Dandelion Wine!

Byzantium, I come not from,

But from another time and place

Whose race was simple, tried and true;

As boy

I dropped me forth in Illinois.

A name with neither love nor grace

Was Waukegan, there I came from

And not, good friends, Byzantium.

And yet in looking back I see

From topmost part of farthest tree

A land as bright, beloved and blue

As any Yeats found to be true.

So it is that Mr. Ray Bradbury describes life in his hometown.  I purchased the book “Dandelion Wine” a few years ago seeking out a master story teller, (hoping for a teacher) and expecting an adventure.  I’m happy to say that I found all of these things as well as an unusual amount of nostalgia. 

My hometown is far more colorful and aromatic than Waukegan though I doubt I’ll ever present it as artfully as Mr. Bradburry.  In reading “Dandelion Wine” I realized how blessed I was as a child.

I’ll not let this blessing go unsung! (Even if the song isn’t a very pleasant one!) I’ll write!

In the meantime; while visiting my parents this Easter weekend, my sister and I spent about an hour harvesting the ingredients required to make a batch of Dandelion wine.  It takes three, maybe four weeks to cure and so I’ll have to wait until then to say if this recipe was successful or not.  It seems to have gained a more pleasant smell over the past few days. 

Here is the recipe we used to make our Dandelion Wine; (and though the recipe doesn’t explicitly call for it, I suggest a reading of Mr. Bradburry’s book just prior to mixing the ingredients!):

INGREDIENTS:  (For 1 gallon of Dandelion Wine)

1 package dried yeast

1/4 cup warm water

2 quarts (half gallon) of Dandelion blossoms

4 quarts water

1 cup orange juice

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

8 whole cloves

1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger

3 tablespoons coarsely chopped orange peel

1 tablespoon coarsely chopped lemon peel

6 cups of sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Dissolve the yeast into the 1/4 cup of warm water and set it aside.

Wash the Dandelion blossoms really good.  Many ants or otherwise nefarious insects will object strongly at this point, however you must stay true to the recipe and carry through with a proper washing!

Get a large pot capable of holding the 4 quarts of water.  Mix in the orange, lemon and lime juices.  Add the dandelions.  Add the cloves, ginger, orange and lemon peel, and sugar.  Bring the water to a boil and continue boiling it for an hour.

After the hour is up…pour the mixture through a series of filters to make sure you get all the specks out.  We used cheese cloth and coffee filters though the coffee filters will take up a lot of time.

While it is still warm (but not TOO hot…) stir in the yeast.

Let the solution stand overnight then pout it into bottles (or mason jars) the next morning.  Let it sit for three weeks with access to air.  After three weeks you can cork it, or close it up tight. 

Enjoy, and hopefully the wine will help various memories from your hometown come flooding over you like the ghostly whale-winds that swim through the forrests of Illinois.

Wicked Worldview Deception of Modern Medicine

Mike Adams is quickly becoming a new hero of mine.

To see why I appreciate him so much, see his article here:

http://www.naturalnews.com/025833.html

Adams clearly lays out the case against Big Business Medicine and the oppressive and sinful grasp it has over our nation.

I give the above article 5 out of 5 stars on the Shotgun coolness scale.

One of the first steps I’ve taken to “get off the grid” is to take charge of my own body and health.  This is going to be a revolutionary concept in a few years.

Beyond Tyranny:

For more information on this newest travesty, see here:

http://aaaletawomanlearn.blogspot.com/2009/03/criminalization-of-organic-farms-hr875.html

And here:

http://naturalconsequences.blogspot.com/2009/03/agrarian-beware-hr-875.html

Join Me in a Week of Alkaline Balancing!

I was following a pretty extensive running schedule this past January.

One ridiculously frigid morning found me bent over in pain around the three mile mark massaging my knee and hoping for relief.

It felt like a cramp so I figured that it would work itself out if I kept running.  Well, it didn’t; instead of getting better during the run, it got progressively worse until I had to stop.   I had to limp all the way home, and baby it the rest of the day.

