Homemade Laundry Detergent

This past week, I have tried my hand at making homemade laundry detergent. This project was a great success. I am a mother of four children under six years of age, so you can imagine how much laundry I do on a daily basis. We also use cloth training pants for our two year old, and cloth diapers for our one year old.

We have a Whirlpool Cabiro high efficiency top load washing machine. I searched online for a low sudsing detergent recipe. I found that most of the recipes were similar, so I combined several of them and came up with one that made the most sense to me.

My Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe




I grated one bar of Ivory Soap.



Then I pruned my Sharon Roberts Lavender. I boiled my cutting in six cups of water for about five minutes, to add natural fragrance to my detergent.



I removed the lavender cuttings from the water, then I added my grated soap and whisked until it was completely melted.



I pour three gallons of water (including the six cups of the lavender scented soap water) into a six and a half gallon bucket, then I stirred thoroughly until it was combined. I then added one cup of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda and one half of a cup of 20 Mule Team Borax, one at a time stirring thoroughly after each addition. I added two more gallons of water, and stirred again. Then I let the solution sit overnight.

I have been using the detergent for a little more than a week, and it works great. My clothes are clean, and they smell wonderful. The recipe also worked very well with my machine. The consistency of the detergent is almost that of raw egg whites, it is kind of slimey. I don't mind because it works well, I am saving money, and I am not filling our earth with plastic bottles.

It took me less than thirty minutes total to make five gallons of detergent. That is about the same amount of time it would take me to drive to the store and buy one bottle of detergent. I was going to take photos of the actual process of making the detergent, but my three oldest daughters were very interested in what I was doing. I explained to them how to make the detergent and why it is important to reduce our consumption of goods, I also explained how making your own detergent is better for the earth. It was a very busy thirty minutes, and there was no time for photos.



I add one half cup of detergent to my wash. I put the detergent in a water proof container so I can shake it up before I use it.

South Side Market

Today my husband and I ventured out to the South Side Market in search of plants to complete our garden. The South Side Farmers Market is located at 3300 Warsaw Street right here in Fort Wayne. Beginning in the 1920s, it is one of Fort Wayne's oldest markets. The market runs from the Saturday before Easter through the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and is open from 7am - 1pm.



Of course the market offered produce, vegetable plants, fresh cut flowers, beautiful decorative plants for the flower garden, and my favorite herbs.



We bought sweet bell pepper plants, summer squash, zucchini, roma tomato plants, jalapeno pepper plants, rosemary, spicy basil, lavender, thai pepper plants, and most exciting of all strawberry plants.

The vendors were friendly and knowledgeable. They had a wonderful variety of plants.

My husband and I went in search of plants, but there was a lot to distract us from our mission.



Vintage kitchenware, various collectibles, and even an antique hand crank washer wringer were some of treasures we saw at the market today.



There was even an old time lunch counter with a small dining area surrounded by beautiful flowers. We will definitely be visiting this market again.

Cooking for Church

I recently volunteered to bake for a men's retreat that my husband is attending at our church this weekend. I went into the church vestibule last week to survey the list of items needed for donation, most of the items were taken. I signed up to bring four bags of croutons and an egg casserole.
I could not bring myself to purchase four overpriced bags of slightly seasoned petrified bread. I went home and baked two large loaves of french bread and made pan-fried herbed croutons.
I make croutons for our family salads, but I have never made croutons for 30 people. I was nervous about pan frying them, I usually bake them. Also, I always make cheese croutons, never herbed. I put aside my doubts and started cooking.


These taste even better than they look. I staled the bread slightly in the oven before frying it. I tossed the bread in butter, onion powder, garlic powder, parsley, thyme, pepper and rosemary. They are crunchy on the outside but still a little chewy No petrified bread rocks will be produced in my kitchen!
By the way, the bowl pictured is a fraction of what I made.
Then there was the egg casserole. I decided to make a frittata. Sauteed onions cooked with diced potatoes, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, and freshly grated parmigiano reggiano.

I was very upset about the look of my finished frittata. The center had collapsed from my testing for done-ness.









I had to slice the frittata for serving tomorrow, so it didn't really matter. Despite it's imperfection it really was a beautiful frittata.












My frittata smelt so good, I just kept making them until my veggies were all gone. I ended up with one for the church and three for my freezer.

Fresh Laundry

I am so excited. The weather is starting to turn to spring here in Fort Wayne. We use cloth diapers for our two youngest girls. It is so nice to be able to hang the diapers out on the line again. They smell so fresh, and the sun acts as a natural bleaching agent.

Soil Blocking Saturday

After I came home from the market today, I decided to ignore my horrible cold and venture out to enjoy the nice weather.












