I don't have "hobbies'
I'm developing
a robust
Port-Apocalyptic
skill set
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
Basic Soap Making
Safety:
The very first chapter in every soap making book I have read, and I've read many, always talk about safety. I will be no different. The very first thing any person needs to understand about soap making is that it is a chemical reaction taking place that generates a great amount of heat. The name of the process is called saponification, wherein an acid (oils) and a base (NaOH... the lye) chemically combine to form a salt (soap). No person intending to undertake the making of soap should ever do so without the proper equipment and tools. The main ones that cannot go without are rubber gloves and chemical safety glasses. Lye (NaOH in water) is highly caustic, it WILL burn if you get it on your skin or in your eyes. Most also recommend closed toe shoes, long sleeve shirt and pants.
Remember two things when planning to make soap; the lye water is caustic... and so is the raw soap. In fact, the soap has the ability to burn until it has been fully cured, though is less likely to do so as time wears along. It's a good idea to use only steel, glass, or plastic tools when making soap as wood will eventually deteriorate and aluminum can react.
Tools:
The basic tools needed for soap making, aside from safety gear of goggles and gloves, include the following:
The very first chapter in every soap making book I have read, and I've read many, always talk about safety. I will be no different. The very first thing any person needs to understand about soap making is that it is a chemical reaction taking place that generates a great amount of heat. The name of the process is called saponification, wherein an acid (oils) and a base (NaOH... the lye) chemically combine to form a salt (soap). No person intending to undertake the making of soap should ever do so without the proper equipment and tools. The main ones that cannot go without are rubber gloves and chemical safety glasses. Lye (NaOH in water) is highly caustic, it WILL burn if you get it on your skin or in your eyes. Most also recommend closed toe shoes, long sleeve shirt and pants.
Remember two things when planning to make soap; the lye water is caustic... and so is the raw soap. In fact, the soap has the ability to burn until it has been fully cured, though is less likely to do so as time wears along. It's a good idea to use only steel, glass, or plastic tools when making soap as wood will eventually deteriorate and aluminum can react.
Tools:
The basic tools needed for soap making, aside from safety gear of goggles and gloves, include the following:
- steel or glass bowls for weighing and mixing
- plastic or steel spoons for stirring
- two glass thermometers for measuring temps if you are going to be precise, candy thermometers work very well for these
- an electric hand mixer, or be prepared to stir for a really long time!
- rubber scaper
- steel measuring spoons
- large (4C) glass measuring cups
- soap molds (can be as simple as an old ice bin or as complex as you wish)
- freezer paper if your soap molds are wooden (to line it), Vaseline for plastic molds (it helps the raw soap to release from the mold
- steel blade knife or wire to cut the soap bars (I use a wire cake leveler and a miter box)
- an accurate scale, I prefer a digital one
- a soap calculator to aid in determining the best weight of the ingredients so as to avoid putting in too much lye. You can find these online or purchase one
- oils (tallow or lard, vegetable oil, specialty oils, or any combination. It's best to choose single oils to add, no combo oils like Crisco, avoid corn oil as it tends to go rancid quickly (known as DOS), also avoid peanut oil as it tends to not fully solidify and comes out with a fairly nasty result)
- Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH)
- Additives (coffee grounds, seeds, or salt for a scrub bar
- clays
- butters
- herbal or mineral colorants
- even silk (makes a very smooth bar, this is dissolved into the lye water
Homesteading Skills
I mentioned in my previous post that knowledge is the one thing that would separate people that could survive an apocalypse and those that wouldn't/couldn't. But which skills, either modern or antiquated would provide the best opportunity for survival? What interesting information is there for the modern individual to learn that could provide both a path to greener living, apocalyptic survival, or just plain fascinating hobby? I have discovered that I personally have a fascination for many crafts. I would include the following basic knowledge or skills:
Woodcutting
Animal husbandry
Beekeeping
Farming/gardening, soil, water knowledge
Spinning, weaving, knit, crochet
Basic blacksmithing (optional)
Candle and soap making
Herbology
Rug and basket weaving
Hunting, skinning, butchery techniques & tanning methods
Food storage and preservation including dehydrating, canning, & preserving
Basic carpentry
And several others
For me, I am very much taken with useful crafts such as candlemaking, soapmaking, spinning, crochet & knit, and more recently, rug braiding.
Woodcutting
Animal husbandry
Beekeeping
Farming/gardening, soil, water knowledge
Spinning, weaving, knit, crochet
Basic blacksmithing (optional)
Candle and soap making
Herbology
Rug and basket weaving
Hunting, skinning, butchery techniques & tanning methods
Food storage and preservation including dehydrating, canning, & preserving
Basic carpentry
And several others
For me, I am very much taken with useful crafts such as candlemaking, soapmaking, spinning, crochet & knit, and more recently, rug braiding.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Think About It
Lately I've been watching a lot of post-apocalyptic television shows. Yes I know I'm a little behind the ball, I've always been that way. Who has time to sit around staring at a tube these days?! Well recently, I have found a little time to check some of these out. Now, barring an event that would completely obliterate the possibility of resuming a semi-normal lifestyle such as disease or warring zombies, I decided there were several items that would be a must-have to survive long-term. I mean, let's face reality; food, fuel, and basic necessities can only be obtained from outside sources, and these would become extremely limited and scarce as time wore along. As such, here are some of the items I would consider necessary in the long run:
- Spinning wheel, carders, and fiber (or keep a small flock of sheep), knitting needles and crochet hooks
- Canning equipment and jars with re-usable lids
- Root cellar, or something similar
- Hot box or greenhouse for growing fresh herbs/veggies indoors in winter (need that vitamin C!)