I didn’t remember twisting it, or doing anything unusual; why was I hurting?

I hate doctors, especially military doctors.  (***EDIT*** I don’t hate Doctors, I just despise the military health care system.) I dreaded going in for a checkup, knowing it would be worthless.  I did need an X-ray though so I made an appointment.  The X-ray didn’t show anything conclusive.  So the Doc says…”Stop running…and by the way…here is a prescription for Motrin.”  We decided that I had “sprained” or otherwise hurt my knee somehow.

Ok…umm..thanks for the update Doc…

I strongly believe in natural healing methods so I wasn’t about to settle for this simple diagnosis.  For some reason, my knee “sprained” during this run, and I wanted to find out why.

After some investigation I found out that our ligaments are made up of all sorts of good minerals.

If a person’s diet is too acidic (which is true for the majority of Americans) then his blood PH becomes too acidic.  This can potentially be deadly.  According to Dr. Christopher Vasey in his book, “The Acid Alkaline Diet” the body quickly tries to compensate for this by either eliminating the excess acid, or by neutralizing it.

Acids are neutralized when they come into contact with bases.  When more acid is consumed that the body can easily eliminate via the kidneys…the body MUST rob “basic” minerals from surrounding tissue in order to neutralize the blood.

My diet had become far too acidic.  I was consuming too much red meat, a little alcohol, sugar, and strong acidic cheeses.

I believe that my body’s PH dipped to such a level that vital minerals were being taken from my ligaments thus weakening them, leading to an unusual “sprain” in my knee.

I immediately clamped down on my diet and began eating healthy again.  However, recently (after reading Dr. Vasey’s book) I decided to go one step further and do an “Acid-Alkaline Balance” by cleansing my body tissue of any built up harmful acids.

I have planned out my week, from Sunday March 8, to Sunday March 15 based on Dr. Christopher Vasey’s book, “The Acid Alkaline Diet” as well as beneficial suggestions from Dr. Janet Maccaro (author of Natural Health Remedies) and Dr. Phyllis A. Balch (author of Prescription for Herbal Healing.)  Additionally, I’ll be doing a liver cleanse this week.

I’ve done all sorts of cleanses, but this will be the first time I’ve ever tried doing something like this.  I am really excited and believe that my overall health will greatly improve in addition to supplementing and replacing lost minerals from my ligaments and muscles.

THE PLAN (I’m going to write this out like a recipe for baking a cake or something.)

Supplements Involved / Ingredients:

Alkaline Water – Water that is not acidic.  I distill or filter all of my own water so, I’m good there.  Water out of streams wells or the faucet may be too acidic.

Probiotics – I’m going to drink through two bottles of liquid probiotics this week.  This will help reduce acidification caused by excessive colonization of microforms, or candida yeast.

Kyo Green – A wonderful green food supplement that comes in powder form.  This comes highly recommended by Janet Maccaro.

Juicer – This week will be almost like a fast.  I’m only going to be eating Alkaline foods, mainly veggies run through the juicer.

Green Drink Super Foods – There are some companies that sell this sort of Green – super food drink.  I’m going to go through two cartons of it this week.

Veggies – Cucumbers, cabbage, broccoli, spinach, celery, lettuce, zucchini, peppers, carrots and beets.  Also, POTATOES will provide for the bulk of the food this week. I also have romaine hearts…I love eating them.

Wheat Grass Supplement – I’m going to take at least 16 to 20 tablets a day in addition to the Kyo Green.

Alkaline Supplement – There are various alkaline supplements sold in stores.  This is vital for the acid cleansing process since I’d have to eat a strict veggie diet for years upon years to get enough alkaloids to balance out the amount of acid built up by the past 26 years of my life.  Your body WANTS to get rid of all the excess acid, but it can only do so in small steps.  If there is an influx of Basic minerals, then the acid can be neutralized and expelled.

