Sunday, December 4, 2011

Never A Dull Moment

In amongst the normal busy-ness of our week there have been some highlights. I am gradually working through a list that includes things like dentists, material shopping, cleaning cupboards etc and I am nearing the end just in time too, it would seem, as today was the first day of summer for us. We went to the beach. The weather until now has been quite rotten, windy, cold and even rain. But today was perfect.

At 7.30 this morning we took Big White Dog and Precious Baby Lamb to the beach for a long run and swim. Superman and Son also had their first swim of the season. Bliss.

I also made two new soaps this week. A reader of this blog sent me a recipe for Honey and Rooibos Soap. This looked so delicious before it set..like a rich toffee. I also used my dried Calendula's to make this soap.



We noticed that our chickens weren't actually happy in their new coop...quite a blow to Superman's ego :( as they were not getting enough sun. So we have now enclosed another area that extends from the new coop and included the old garden shed.



They can wander around this huge area, dig and sandbath and get loads of sun during the day and when we go out we can put them in the smaller area as we have lots of cats in the neighbourhood. At night they can roost in the garden shed. Of course this made a huge need to declutter the shed and now we have piles of things to give away, chuck or recycle.

A highlight for me was that our first marrows are ready to eat. Lazy housewife beans are also growing prolifically. These made a great side dish with chicken pie on Friday.

I made spelt pancakes this week as you would make normal ones but just used freshly ground spelt. We had the pancakes for dinner stuffed with kassler steaks and roast veggies and there were a few left over.

I had some homemade plum ice cream left over which was the filling and turned out to be a delicious more-ish pudding.


My week in a nutshell...how was yours?

12 comments:

Lois Evensen said...

Lovely update. :) Your soaps (and that ice cream!) look fantastic. :)

Loving Learning said...

wow that soap looks good!

Zikhona Tefu said...

Yes, we indeed had a lovely hot day today in Cape Town. My family and I did not spend the day at the beach though as I was out grocery shopping most of the day :( End of the month specials made up for it though:)

I was just thinking I need to google a rooibos and honey soap when I saw your post! Are you at any liberty to share the recipe that you used please.
Thanks Wendy.

Urban Homestead South Africa said...

Thanks all, so excited to try the new soaps in about 5 weeks time.

Zikhona, the reader who gave me the recipe sells this soap and asked me not to share the recipe. I am sorry, but I do need to respect that request.

Chris said...

Very excited you made calendula soap, Wendy! Waiting is definitely the hardest part. :)

Cath said...

Your calendula soap looks lovely. I have been collecting petals for a while to make calendula soap. But where do you buy your rice bran oil? And is it very expensive?

Urban Homestead South Africa said...

Hi Catherine
I but my rice bran oil at pick n pay where you get all the oils. It is really cheap which makes it great for soap making.

And Christine thanks for the inspiration!

Zikhona Tefu said...

Not a problem at all Wendy. I appreciate that you are respecting your reader's wish.

Cat said...

Is a marrow similar to a zucchini in the US?

Your calendula soap looks lovely. I have some calendula oil that has been steeping for some time for a salve. Will do that soon.

Urban Homestead South Africa said...

Hi Cat
Yes, marrows are zucchini.

The Hof family said...

Hi Wendy, I just stumbled over your blog not that long ago. I've been making our own soap for quite some time. Did you just use Rooibos tea instead of the water or did you infuse the oils with rooibos? I looked at your soap recipe and simple green living. It's similar to the one I have. I saw your proportions a little different from Rhonda, which I haven't tried her recipe yet either. The soap looks beautiful!


The Hof family said...

Hi Wendy,
I just recently found your blog. Your soap looks beautiful. I've been making soap for quite some time. My recipe is pretty similar to the one you posted on simple green living. It's a little different than Rhonda's I noticed. I have to try either one. For the Rooibos and Honey soap, did you use tea instead of the water or did you infuse the oils with rooibos. It sounds so lovely. You have a wonderful blog!