'Tis All Hallows Eve...Blessed Samhain and Happy Halloween!

       However you choose to celebrate the day (as you can see, I have gone into zombie mode) Halloween, or Samhain ( pronounced 'sow-en')is a time for many things. Dating back to pre-Christianity and of Celtic origin, it was the signal that the harvest season was over and it was time to prepare for the coming winter. Animals were brought in from the fields, herbs were hung to dry, root vegetables were gathered, meat was hung to smoke, and grains were stored in order to make bread. The seeds that had been planted in the spring, tended in the summer, and harvested in the fall had come to fruition. It was the end of the old year and the beginning of the new one. Winter brought with it the time to spend indoors by a warm fire, thinking about the past year, and making plans for the future, and bonding with friends and family to enjoy warm food and the telling of stories.
   It was also time to honor their ancestors. It is said that on All Hallows Eve the veil between the living world and the afterlife is at it's thinnest, when it is possible to communicate with the dead. In ancient Britain All Souls Day (November 1st) was the time for the poor to go begging door-to-door. The wealthier would give them "Soul cakes" and the poor would promise to say a prayer for the dearly departed. Today we see children going door to door requesting a 'treat', if the treat is not forthcoming, the children are obliged to play a 'trick' on them. 
   It is also the time for divination; tarot cards, scrying mirrors, crystal balls, Ouija boards, and tea leaves are all utilized to make contact with the dead or learn of the future. 
   It would be remiss of me to not include the quintessential poem of Halloween; Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" beautifully spoken and accompanied with the mystical music of  Omnia, a wonderful band of pagan folk. Enjoy!

   

Making Your Own Laundry Soap

   Some time ago I decided that the cost of commercial laundry detergent was prohibitive. Aside from the cost, it isn't doing our skin or the environment any favors either. My daughter and I began making our own and we haven't looked back since. Our home made laundry soap is safe, effective, smells great, and is a mere pennies per load. My partner traded the logging profession for the dairy farm life so an effective soap that could clean AND deodorize was absolutely necessary. I have found that my home made version is actually more effective than the commercial brands. If this stellar testimony of mine has piqued your interest let's get started.

   There are three ingredients that you will need:

Washing Soda- I use Arm and Hammer

Borax - 20 Mule Team is my brand of choice

Bar soap - Zote, Ivory, Fels Naptha, Dr. Bronner's are all good choices

   Have a large covered container of some sort ready to store your soap in when you're finished. The first step is to grate the bar of soap up as fine as possible. There area number of ways to do this, some easier than others. You can go old school and use a grater (watch your knuckles!) you can cut the soap up into smaller chunks and pulverize it in your food processor, or you can microwave it which is a blast to watch through the window as you nuke it. Makes a cool science experiment for your kids too! 

The Zote soap looks like a fluffy pile of pink frosting!

The Fels Naptha soap looks exactly like a loaf of bread!

The Ivory soap looks like a pile of snow!

   Aside from the incredible appearance of the bars of soap after they are nuked is the texture, it feels like velvet and it crumbles apart with very little pressure. The only drawback to using this method is that your house will smell strongly of soap and it takes awhile to get the smell out of the microwave. I cooked a lemon in mine to remove the smell and it worked great.

   Once you grate, pulverize, or nuke your bar of soap all you have to do is combine it with the borax and washing soda. A ratio of 1 part soap, 2 parts borax, and 2 parts washing soda is a good rule of thumb. In other words, your recipe would be: 

1 bar of soap 

2 cups borax

2 cups washing soda

   If you are using a extra large bar of soap, such as Zote (which is a hefty 10 ounces) you could increase the borax and washing soda to 3 cups each. The bottom line is that you can't really screw it up, it will still work fine if you make a few minor changes in your ratio. I have used my home made laundry soap in both warm and cold water and it dissolves completely in both. Now, here's the best part; you only need to use between 1 and 4 tablespoons per load of laundry. I'm serious...that is all you need, I only use 4 tablespoons when it is absolutely necessary. The reason behind this is that the home made laundry soap is pure cleaning power with none of the fillers that are found in commercial brands. Any name brand liquid laundry detergent is primarily water, just look on the label it will be the first ingredient. By making your own you can control exactly what you want to put into it and what you want to leave out. You're doing your part to help contribute to a healthier environment and saving a ton of money to boot. Depending on the cost of your ingredients the price is approximately between 2 1/2 and 6 cents per load of laundry.

   

Pickle Heaven!

   This year we had a bumper crop of cucumbers and made three different varieties of pickles; dill chips, spicy dill spears, and every one's favorite, bread and butter pickles. By the time we were finally done canning our grand total was 80 jars of pickles! Many people have told me that they would love to do some canning but they are are intimidated with the process.  There is nothing to fear and its much easier than you think. If you know someone who cans, ask if you can help them, you'll learn a lot and they will surely welcome the help. In no time at all you will be canning all manner of fruits and vegetables; believe me, it's highly addictive, once you get started you won't want to stop. Below is a photo of the first round of pickles....there was more to come.

   Besides the bread and butter pickles being a unanimous favorite, they are also very easy to make so I'm including this recipe:

     Crunchiest Bread & Butter Pickles Ever

5 pounds 4-6 inch cucumbers, cut into 1/4 slices     2 tsp. celery seed

1 pound onions, thinly sliced                                    1 tsp. ginger

1/2 cup canning salt                                                  1 tsp. peppercorns

2 cups sugar                                                              3 cups vinegar

2 Tbls. mustard seed                                                 Ball brand Pickle Crisp Granules

2 tsp. turmeric                                                           7 or 8 Ball or Kerr pint (16oz) jars with lids and 

                                                                                        bands

1. Combine cucumber and onion slices in a large bowl, layering with salt; cover with ice cubes. Let stand for 1 and 1.2 hours. Drain; rinse; drain again.  

2. Combine remaining ingredients except Pickle Crisp in a large pot; bring to a boil. Add drained cucumbers and onions and return to a boil.

3. Pack hot pickles and liquid into hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Add a rounded 1/8 tsp. Pickle Crisp Granules to each jar. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps.

4. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner, adjusting for altitude.  

   This recipe is fairly adaptable too; if you want more onions and less pickles you can use 4 pounds of cucumbers and 2 pounds of onions; it still tastes great and the onions are heavenly on hamburgers!