Apple Cider Vinegar – I’m getting three BIG bottles of this, and one small bottle.  The three big ones will be for an apple cider vinegar bath every night, and the little one is to drink from.  Vinegar is a “simple” acid which means, the body can easily break it down and expel the acid through the lungs.  When it is broken down and the acid expelled through the lungs, all that is left is the alkaline elements.  This is a fast and easy way to add lots of Alkalinity to your blood PH.

Apples, or Apple Cider and other liver cleanse ingredients – I’m not going to list all the ingredients for a good liver cleanse.  If you’re interested, please let me know.  Or, you can google it.  The proceedure is pretty simple and easy.

DIRECTIONS:

For breakfast, simmer veggies along with potatoes in a pan.  I’m going to add pepper and goat cheese.  Drink a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar.  Lots of water to drink.  Drink a serving of Kyo Green.  Drink a glass of Green Super Food.

Lunch…do the same.

Afternoon snacks should consist of liquid Kyo Green, or Green Super food, or veggie jucie from the juicer.

Supper is the same as lunch and breakfast.

Evening Apple Cider Vinegar Bath:  Before the bath scrub the heck out of your skin with a skin brush of some sort.  You want to really open up your pores and prime your sweat glands.  Begin filling the tub with really hot water, though, you don’t want it to be too hot.  Get in the tub, then gradually fill it with hotter and hotter water.  If the water is too hot when you first get in, you’ll shock your skin, and it closes up as a defensive mechanism.  You want to gradually build up the hot water.  Add about half the bottle of ACVinegar to the water.  Soak for about 40 minutes.  I am currently working my way through Dr. Greg Bahnsen’s lecture series on the Philosophy of Religion.  This is a great time to get a lecture in!  I also light some candles and dim the lights.  It’s a good idea to have a bottle of water (or green superfood) there with you as well.  This can be a very relaxing end to a day…and I’ve started looking foward to my baths.

According to Janet Maccaro, this AC vinegar bath is very beneficial for riding the body of uric acid.  The heat also stimulates your sweat glands which play a major role in the bodies system of ridding itself of acid.

CONCLUSION:

This seems a little harsh, but it looks worse than it will end up being I’m sure.  If followed diligently, Dr. Vasey assures us that we’ll be pleased.  He says this on page 186 of his book:

“Because of the strong purifying effect of this cure on the intestines as well as the kidneys, two or three days on this diet should bring about a good cleansing; but a longer period of a week, for example, will have an even more profound effect on the purification and deacidification of the body.”

Good luck, and God bless!  If you’d like to follow this plan along with me for the next week, I’d love to share some mutual encouragement!  Anyway…just let me know.

Chocolate Review: Green and Black’s Organic Milk Chocolate Bar

Ok…

The Green & Blacks brand of organic milk chocolate candy bar is some of the absolute greatest chocolate I have ever eaten in my entire life.

If you love Hershys, these guys will blow your socks off.

I give the milk chocolate bar from G&B, a 5 out of a possible 5 stars on the Shotgun food scale!

The normal sized bar comes in black and blue wrapping…100 grams (3.5 oz.)  It is 34 % Cocoa (Rich). Green & Blacks is certified organic by the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF).

The only downside is…there are about 420 calories in one bar.  So, make sure you walk a few miles after eating one!  (Or, maybe you could take a walk WHILE eating one?  I gurantee you…it’s worth it!)

All Natural Organic Conspiracy Theories

(I wrote this blog a few years ago, and I still have not been sick.  I am completely sold on the entire herbal system of health and have been educating myself about this exciting and rewarding field of study for some time now.  While my views on conspiracy theories have changed somewhat since writing this, I still think that the basis of what I’ve said is true.  I consider myself to be a sort of “Augustinian Conspiracy Theorist” in that, I see all the struggles in life falling into a tension between the city of God, and the city of Man.  As I say in the blog.  The REAL battle is for the hearts and minds of people, and we’ll not make progress until we as Christians begin confronting the secular humanistic religion of the city of man.) 

I haven’t been sick in about four years now!

It all started around Easter of 2002.

