What to Plant: May

Lyn Bagnall, published writer of the book "Easy Organic Gardening and Moon Planting" has a fantastic post on plants to start growing in May, based on your local climate, seasons and phases of the moon. There are also some general gardening reminders for Autumn. Check out her "What to grow in May 2010" post.

Continue on with the  fertilising, pruning, weeding, dividing from April, and start taking some cuttings for brand new free plants! Right now is always the perfect time to start your kitchen garden.

Fryer Oil Soap

As if frying food in F A T isn't shameful enough, after a few uses you're left more than a couple of dollars out of pocket and with litres and litres of oil to dispose of. Oil being one of the worst pollutants of land and water - one litre of oil will contaminate over one million litres of water - it's essential to dispose of it properly, or to recycle it into something useful again. So what about soap? That uses oil, but - does anyone really want to 'wash' themselves with fish and chip fragrance? Hmm.

So I tried it out as an experiment, and reasoned that if it smelled strange, it could become an 'outside' soap to wash off greasy boy hands and muddy child feet. Well knock me down, there is no aroma reminiscent of a dodgy fish & chip shop, and the lemon essential oil held it's scent really well.

The oil I use for frying is a canola blend, so I added some coconut oil (copha) to harden the soap. I filtered the oil through a couple of layers of paper towel. The 'water' component was made with a lemongrass tea, and the lemongrass added back into the soap at the end as an exfoliant. I used organic lemon essential oil at a 3% concentration.

So if you're a fellow fat fryer and would like to give it a go - here is the recipe!

Lemony Lemongrass Soap
2900g canola oil
750g copha
500g caustic soda (sodium hydroxide)
1000g water (or tea)
100g lemon essential oil

The instructions for making the soap are in this soap tutorial. The water/tea in this recipe takes the place of the milk. For information on caustic soda/sodium hydroxide/lye check out the post on it here. Happy soaping!

Making Compost

What gardener doesn't understand the feeling of satisfaction when topping up the garden beds, or planting new seeds into moist, dark compost. What used to be household or garden waste ordinarily destined for landfill, is now the life force of an organic garden. What was once alive, is now enabling life to continue on.

Compost doesn't take up much space, and can look tidy even in a small backyard. There are several methods for making compost including commercially made tumbling compost bins, stand alone bins, open compost heaps directly on the ground or even in the form of a worm farm. Many councils will sell compost bins and worm farms at reduced rates to encourage home recycling, so it is worthwhile checking with them before purchasing a bin.

This is a 200L compost bin made by Tumbleweed. It's neat and tidy, compact, and made in Australia from 100% recycled plastic.

If your space is too tiny to house any of these methods, it's worth checking with your local council or tip to see if they provide a green waste composting service. Many will take in green waste free of charge, then for a small fee will let you take away as much as you like to use in your garden or pot plants.

If you are able to make your own compost, you have the advantage of knowing everything that went into it. Ideal ingredients include kitchen scraps, paper, cardboard, grass clippings, prunings, shredded garden waste, animal manures, tea bags, coffee grounds, wood ash, even hair and dust from the vacuum cleaner. Basically if it used to be living, it will make great compost. Ingredients to avoid are meats, cooked foods, glossy paper, dog/cat poo, and any plant material that was diseased or weeds likely to grow and spread again eg couch grass.

All you need to do is create layers in the heap, alternating dry/brown materials (carbon) with green/wet (nitrogen), make sure it can be aerated by tumbling or turning with a fork, remains moist but not wet, and allow it some time to work its magic.

Wannabeahippy has been amazingly slack in setting up the compost, but is finally in the process of setting it up as we speak! Photos and step by step tutorial coming very soon!

The 10 Little Red Rescue Hens

They've arrived! On the 20th of March, I drove up to the Northside of Brisbane to pick up the little battery girls. They are in infinitely better condition than most of their fellow inamtes and have adapted to their new life in record time. After the 1 hour drive to their home among the treetops, they were removed from their respective boxes - 10 chickens, 3 eggs total. These little girls couldn't stop laying if they tried - years of intensive breeding programs coupled with super high protein feed, climate controlled sheds and artificial lighting programs guarantee thousands upon thousands of financially cheap eggs.

The first glimpse of their surroundings must have been mind boggling. They had never seen dirt, grass, trees, the sky, sunshine, other animals or open spaces. A few were struggling to take their first steps, and quickly tired with the exertion - but continued laying eggs. After a few days their strength and personalities were shining through.