My husband and I went out to our shed, and gathered all of the ingredients we needed to make soil blocks.











After we had mixed the base fertilizer with the soil mixture...












We grabbed the soil blocker and got to work.













We planted 10 Black Eyed Susan Vine Climbers, and 25 Basil seeds.







This is just the tip of the iceberg. But that is alright. Most of my seeds I can't start for two more weeks at least. It was nice to spend some time working outside with my husband. We made our soil blocks, then we tidied up the mess that winter had left in our yard.

Weekend Cooking

On the weekend I like to make several recipes that freeze well so I can easily make a healthy lunch or supper for my busy family the following week. Last weekend I made ham and beans on Saturday evening. I served this with cornbread after mass on Sunday, and froze the leftovers for later in the month. Sunday afternoon I made homemade chicken and noodle. I started cooking the chicken when we got home from mass, and started making the noodles after lunch. By the time I had my stock and chicken cooked, my noodles were ready to add to the soup. We had this for one meal during the week, and I had quite a bit leftover to freeze. This weekend I am thinking about making hamburger chili for my husband and daughters, and vegetarian chili for myself. I enjoy cooking, and it is very important to me to serve healthy, homemade food to my family everyday. It is also very difficult for me to find time everyday to cook three meals for my husband, myself, two preschoolers (ages 5 years and 4 years), and a 23 month old. We have another little one who is almost nine months, she doesn't eat too much food, but she does nurse several times a day. Any mother who breast-feeds can tell you how much time that activity takes out of your day. My solution is to cook several times during the week, and on the weekend. The rest of the time I serve meals from my freezer that I can make quick side dishes for. I make double or triple batches of food when I can to save time. I have successfully frozen many different kinds of dishes. I have frozen soups, coffee cake, quiche, barbecue pork, homemade pizza, black bean and rice burritos, breakfast sandwiches, and baked ziti. I have also frozen a variety of side dishes such as homemade macaroni and cheese, dinner rolls, muffins, and homemade bread. Making freezer meals is a convenient way to provide healthy food for my family, while allowing my to spend quality time with my family instead of with my stove.

My Garden

Today I have been preparing for Gardening Season! I am very excited about this, as you should have already been able to tell from the exclamation point. I created a spreadsheet to organize information about the plants I will be growing. I am still in the process of finalizing my order for my seeds. I will be ordering from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Their site can be found at www.rareseeds.com They sell open pollinated and heirloom seeds. They do not sell genetically modified (or genetically mutated as I like to call them) seeds, they do not sell hybrid seeds. This pleases me. I will be planting a variety of vegetables, herbs, and flowers this year, all started from seed. I did this last year with great success. This week I am preparing to make the soil blocks that I will be starting my seeds in. You can find more information about soil blocking at www.johnnyseeds.com I used this method last year for starting my seeds and did not have to fertilize my garden all season. I love gardening, it is my favorite hobby. My two oldest daughters helped me in my garden last year and are very anxious for spring to come. I think that it is important to garden for many reasons. It is better for the environment than purchasing some vile vegetable from Kermit knows where, that has been shipped Kermit knows how far... It upsets me just thinking about the waste of resources used in transporting the vile vegetable alone. What kind of conditions was the vegetable grown in, transported in? Is it genetically modified? Most probably. Anyway... I know that not everyone agrees with my views on the environment, or on genetically modified food. I don't care, but I don't want to bore anyone so I will not continue on about this, as I am sure you have my meaning. If you grow food in your own garden you know exactly what it is, what conditions it is grown in, and what conditions it is stored in. The food grown in my garden is 100% organic, but again that is just me. Even if you choose not to grow organic, it is still better to grow your own than to but it from some super chain. The other benefit to growing your own garden, is sharing the experience with your children. My daughters help me soil block, plant the seeds, transplant the seeds, weed the garden, and harvest. They also help me wash the vegetables, and prepare them. When they are older I will teach them to can. A garden teaches children about nature, and life cycles. It teaches them responsibility and how to care for living things. Gardening also teaches children how to be self-sufficient in a time where a great number of people can scarcely make themselves dinner. My daughters are amazed when they see their little seeds turn to seedlings, to plants, to vegetables, then to supper. Gardening is the perfect way to bond with one's family. It does not embed consumerism into their little minds the way shopping or television does. It lets them discover the world around them, and allows them to learn in the most effective way, hands on. So, gardening season is just around the corner. Consider starting your own seeds, or if that isn't in the cards for you, consider buying some plants from your local nursery or farmer's market. Plant something, plant some herbs in a pot and place them in a sunny room, I promise your efforts won't be wasted.

"To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." -Mahatma Gandhi