I joined the US Navy with a very specific purpose in mind. A goal that would require great physical effort on my part. I began concentrating on my body and exercise routines, but I was totally ignorant about proper nutrition. In fact, I was operating on the principal that I could eat whatever I wanted as long as I worked out on a regular basis. Why not? After all, I had never had to worry about what I ate before, I just naturally stayed fit.

For Easter, my sister got me this book called “Body By God, The Owners Manual for Maximized Living” and it really changed my life. Dr. Ben Lerner explains in the book, all about the correct way to eat, and the correct foods to eat.

He was a proponent of eating all Organic foods. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was going to open me up to an entire world of alternative medicine.

What Ben Lerner said would happen, happened. I really got into the organic life style. Ever since I have started eating this way, I have never been sick.

But that’s not what this blog is about.

Kevin Trudeau and his conspiracy theories!

 

 

 

The concept of alternative health intrigued me, so I began reading more and more on it. Eventually I came across Kevin Trudeaus book, “Natural Cures that They don’t Want you to Know About“.

Wow, this guy went beyond any of the alternative methods I had read about in the past, and was actually suggesting things like Reiki, and other spiritual healing methods. This set off some alarms in my thick Christian head, and I was further set off by his apparent paranoia in regards to some conspiracy theories he promotes in his book. The large majority of his alternative health suggestions sounded ok though, so I let the more nutty of his views slip by. That was until his second book came out, “More Natural Cures Revealed“.

I am very reluctant to believe in these massive conspiracy theories. It seems that only the outer fringes of society are the ones that usually believe in such things, fostered by, (in my opinion) their radical views, and their feelings of apparent powerlessness to control their surroundings.

For one, the whole, “feeling powerless” thing just doesn’t sit right with me. I control myself, and my own surroundings, not some mysterious invisible group meeting in a hotel once a year over in Spain! I have guns, and I know how to use them. Americans have guns, and know how to use them! We have fought for our freedom and liberty, and we utilize that freedom everyday!

The book “Them” by Jon Ronson pretty much sums up my entire attitude towards conspiracy theories as a whole. Are there powerful men in the world who influence the rest of us? Yes. Is there a conspiracy? No. The world works the way it works. Instead of complaining about how the world works, I suggest learning it, working with it, and using it all for your advantage somehow.

That being said, in the last part of this blog, I would like to examine some of Kevin Trudeaus wild conspiracy theories in light of the attitude Jon Ronson displays in his book.

All Natural Organic Conspiracies

 

 

 

If you are interested in Alternative Health then I do not suggest getting Mr. Trudeaus books. They are much less about Alternative Health, and much more about pushing his conspiracy theories. If you don’t like repetitive preaching, then don’t get his books. In his first book, he is much more low key with his paranoia. The second one however, goes a little too far.

In chapter two he describes an IQ test that he took in high school, in which he scored relatively well on. This success led him to try taking a MENSA IQ test, which is an organization for super intelligent people, (I think MENSA needs a sister organization for farm boys in NC) You can read more about MENSA here: http://www.mensa.org/ .

After getting a perfect score on his MENSA test, (which he got only by cheating) he claims that he was approached by two men who were members of a Secret Society of folks who wanted him to use his special talents and abilities for them. Mr. Trudeau then claims that he worked for this secret society for over twenty years, where he among other things, learned the secret of life long incredible health, and saw alien bodies and UFO parts at Area 51.

This world wide secret society has been called by many different names over the years. In his book “Them” Jon Ronson attempts to track down this organization, and see if there is any truth at all to any of the conspiracy theories. In the end, he does find such a group, and here is what one of the groups participants is quoted as saying:

Bilderberg (

the name of this secret society) is a way of bringing together politicians, industrialists, financiers, and journalists. Politics should involve people who aren’t politicians. We make a point of getting along younger politicians who are obviously rising, to bring them together with financiers and industrialists who offer them wise words. It increases the chance of having a sensible global policy.”

 

He then goes on to say:

“That ISN’T a conspiracy! That is the WORLD! It is the way things are done. And quite rightly so.”