11 days on and we have some crazy girls! Sunbathing and scratching were the first instincts to be ignited, and they are mighty proficient at both now. The nomadic bush turkeys that wander through the yard are now escorted out with much cackling, speed and excitement. By around 6am each morning they are lined up at the gate, complaining loudly and donning their most pathetic facial expressions because they haven't been let out to free range in the yard.

If you are able to re-home some of these little sweeties, (and it is sooo worth it, even for your own sense of goodwill) please visit the Battery Hen Adoption Program website. If you aren't able to keep some chooks of your own, you can still help their cause by choosing free range eggs and meat. Supporting our free range farmers is essential in keeping hens out of tiny cages. And guess what? Eggs are on the list of things I don't have to buy!

Making a Worm Farm

A little while ago we decided that a worm farm would be a good addition to our garden. We looked at the Can O Worms, the Reln Worm Factory and countless plans for farms made from polystyrene boxes, bath tubs etc etc. So we made our own take on all the plans and built our first worm farm today.

We started with 3 black plastic tubs, a plastic tap and some fly screen. DH made a frame out of scrap pieces of stainless RHS so the tubs can sit up off the ground and the liquid can drain into another container. Total cost to us was around $30 plus worms.



Firstly we had to drill holes in 2 of the tubs. This is for drainage of the 'worm wee' and so the worms can move freely between the levels. The base tub is solid and has the tap installed in the bottom. Because these tubs stack on top of each other fairly closely, DH made up some little brackets so they would sit up higher (about 150mm).



In the base tub we put in the tap so we can empty out the liquid that drains down through the farm.



The middle tub has fly screen taped down over the holes so the worms don't fall down into the liquid. The worms will move between the middle and top levels searching for food. This is the middle tub.



The top tub just has the holes in the bottom, so they can move up and down between the top and middle tubs.



With all of that done, we can start adding the bedding for the worms. We used 2 bricks of coco peat which expand to around 9litres when rehydrated and some damp potting mix. The middle tub was filled up to the bracket where the bottom of the top tray sits. This will be the worms main bedding layer. The top tub has a small amount of coco peat and potting mix and about 6 layers of wet newspaper on top. The worm food will be put under the newspaper, which keeps flies and light out, and the moisture in.

So here is the finished product!! The fancy frame that DH made, the solid tub with tap in the bottom, the middle bedding layer filled with coco peat, potting mix and worms, and the top feeding layer with a small amount of coco peat and potting mix, and damp newspaper on top.

Homemade Dishwashing Detergent

The last thing for us to strike of the chemical list was the powder and rinse aid for the dishwasher. I think this one will have the biggest affect on our health. Now none of our cooking or eating utensils are getting drowned in poisons. Ick!! Here 'tis:

Dishwashing Detergent
1 cup washing soda
1 cup bi-carb soda
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup citric acid
20 drops lemon essential oil

Mix it all up and shake it really well. It tends to clump up but if you shake it each time you use it it's fine. I also use a tiny amount of a natural gel from the Sydney Essential Oil Co. They have a massive range of bases for soaps, detergents, hand creams, body butters etc and are all sulfate-free. Check out their website at SEOC.

Vinegar can be used as a rinse aid to fill up the dispenser. That will make sure your glasses aren't cloudy looking. Good luck!

Image from seoc.com.au

Homemade Washing Powder & Softener

Another thing I wanted to change at our place was the use of harsh cleaning chemicals. Most products contain chemicals that cause a heap of problems for the environment and for people with allergies or chemical sensitivity. Even the majority of homemade laundry detergent recipes contained Borax (sodium borate) which is a natural element, but has been banned in the US as a food additive and can be especially harmful to infants respiratory and reproductive systems.

So, after a bit of trial and error, this is the final recipe that works the best for our laundry. It is basically equal parts soap and washing soda. You can either grate pure soap, handmade is best, otherwise a pure laundry soap, with no fragrance will be fine. Sunlight soap is the most common brand.



Homemade Laundry Powder
6 bars Sunlight Soap
1kg Lectric washing soda
2 bars Sard wonder soap

Grate up or chop in a processor all the soap and mix it up in a large container with the washing soda. That's it! It's easy, quick, cheap and works really well. Use about one quarter of a scoop, or around 2-3 tablespoons depending on how dirty the clothes are.

The Sard helps to get stains out, and the washing soda is a water softener and helps to break down grease. The washing soda can be bought in crystal or powdered form. You'll need the powdered one. The is the one I have:


Homemade Fabric Softener
1/8 cup white vinegar
2 drops lavender essential oil

Add to the softener dispenser in your washing machine, or pour in just before the rinse cycle. The vinegar helps to remove any remaining soap, eliminates odours and makes towels super fluffy. The lavender is obviously for fragrance, and you could try other oils like Eucalyptus, Lemon Myrtle, Tea Tree etc etc.

