously spicey scented milk soap, one of my personal favorites
BROWNSUGARHONEYMOO-Natural color incredibly yummy fragrance. VERY popular!
Lots of EUCALYPTUS/SPEARMINT, different appearance than above, with nice, fresh scent.

Soaps are $5 each or 3 for $12 plus shipping

to order, email me with your order, ranchrustics@me.com

                                  Kim/Petey 

Soapy Sales

Today was a big soaping day. I poured 86 oz of Brownsugar Honeymoo while my bread was baking, then made 130 oz slab of a new soap called...are you ready for this? ...Monkeyfarts. It has a great fragrance of bananas and pineapple and tropical fruits. I just can't improve on the name. I did some little  'imbeds' in the slab for fun so we will see how that turns out tomorrow when I cut.

Lots of soap is curing but I do have plenty cured out and ready.

In inventory and ready to ship are:

Lavender-silky and wonderful

G-OatmealMilkNHoney-Natural goatmilk, honey and oatmeal soap

BlackRaspberryVanilla- smells very, very, very good!

Bay Rum-2 color whipped top swirl with spicey scent of bay rum

KiwiLemongrass-2layer soap with kiwilemongrass fragrance

Tangerine Swirl-two color swirl with light fragrance of tangerine

"This Sud's for You"  beer soap, natural fragrance of cocoa swirl

"Fiesta" 3 color layer soap with CoconutLimeVerbana fragrance

"Buttermilk Honeymoo" creamy goatmilk soap with Almond fragrance

"Honeymoo" unscented goatmilk soap with added honey and apricot kernel oil.
One of our most popular soaps, very creamy and conditioning

Individual soaps are $5 each or 3 for $12 plus shipping

For more information and to order,  email me

Kim/Petey

Doubly Delightful

Wildrose

Luxury soaps do more than just clean and condition your skin.
Their fragrance calms the mind and their appearance entices the eye.

Handmade Artisan Soap is always a welcome gift, appropriate and appreciated at birthdays, baby showers, anniversaries, holidays, thank you gifts, get well gifts, or just a gift to yourself.

Why not pamper someone today with some pretty, creamy, luxurious soap?

For a list of available soaps and to purchase, email me at ranchrustics@me.com

IT"S TIME!!!

The spring and summer soaps  are ready to come off the racks and into your bath.

Real soap has so much to offer. It's an inexpensive luxury that will truly benefit your skin.

All soap, homemade or commercial, is made by combining lye with fats and/or oils, and as a result of that combination it contains natural glycerin which is a humectant, drawing moisture from the air. It is removed from commercial soaps to be used in more expensive beauty products, leaving the product  more of a detergent, which cleanses, but also strips the natural oil from skin and hair.

Quality Artisan soap will give you a much different result.

Customers have reported that using RanchRustics soaps has solved their 'flaky skin' problems.

IT's a great way to get clean, while enjoying both the smooth, creamy, skin-pampering lather,  and enjoying the benefits of a variety of Essential and Fragrance Oils. 

For more sensitive skin or those who prefer no fragrance, we also have unscented soaps.

Each type of oil brings a different property to the soap. 

Ranch Rustics has balanced formulas that bring

skin conditioning and hydration, creamy lather, bubbles and cleansing.

Some of the oils used in our soaps are:

Apricot Kernel Oil-great for sundamaged or mature skin, helps maintain elasticity

Castor Oil- highly emollient and great suds

Cocoa Butter- skin conditioning, makes for a hard soap

Coconut Oil- Natural anti bacterial, anti fungal, very cleansing, with lots of suds

Olive Oil-High in both Vit E and Oleic acid it is very nourishing to skin. Castille soap is 100% Olive oil

Tallow or Lard-makes a gentle, long lasting bar

Vegetable shortening (ie:Crisco) good conditioning. [Was actually designed to be used in soaping and candlemaking, was never intended for food! That's a little FYI for you.]

Other additives bring even more benefits to the soaps, such as 

Honey- a humectant, drawing moisture from the air to keep your skin hydrated

Oatmeal-anti inflammatory, gentle exfoliator, helps to soothe dry, itchy skin, great for acne and eczema

Calendula-anti inflammatory, promotes tissue regeneration, used in many skin products

Nettle-astringent, good for acne, dandruff, and medicinal uses

Beer-great for coating hair and tightening hair shaft, adds shine, great for dry or thin hair

Now that you know a little bit about what we can do with soap, here is what I currently have available.