I do believe that the FDA’s stance on health care, and the prevailing view of health that most Dr’s today hold, is not the best view, or even the most biblical view. I do NOT consider it a conspiracy. I think it is just the way things are. Until we as Christians begin confronting this secular humanistic mindset that has a stranglehold over most modern sciences, then they will continue to believe that God has not created our bodies to heal themselves, and that only through drugs and surgery can we be saved.

As for the UFO’s, well, that is a subject for another blog!

Home Made Root Beer!

I’m a stickler for the finer things in life…

The only caveat I have to that is, the “finer things in life” can’t be manufactured by some large cooperation to the detriment of my health.

I consider normal soft drinks to be poison.  In photography school, we learned how to develop film using coffee or soda.

I don’t know HOW some folks drink one right after the other, day after day.

Anyway…saying all that…I have to admit that I LOVE Root Beer with a passion.

A few years ago, my parents went to PA for a short vacation, and brought back some home made Amish root beer. The Amish used yeast to carbonate their soda, and after getting used to it…I found it to be VERY delicious.

A year or so later, by pure chance (divine providence), a friend of mine gave me the recipe for home made root beer!

Since I’m such a stickler for all organic, natural ingredients, I’ve adjusted the recipe accordingly.

You will need the following:

1 teaspoon dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm (distilled) water
2 cups granulated sugar (organic sugar cane)
5 teaspoons root beer extract (or 10 drops of root beer flavored stevia extract)
more lukewarm water (have plenty of distilled on hand)
10 dried raisins (organic of course)

1) Dissolve yeast in 1 cup lukewarm water, let stand 5 minutes. Combine sugar and extract. Add the yeast to the sugar mixture. (1)

2) Pour into a gallon jug, then fill with lukewarm water, stopping about 1 inch from the top of the jug. Add the dried raisins for flavor.

3) Cover the jug and set it in the sun for 3 hours.

Refrigerate overnight then drink the next day

Enjoy!

(1)  As a side not here.  Even though this is an organic and all natural treat…it is STILL a treat.  I think of it as sort of a delicacy.  Due to the large amount of sugar in this drink, I don’t recommend making a habit out of drinking this either.  To try and reduce the amount of sugar, I tried substitutes like honey, and rice syrup.  The yeast really doesn’t like honey…it won’t eat it like it supposed to.  The rice syrup did a little better, but not by much.  It seems like we’re pretty much stuck with using organic sugar crystals for this.  Also, the bigger the crystals the better, try not to get the sugar that is so processed that it is almost a powder.

Grease Explosion!!!!!!

!!!WARNING!!!  (Please avoid the same stupid mistake that I made!!)

For anyone who read my “Lye Soap and Freedom” article, you’ll know that I’ve recently been making my own soap.

Well, as in all things, patience is a virtue.

This is especially true with soap making.  I, like the big dummy that I am, had to find this out the hard way.

You see, I had decided to make a batch of soap, right as a good ol mid-summer storm began blowing in.

Eventually, my power started flickering, and soon an entire circuit in my apartment went down.  I lost power to the fridge and microwave, as well as to the electric sparks that ignite my gas oven.

I had already added the lye to my water, and was determined to carry on, despite the setbacks.

I set up some lamps, and manually lighted my gas oven.

Unfortunately, I lost track of time, and let my grease cook for far too long.  It was well over 120 degrees.

My lye was at the correct temperature, but my grease was far too hot.

Normally, I would just pop the pot into the freezer for a few minutes, but I didn’t know how long the power to my fridge would be out, so I crossed off that option.  My next plan was to set the pot of grease in the sink and run cold water on it until it cooled down.  The problem was, the sink was full of other dirty soap making utensils (as well as utensils from dinner that evening…)  I didn’t feel like cleaning all that out (I was in a soap making frenzy) plus, running cold water over the pot would take waaaay to long!

It was then that I came up with a brilliant idea!!!

“Why don’t I just pour some really cold water into the grease???”

As soon as the water hit the grease, it began hissing, and boiling…then popping, then BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My recipe calls for 2 cups of grease.  Both cups were sent flying in all directions all over my kitchen.

