I remember visiting a living history museum as a child and being captivated and blown away by everything I was seeing. The grace and beauty that greeted me as I stepped inside the early 19th century historic home was totally unexpected, and the treasures I found within I will forever hold in my heart. One such treasure was a chunk of old fashioned lard soap. I found it fascinating that people would make their very own soap from animal fats, and I loved the idea of using all of the animal, and wasting nothing. Lately I have been so full of the desire to make things from scratch, and enjoy the entirety of nature's bounty as much as I can. I live with my family in the city, and my mother is extremely hardworking and caring, however with a demanding career, she has never had the time or energy to throw herself into homemaking in the same way that I dream to. We all have different passions, and mine seems to be leading me on a different route than my mother has taken. Anyways, I learned that nowadays butchers usually just throw out the leftover animal fat, and so I took a trip to the local butcher, picked some up, chopped it into small chunks, and let it simmer in the crock pot for the day. I strained it three times to get the cracklings out, and the result was pure white lard, some of which is in the freezer, and the rest sitting in my fridge waiting to be used for pastries. I am truly excited about making old fashioned soap with it when I can find the time, and will definitely create a post sharing that adventure with you. I'm a bit nervous because lye is so dangerous to work with, so I plan to wait for the warmer months to make my soap so I can work outside. If you have ever made a similar soap before, I would love to hear about it! There seems to be a lot more information about working with vegetable oils than with animal fats. Thank you all for reading, and have a great day!
I hope this blog becomes a place where I can warm up on the inside just as one might go to a hot fire to be soothed and thaw from the cold. I am not a great writer, or a great anything, but that's not what this is for. I just wish to make a very simple blog that I can turn to like an old accepting friend for some comfort once in awhile. That is why I love and respect the pursuit of creating beauty and dwelling within a wonderfully warm and welcoming home environment. Life can have a great many cold places, but with love and patience and a push here and there, home need not be one of them.