Butternilk Almond HoneyMoo (Goatmilk)

A luscious, creamy, skin pampering soap

with added

Goatmilk, and Apricot Kernel Oil

Natural color, Almond fragrance

Fiesta

Three colored layered soap, silky, bubbly, lots of lather

 with the fragrance of

 Coconut Lime Verbena

This Suds for You

beer soap

Fantastic body and shampoo bar with

Beer for shine and added cocoa butter for natural detangler.

Natural cocoa fragrance

CURRENTLY SOLD OUT

Unscented HoneyMoo

Goat or Cows milk, with added Apricot Kernel Oil, and Honey 

Outstanding for dry, aging or sensitive skin. My top seller

Not pictured, but cured and ready to sell are:

KiwiLemongrass

Lavender

Lemongrass (very strong fragrance)

Soaps are $5 ea

or 

3 for $12

plus shipping

 to purchase, email me at ranchrustics@me.com

Kim/Petey

Goatmilk Almond Honeymoo

It seems that Ranch Rustics has been wildly successful, because of YOU! I want to let you all know how much I appreciate both your orders and your feedback!

I have been diligently making more soap, to keep stocked up. This is our busy time of year as we not only have lots of baby goats and baby lambs, but we also are raising a flock of meatie chicks, the egg layers hatched out a couple more babies on their own, and the garden is taking up much of my time. 

Nevertheless, I go out every morning and evening to milk the goats so I can make the Goatmilk Soaps, as well as enjoy fresh creamy yogurt, milk and cheeses.

My ‘little people’ will be coming for their annual visit soon. I am truly looking forward to it. They will be able to help out with the milking and feeding of the babies. I don't see nearly enough of them, and they are very beautiful little people.

It’s going to be a great month!

Kim/Petey

Are You Kidding?

It’s great to have goat milk available again for soapmaking...of course I don’t mind cheese and yogurt from it either.

Miss Prissy, the goat seems to have an abundance this year. She is feeding the triplets off of one side and giving me a half gallon from the other each day...wether I want it or not!

Not all soaps are milk soaps, however. My ‘HoneyMoo’ soaps all contain either goats milk or milk from my Jersey cow.

There are some other fun soaps I am making this summer. I had an overwhelming response so I am a bit low on inventory at the moment but I am busy making soap as fast as I can.

Here is a pic of a fun summer soap, “Fiesta”.

It is a colorful crinkle-cut layer soap with CoconutLime Verbena fragrance.

You can just lay back and imagine yourself in a warm tropical wave, holding a drink with a little umbrella in it. Right there in your own tub. Awesome.

This soap will be ready to sell in July 2012.

Kim/Petey

This Sud's For You

Along with remembering our fallen heroes and the rest of the brave soldiers who have stood in the gap for our country, Memorial Day heralds the beginning of summer vacation. Many celebrate with big barbecues, so I thought, “what better soap to make this weekend than beer soap?”

A derivative of hops, which have a relaxing quality as well as anti-bacterial qualities, beer soap is soothing to the skin as well as cleansing and moisturizing. I have found it to be a great shampoo bar for my own hair, adding body and making my hair feel thicker. Added cocoa butter in the soap acts as a de-tangler and is easily absorbed into the skin, benefiting dry scalps. 

“This Sud’s For You” is a natural colored bar with a hint of added cocoa, making a luscious smelling, creamy, sudsy soap bar with great cleaning qualities.

This soap will be ready to sell in about 4 weeks.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Kim/Petey

To order soaps, contact me at:
ranchrustics@me.com

Hittin' the Suds

It’s Memorial Day weekend and lots of people are BBQing and hitting the ‘suds’.   Here it’s cold and it’s snowing outside. Nevertheless, I need to get the Summer soaps made. There is a CucumberMelon and G’Oatmeal HoneyMoo (goat milk, oats & honey) on the racks. I’ll be working on a plain Honeymoo today and still have 9 other kinds of soap I sold out of that need to be restocked. It’ll keep me off the streets next month...that is, if there WERE any streets here. The closest pavement is 35 miles away.

The goats are due to freshen soon, so I won’t have to use my frozen milk from last year much longer. Milk in soap is skin nourishing and makes for a very creamy and moisturizing lather. 