Luckily, I have catlike reflexes, and dove behind a wall, or I could have been seriously hurt.

Now I have one heck of a mess to clean up.

On the bright side of this whole thing…I had fun running, and diving across the kitchen floor!!

The moral here:

Be patient when making soap!!!!

A Very Uplifting Organic Manifesto

This video clip just made my day!

This clip is very important, in that, it shows how small changes to your lifestyle greatly effects and disrupts the plans of Satan (even though the people in the film don’t realize it.)

Instead of the “Cooperate Powers that Be,” (the villians in this clip) small subtle changes like the ones shown here, can have a great impact in the struggle between the city of God and the city of man.

(For those not familiar with my overall view of what is happening in the world…that is a reference to St. Augustine’s “City of God.” )

This video is so motivational and inspiring! I would highly recommend watching it! I’m sending it to all my family as well!

Enjoy, and God bless the farmers!

(Just in case it doesn’t play in Myspace, here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCPEBM5ol0Q)

Lye Soap and Freedom

The crisis we face is clearly related to a loss of trust – trust in ourselves, in freedom, in our own government and in our money. We are a litigious welfare society gone mad. Everyone feels compelled to grab whatever he can get from government or by suit. The “something for nothing” obsession rules our every movement, and is in conflict with the other side of man’s nature – that side that values self-esteem and pride of one’s personal achievement. Today the pride of self-reliance and personal achievement is buried by the ego-destroying policies of the planned interventions of big government and replaced by the “satisfaction” of manipulating the political system to one’s own special advantage…This problem cannot continue indefinitely. Something has to give – we must choose either freedom and prosperity or tyranny and poverty. - Quote by Ron Paul in an address to the House. September 19, 1984.

I for one, am inclined to go further than Ron Paul has in the above quote. It’s not freedom itself that delivers a prosperous nation, but rather it is God almighty who works through the free actions of His people. In fact, I could argue that all the free market ideals which have made this nation so great, can be directly, or indirectly deduced from old testament civil law!

Consider the following argument by Christian philosopher Greg Bahnsen:

For instance, Jesus said “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all these things (daily provisions of life) shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33). Paul taught that “Godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (I Tim. 4:8). The Old Testament prophet Malachi exhorted God’s people that if they would obey Him (here, by bringing in their tithes), God would open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing for which there would not be enough room to take in (Mal. 3:10). Even earlier, the great leader of the Israelites, Moses, had written that obedience to the Lord would result in blessings on the society’s children, crops, rain, herds, cities, and fields; it would bring peace to the people from without and prosperous economy and health from within (Deut. 7:1215; 11:13-15; 28: 1-14; 30: 15, 19; Lev. 26: 3-12). in ethical decision-making, then, we should properly consider the end, aim, or consequences of our behavior. http://reformed-theology.org/ice/newslet/be/be.04.79.htm

It is not a loss of trust in freedom, or abstract political / economic ideals that has lead America to her own “road to serfdom” but rather, her loss of trust in the sovereign creator. Ron Paul is exactly right when he says that this problem cannot continue indefinitely. We MUST choose either freedom and prosperity, (relying on the providence and law of God) or we will have one of the most horrible tyrannies in the history of mankind.

In a spirit of true self reliance, I decided (in light of recent developments concerning government invasion into our privacy,) to begin living an “off the grid” lifestyle!

I first, began washing all of my clothes by hand, you know…the old fashioned way. In fact, a buddy of mine contributed a traditional washboard to the effort, and my parents, (as an interesting gift) scrounged up a wringer from somewhere. (One of the old fashioned kinds with two rollers and a crank to squeeze dry your clothes!)

The benefits of washing my clothes this way are worth every bit of the extra time and effort. For one, clothes that have dried naturally have a great texture to them, as well as a great “fresh” smell! Also, (living in a city) I save a ton on laundry expenses. No more quarter laundry machines for me!