Aside from the environmental benefits, the financial savings are huge. At current prices, using Omo works out at about 38c per wash. Using the homemade powder its down to 6c per wash. The softener is around 6c as well.

The low-down on lye

Soap gets it's name from the latin word 'sapo' meaning soap making or saponification. This is the chemical reaction caused my mixing a fat with a strong alkali, either potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide (caustic soda). This is the one I got:



The fats used in soap are chosen based on their individual characteristics. ie sweet almond for moisturising and lather, calendula oil for healing and soothing, coconut oil for lather and hardening the soap etc.

A list of oils and their properties is here.

The lye is highly alkaline and can cause severe burns if you get it on your skin. You need to wear gloves and work in a well ventilated area to avoid the fumes. The good thing is that there is no lye in the end product. The lye and the fat counteract each other when in the correct proportions, leaving nothing but pure glycerin soap. Most store bought soap has had the glycerin removed, to be sold as a seperate product. Handmade soap still contains all the natural moisturising glycerin.

When you mix the fat/lye mixture together, it will come to a stage called 'trace'. This is when the lye has done most of its work with the fat and the mixture thickens up to about the consistency of cake batter. At this point it is possible to add some extra oils that will not be canceled out by the lye (called superfatting), fragrances, exfoliants etc. You can use essential oils, salt, sugar, clay, flowers, herbs, food dye, moisturising oils like jojoba, sweet almond or grapeseed, honey, coffee, oatmeal etc etc.

The moulds you use dont need to be anything spectacular - empty containers, biscuit or muffin trays, chocolate moulds etc. The soap will have to stay in the moulds for a day or so to harden up a little bit. If you have trouble getting the soap out of the moulds, chuck it in the freezer for an hour or two to shrink the soap. It should all just fall out when you invert it. If you used a large tray or container you can cut the soap into bars with a sharp knife or you can use some fine wire or fishing line.

Then comes the hard part. You have to leave it for weeks and weeks to cure. After the first two weeks the saponification process is completed. After that, it's just a case of letting it dry out. The longer you can leave it, the harder it will get, the longer it will last, the milder it will get and you will get a richer lather. Around 6-9 weeks is normal. You could use it after the 2 weeks but you will have a really soft bar and could end up with a sloppy mess in the shower.

First Time Making Soap!!

So after reading about making soap on a few different sites, finally decided to give it a whirl. All as part of my 'buy as little as possible/make as much as I can' mission. Here we go!

I used the the soap calculator found here to get the correct amount of fat/water/lye. It's a pretty touchy recipe so you need to use the calculator to get the quantities right. Lye is soap language for caustic soda. You get it at the supermarket near the Draino.

I wanted to use Olive Oil and Rice Bran Oil, because these are what I had and I read that they were great for the skin. Honey and milk were also other things I wanted to use. This is the recipe I tweaked around with on the calculator.

Ellice's Milk, Honey & Oat Soap (no it's not edible!)

800g Olive Oil
200g Rice Bran Oil
430g Milk
128g Caustic Soda
4 tbs Honey
3 handfuls Quick Cooking Oats

First you have to semi-freeze the milk because when you put the lye in, it heats up and can boil if its not already really cold. Once it looks like a milk slushy, you carefully, slowly pour in the lye granules. Stir it up until it dissolves. It will heat up, most likely curdle and look like this:



Measure out the oils into a large saucepan and pour in the lye/milk mix. Hit it with a stick blender until it reaches trace. (Trace is when it thickens up and looks like custard).

At this point you can add colourings, fragrances and textures. So stir in the honey and oats until its all combined. Now you can pour it into the moulds. I used a plastic tray and some old shallow muffin trays that I don't use anymore. And this is what it looks like now:



After 2 days I can unmould it and cut it up into pieces. Then it has to cure for a month at least so it hardens up fully. No idea how I can wait that long!! I'll post pics of the final product I promise!

-------------------------------------------------------

OK, here we are after 2 days, and the soap has come out of the mould. It all came out in one go, and I cut it up with a sharp knife. The square ones from the tray look really interesting I think, and the little round ones from the muffin tray are cute as! The round ones have dried out alot quicker so look paler.





(top image courtesy of dkimages.com)

Warning: When mixing the lye it gives off really nasty fumes. Wear gloves and long clothing as a minimum. Treat it as you would oven cleaner. Keep the area well ventilated or mix it outside. If you get it on your skin, wash and wash and wash with cold water. Vinegar is also recommended.