- Windmill or two
- Rain collection/water system (there's a creek nearby... through a neighbor's lot) or well
- Wood-burning stove or passive heat system (check these out, they are awesome!)
- Small livestock (rabbits, chicken or other fowl, goats, bees, and/or sheep... possibly a pig)
- Soap & candle-making equipment
- Basic farm tools/equipment that did not require fossil fuel (cultivator/harness for turning soil plus hand tools)
- Guns (hunting and defense)
- Land (probably the most vital) and quality seeds
With these, a family could be moderately self sustainable and likely trade for anything else needed. See, what bothered me the most about some of these shows I saw was that they tended to consume items that they did not have the immediate ability to self-create. Even whole towns could not do what they were depicted as having done. The greatest aspect of survival is knowledge. Knowing how to survive and how to keep surviving over the long haul will be the ultimate separation between those that do actually live beyond a few months, and those who do not.
Just as a quick explanation for my choices above: the spinning & knit/crochet is because eventually clothing will be needed. Excess could be traded to others who lack this ability. Canning equipment should be pretty self-explanatory, families have to put supplies away in order to survive winter. Root cellar and hot box are for similar reasons. The windmill is to supply basic power needs, water system/well for water needs. Heat system for winters. The livestock choices I made were small to fit my miniscule land's ability to support. Rabbits for quick meat, fowl for eggs, bees for wax & honey, sheep for fiber & meat, pig for meat (nearly all of a pig is useful! Lard for soap, meat, hair, bones...everything!!). The soap is for cleaning needs, the candles should also be self-explanatory. Basic farm tools for gardening and farming needs, I would choose goat harnessing since you would need to keep a buck to breed does for milk and meat production, he may as well earn his keep the rest of the year too! Let him pull the plow or a cart. Guns or weapons should also be a no-brainer, when there is not sufficient livestock, it may be able to be hunted, but also for defense against raiders who would likely steal rather than starve. Finally land, the most essential of the entire list. I would probably enlist the help of my 3 immediate neighbors. I know I can trust them, and helping to feed them would probably go a long ways to acquiring their assistance. One lot for growing hay, the other either farmed or portioned for livestock pens.
- Spinning wheel, carders, and fiber (or keep a small flock of sheep), knitting needles and crochet hooks
- Canning equipment and jars with re-usable lids
- Root cellar, or something similar
- Hot box or greenhouse for growing fresh herbs/veggies indoors in winter (need that vitamin C!)
- Windmill or two
- Rain collection/water system (there's a creek nearby... through a neighbor's lot) or well
- Wood-burning stove or passive heat system (check these out, they are awesome!)
- Small livestock (rabbits, chicken or other fowl, goats, bees, and/or sheep... possibly a pig)
- Soap & candle-making equipment
- Basic farm tools/equipment that did not require fossil fuel (cultivator/harness for turning soil plus hand tools)
- Guns (hunting and defense)
- Land (probably the most vital) and quality seeds
With these, a family could be moderately self sustainable and likely trade for anything else needed. See, what bothered me the most about some of these shows I saw was that they tended to consume items that they did not have the immediate ability to self-create. Even whole towns could not do what they were depicted as having done. The greatest aspect of survival is knowledge. Knowing how to survive and how to keep surviving over the long haul will be the ultimate separation between those that do actually live beyond a few months, and those who do not.
Just as a quick explanation for my choices above: the spinning & knit/crochet is because eventually clothing will be needed. Excess could be traded to others who lack this ability. Canning equipment should be pretty self-explanatory, families have to put supplies away in order to survive winter. Root cellar and hot box are for similar reasons. The windmill is to supply basic power needs, water system/well for water needs. Heat system for winters. The livestock choices I made were small to fit my miniscule land's ability to support. Rabbits for quick meat, fowl for eggs, bees for wax & honey, sheep for fiber & meat, pig for meat (nearly all of a pig is useful! Lard for soap, meat, hair, bones...everything!!). The soap is for cleaning needs, the candles should also be self-explanatory. Basic farm tools for gardening and farming needs, I would choose goat harnessing since you would need to keep a buck to breed does for milk and meat production, he may as well earn his keep the rest of the year too! Let him pull the plow or a cart. Guns or weapons should also be a no-brainer, when there is not sufficient livestock, it may be able to be hunted, but also for defense against raiders who would likely steal rather than starve. Finally land, the most essential of the entire list. I would probably enlist the help of my 3 immediate neighbors. I know I can trust them, and helping to feed them would probably go a long ways to acquiring their assistance. One lot for growing hay, the other either farmed or portioned for livestock pens.
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