This was just the first step though. I decided next to try creating my own soap. I wasn’t satisfied with my old toxin laden commercially manufactured garbage. After talking with my grandparents, (who still have knowledge of the “old ways”) I decided to pay them a visit, and learn my grandma’s special soap making recipe! What follows is an account of how to make lye soap, along with the recipe. I’ll also add in a few creative idea’s that I’m going to try, and if you guys would like to make some, and have questions about how to do it, just email me, I’ll be glad to give you some pointers!

RECIPE:

1 pt (1 ½ lbs) of grease

1 cup cold water

3/8 cup lye (3 tablespoons)

2 tablespoons of Borax

2 tablespoons of ammonia

You’ll need a wooden spoon, a few different measuring cups, and a glass dish.

As I write this, I’m planning on burning up some of my hardwood and making some homemade lye that way. I haven’t tried this yet, so I’m not going to post any link or anything that describes how to do it, (at least until I’ve been able to successfully do it myself!) So, for a good source of lye, you’ll have to order it, or if you’re really lucky, find an old mom and pop store that may still have some for sell. (They recently discontinued the sale of “Red Devil Lye” commonly used for clearing clogged drains!)

The way this works is, the lye, hit’s the grease, and begins a chemical reaction, known to us sophisticated soap makers as, “saponification.” The borax in the recipe acts as a stopping agent to the lye.

Take the lye, and add it to the water. It will get very hot, very fast! Be careful! One splash of lye into an unfortunate eyeball makes for one unhappy freedom loving soap maker!

Make sure all of your grease is melted. The TYPE of grease isn’t really important. My grandma always saves her grease, so she had plenty of bacon / hamburger / whatever other meat she cooked on hand, type grease. I personally, only eat organic meat with no added toxins, but even still, I don’t like the idea of washing my body with animal remains. So if you’re squeamish and also health conscious, you can use coconut oil, organic olive oil, or some combination there of!

Make sure all your grease is melted, and at a good temperature of around 98 degrees. Mix this with your lye water, when your lye water gets to around the same 98 degree temperature.

The saponification process will take about two weeks to fully work itself out, so if you’re impatient, and really need your soap quicker, then you can use the borax and ammonia, to act as stopping agents for the lye. If you add them to the mixture, then your soap will only have to sit for a few days before you can use it, (I’d at least give it a week.)

I’m not sure about this, but I believe that the soap that was made using the stopping agents, won’t last as long, or lather up as well as the soap of the patient guy, who would wait for a few weeks before he used his soap, (giving the lye full time to work.) Also, I would advise against bathing your body with soap containing these harsh chemicals like borax and ammonia. “What about the lye Shotgun?” Well, the lye will eventually burn itself out and all that is left in its place is the clean, healthy soap. But really, it’s up to you.

If you DO decide to add the borax and ammonia, make sure you add them to the grease, and mix it in. Do NOT add it to the lye water, since the soap wont turn white like it supposed to. I’m not sure why, but, I made my first batch of soap this way, (adding the borax to the lye instead of the grease) and it didn’t turn out right.

Once you have mixed the lye/water with the grease, then stir them together really good, and pour the mixture into a glass dish, and let it sit. It will get hard in about two hours, and you can cut it into bars. Once you have the bars, remember, don’t handle them or wash with them for at least two weeks, (or one, if you’ve used the borax and ammonia.)

If only securing our freedom was as easy as soap making!!!!

For some extra fun, try splitting your final mixture in half. Pour one half into the glass dish, and color the other half. Drizzle the colored half into the dish, and swirl it around with a wooden spoon. The result with be a cool, “marbleized” effect, similar to what you see in some commercially made soaps.

I personally LOVE anything mint! I’m going to drop some peppermint oil into the mixture (for the smell) and try for some green “marbleizing.” Also, something neat that I’m going to try, is after the soap has sat for the two weeks, I’m going to buy some glycerin soap from the store. This is just clear, pure glycerin for the most part. Melt it down, and drizzle a thin layer over the soap that I’ve already made, and before it hardens, I’m going to sprinkle some peppermint leaves in it. The result, (so I hope) will be an awesome and healthy bar of peppermint soap!

God bless, and let me know if you have any questions, or need any help making your own soap!