Wednesday, May 30, 2012

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

Friday, May 25, 2012

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


                                                     

Sunday, May 13, 2012

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!!!


Tuesday, May 8, 2012

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