It’s a very luxurious soap and goat milk is even a tad better than cow’s milk, as it is nearly the same PH as our skin. Cow’s milk is only very slightly more alkaline, although the Jersey Milk Soaps are my very best sellers. The milk offers alpha hydroxy acids which assist in gently removing dead skin cells, unlike harsh commercial soap.It also has proteins which kill acne producing bacteria. Milk soaps also tend to be highly moisturizing and beneficial to dry, flaky skin. In addition to this, they are loaded with vitamins and minerals that are able to be absorbed into the skin .

All soap is made with lye and fats or oils. The chemical reaction of combining them turns it into a type of ‘salt’. Oils and fats are made up of ‘triglycerides’. Combining them with an alkaline solution such as sodium or potassium hydroxide (lye) causes a chemical reaction known as saponification, which combines and becomes soap. Glycerine, a highly prized, skin softening humectant, is a natural by product of soap. Unfortunately, in commercial soap, this is processed out to use in more expensive beauty products, leaving the soap you buy in the store lacking any of the natural benefits of real, homemade soap.

There is an endless variety of oils that can be used in soaping. Each type of oil brings a different quality to the soap. Some are moisturizing, others create bubbles, some make a harder bar of soap...there are endless variations. Adding ingredients such as milk, aloe, or other liquids to the lye mix can add different properties as well. Top it all off with some nice essential oils or fragrances and/or a pretty color and it can feed more of your senses. For the fragrance allergic, I also make unscented soaps such as the Plain Honeymoo, Oatmeal/Honey/Milk bars and my famous beer soap (This Sud’s for You).

There is something there for everybody.

New and replacement soaps will be available in July. Until then there is a limited supply of Honeysuckle, ButtermilkAlmondMoo and a few variety bars.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our active military, veterans, and their families for protecting us here at home and for protecting American interests throughout the world.

-Kim/Petey

                                                     

It's a Dirty Job

Things are hopping here at the ranch. The grass is growing, calves are being born, it's time for branding and lots of other dirty work.

The weather has been warm and I’ve been putting a lot of time into the garden. Along with the tomatoes, peas, squash and other veggies, I have started Calendulas,  and a few other herbs to use in soaping. I plan to start making some specialty soaps this year. Among them, needs to be a gardeners soap, as I am needing it pretty badly myself.

At any rate, it’s a great spring for making soap.

I was making a couple of logs of HoneyMoo to replenish what I had sold and my stick blender died just as I started mixing. There I was, in my mad scientist gear, everything combined in my ‘cauldron’ and holding a totally impotent stick blender. There was no turning back. I grabbed a whisk and began stirring. Just in case anyone is dying of curiosity, it takes about 2 1/2 hours of heavy stirring with a whisk to bring HoneyMoo soap to trace so you can pour it. This is an exciting undertaking when your wrists are already sore.

Into the freezer it went, to help keep it light, although there is nearly always some color where the honey heats up and causes a little gel. I rather like the look, myself.

A natural colored LilacMoo is off the racks and curing now, and as soon as the new emulsifier comes I’ll be jumping up to make soaps with summer scents and replenish my supply of the others. 

Thank you to all who participated in answering my poll questions and most especially to those who have purchased soap.

I still have a good supply of these soaps...

BlackRaspberryVanilla
Honeysuckle
ApricotLavender
KiwiLemongrass

MILK SOAPS:
ButtermilkAlmondMoo
BergaMoo

And restocking will commence with the arrival of the new stick blender!!!

A Little Poll

There are 3 aspects to soap.

Fragrance               scented or unscented

Appearance            natural or colored

Performance           cleansing, creamy, moisturizing

Shown above:
ButtermilkAlmondMoo/Unscented Honeymoo Bar & Boot

In what order are these aspects most important to you, on a scale of 1-10 - Ten being the highest?

Many of my milk soaps are of a natural color. Vegetable soaps and a few milk soaps have coloring added.

In addition, if you would take the time, would you let me know which of these scents most appeal to you?

Shown above:
KiwiLemongrass/BlackRaspberryVanilla/Honeysuckle

Almond


Lavender

Lilac

Honeysuckle

Brown Sugar

Bergamot

Lemongrass

Apple

Bay Rum

Unscented


Would you be interested in specialty soaps?

I make a beer soap that I love to use on my hair.
A "gardener's soap" is in the works as is a "kitchen soap".

Thanks in advance for taking your time to comment!

Petey/Kim

ranchrustics@me.com