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Now THAT is a lot of soap!

Twelve pounds, to be exact, cut into 72 bars.
The sales conference for fall books is coming up, and my publisher asked if I would send “swag” for the marketing team to hand out to promote my book. I’m excited that they’re excited about my book, so I agreed to send along a box of homemade soap. They wanted something homemade that would represent something I did in the book. The sales reps at the conference would probably rather get pies, but that won’t ship well, so soap it is.
The recipe I chose is a simple one, and likely to appeal to most people. This soap smells delicious–and is so pretty with swirls of brown sugar.
If you’ve never made soap, you can! Check out my Hot Process Soap in a Crock Pot tutorial. You can do it!
Here’s the recipe.
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Crisco — 9.6 ounces or 272.155 grams
olive oil — 9.6 ounces or 272.155 grams
lard — 6.4 ounces or 181.437 grams
coconut oil (76-degree melt point) — 6.4 ounces or 181.437 grams
distilled water — 12.16 ounces or 344.73 grams
lye — 4.463 ounces or 126.524 grams
1/3 cup ground oatmeal
1 ounce fragrance oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
This yields a 2 pound batch of soap. I usually add the fragrance oil as the very last thing, but because the brown sugar won’t be completely incorporated–just gently turned through the mixture to leave swirls, add the brown sugar last.

Pretty! I hope they like it!
Temperatures climbed close to 70 here yesterday. The breeze was warm and the sun felt hot when the clouds cleared. I love it when I have men here working in this kind of weather. They get sweaty and sometimes they take off their shirts.

In this kind of weather, the whole world feels frisky and full of hope. Everything is possible, even catching that last chicken.

Grass wants to grow.

Existing gardens stretch and whisper of work.

Gardens-to-come dream of being built.

New trees want to bud.

Lovers pine.

Dogs relax their guard.

Sheep dot.

Goats lumber heavy with babies.

The farm tastes like spring, full and rich, yet under the bright, clearing sky, men still don’t take off their shirts. As if they are the only ones who did not get the memo.

I guess you can’t have everything!
January 18, 2013 - Trip to a Knifemaker
Every week, the local ABC affiliate, WCHS, airs a “Traveling West Virginia” segment in which photojournalist Brad Rice visits “interesting people, exciting places, challenging activities.” (WHY has he not been to Sassafras Farm, hmm? What am I, chopped liver? This is the most widely-read personal website emanating from the state of West Virginia and has been featured in almost every newspaper in the state, but I “can’t get no respect” from … Continued…
January 9, 2013 - The Garden Plot
I didn’t have a garden last year, unless you count this little stone bed by the driveway. I grew a few peppers and cherry tomatoes in here, along with some herbs, while I contemplated my garden conundrum. (Rosemary still going, second winter in a row.)
(That’s Ross’s truck parked in my driveway. He wants to sell it, so he left it here and took my … Continued…
January 3, 2013 - Of Christmas Trees
Remember last year’s hanger tree?
ALL of the kids mentioned that tree this year. It was a desperate, make-do idea when I couldn’t see putting up a real tree by myself and had no money to buy a decent-looking fake tree. And yet I think it’s the one the kids will always remember. Morgan wanted me to do it again this year, but … Continued…
December 7, 2012 - Homemade Dry Laundry Detergent?
I know. It’s like I’m obsessed with homemade laundry detergent. I get like that.
Bear with me. I’m sure I’ll be obsessed with something else tomorrow! Like getting the new halters on Glory Bee and BP.
Meanwhile, back in my soap laboratory, I was haplessly intrigued by the number of people who wrote encouragingly about a dry mixture. I haven’t used dry laundry detergent in years, and it was store-bought. … Continued…
December 5, 2012 - Homemade Laundry Soap Concentrate
I wrote about homemade laundry detergent several years ago (here). Later, I edited that post to add notes about making a concentrate. I’d grown tired of taking up so much space with my homemade laundry detergent. I wanted to simplify–but still make a lot of laundry soap at once because who wants to make it every week? The trick to a … Continued…
November 29, 2012 - Fiery Obsession
Yesterday, my wood stove man (aka Tim from the little store in town), came to check out my wood stove situation.
A little background: I have access to free natural gas on my farm. This is fabulous! I have no particular reason to believe this well is going to run dry any time soon, though gas wells can and do go dry, leaving people in despair. This happened at the slanted little … Continued…
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"It was a cold wintry day when I brought my children to live in rural West Virginia. The farmhouse was one hundred years old, there was already snow on the ground, and the heat was sparse-—as was the insulation. The floors weren’t even, either. My then-twelve-year-old son walked in the door and said, “You’ve brought us to this slanted little house to die." Keep reading our story....
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