The Appalachian Herbarium

Hello Hello! It’s me again, the absentee blogger. (Perhaps I should have used that as my title. It’s more than fitting.) I’m just popping again for a brief update. My sister and I have had a rough time financially, since her companion dog had emergency, and expensive, surgery. (We should be back on track sometime in October, so it’s only a few more weeks of payment arrangements and bumming money from relatives.) One of our money-saving ideas was to make our own laundry soap.

Now, I know it probably seems pretty obvious thing to do. After all, I am a soapmaker, so why wouldn’t I make laundry soap? Well, to be honest, I was a bit daunted by it. Combine caustic soda with water, add melted fat, yes, I can do that. Combine household ingredients to properly clean laundry? No siree. The very idea gave me the collywobbles. 

Until my sister found a great, simply recipe, that is. Armed with the proper ingredients, a grater, a blender, and a sealable container we set to work. In no time we had a fabulous bucket of clean-smelling powdered detergent! (Thanks to Matt Jabs at DIY Natural for the recipe!) Here is what we used:

1 bar Fels-Naptha laundry soap (or Zote)
1 cup Borax (20 Mule team is a great choice)
1 cups Arm and Hammer washing soda

Unwrap the laundry soap and allow to air dry for a few days. (This is optional, but does make the grating easier and allows it to blend better.) In a large bowl grate the soap. Add the borax and washing soda, mix well, and scoop a cup into a blender. Blend until thoroughly mixed, pour into an airtight container, and add another cup of the mixture to the blender. Continue until the entire batch has been blended. To use, add a tablespoon per load of laundry, two tablespoons for heavily soiled clothes.

That’s it! It’s that simple, and it works great! I absolutely adore the fragrance, it’s clean without being perfume-laden, and it does a fantastic job of cleaning. 

I highly, highly recommend trying this recipe. Let me know how it turns out for you!

One of the best things that summer brings, more than plants blooming and mornings at the beach, is visitation with my nephew. Every year since I moved to Georgia he has come down and spent about a month, sometimes a little less. 

This year I am proud to announce, he brought down dried herbs from home…to make salves for him and his friends. (They all tell him they’re magic.) Since he was out of the ointments I had made him previously, he wanted to restock his supply. (Did I mention he’s only fifteen? He’s intent on learning to make herbal concoctions, and he’s still in high school)

I’m so excited! He is taking an interest in herbalism and growing herbs, which tickles me to no end. Maybe he will take over the Herbarium when I’m gone. :) 

In honor of his interest, I have included his All-Purpose Salve recipe below. Enjoy!

Gomery’s All-Purpose Salve
1 oz beeswax
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup dried or fresh herbs: comfrey, lavender, beebalm, licorice leaf, yarrow, rose       petals
20 drops Tea Tree essential oil

          Combine herbs and oil in a double-boiler or candy melter. Simmer for three to four hours to infuse. Strain. Melt beeswax (again, double-boiler or candy melter) and add infused oil. Stir and allow to re-melt. Remove from heat, add essential oil, and stir. Pour into containers. When cool, cap and label. To use, apply a small amount of ointment to cut, scrape, scab, or blister. DO NOT USE ON BROKEN, OOZING, BLEEDING SKIN OR DEEP CUTS. NOT FOR USE ON BURNS OR PUNCTURE WOUNDS. As always, seek medical attention for anything serious. (This salve is only for minor, everyday scrapes!)

Life is full of surprises, obstacles, pain. Some mornings it is difficult to muster the strength to roll over, clamber out of bed, and start the day. Some days meld into weeks with scraps of sleep and rounds of hospitals, pharmacies, running medicines and ice water, and phone calls. There are times when nothing goes right no matter how hard you work, bills go into default, people become ill, everything begins weighing on you. 

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. 

That’s the old adage, right? It’s all about taking something negative and turning it into something positive. Supposed to be all motivational, encouraging you to rise above adversity and move on.

I like this one better: When life gives you lemons, make grape juice and laugh while everyone else tries to figure out how you did it. 

That seems more my style. That one makes me think outside the box. It’s about taking something negative and not only creating something positive from it, but also something completely unexpected. I suppose that is how I get through all the dark times, all the sleepless days and marathon doctor ER stays. Make grape juice.

I’m an artist. I take photographs (primarily) but I also draw (not very well), paint and pastel (again, not well), make soap (obviously), weave and craft, and collage. All the trauma and pain goes into my work, creating something both cathartic and expressing the emotional upheaval. I suppose taking something and making it into something else is ingrained so deeply that my lemons usually become something else, like grape juice.

Or sweet tea, which I like better anyway.

I suppose this post is less about the happenings at the Herbarium and in my life and more about what it means to weather the storm. Regardless of what the storm happens to be. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that we are more than just our businesses, that we are human, that it is fine to feel the stress and burden and anxiety that comes with being alive. 

And it’s ok if you can’t make lemons into lemonade right now. It’s fine to eat lemons until you can make lemonade. That’s part of being human too. 

I just wanted to touch on Aurora, CO quickly. When tragedy strikes, it is important to focus on healing and renewal; too easily we can dwell on the darkness that these tragedies bring into our lives.

Yes, the man deserves to be punished for his actions. He needs to face justice for what he did, but the people who have been affected by this, the victims and their families, deserve our attention more. Keep them in your thoughts, your prayers, your positive energy rituals.

Banding together to help them is the best, and quickest, path to healing. 

As some of you might be aware, my sis and I are huge into photography. (Huge huge huge.) We have been discussing building a photo brand together and focusing on documentary, fine art, and some still life (mainly product) imagery. After much debate, we have finally settled on a name: Twin Mephistophelias Photography. 

Yes, Mestophelias, as in a reference to Mephistopheles. No, we are not focused on Goth or Emo or obsessed with producing photographs of gripping darkness (despite how some of them seem). Yes, there is a bit of a backstory. 

Waaaaay back when I was growing up (and we will refrain from asking how long ago that was), my elder sister babysat me quite a bit. She read to me, played games with me, and almost always took me with her when she went places (many of her boyfriends were less than pleased). Naturally we became very close, to the point that our family refers to us as twins, despite several years difference in our ages. 

Of course, our middle sister likes to include the adjective “evil” when using the nickname. This prompted our decision to make a play on this; what is a great way of incorporating both of us in a unique, quirky name that is sure to stand out? Include the name of a German demon from folklore. Fabulous!

Both of us are thrilled with the name and are should have portfolios ready soon for posting. If you know anyone needing quality retouching keep us in mind, both of us are skilled in Photoshop and Lightroom. I should have more information to post soon, keep your eyes peeled! 

…And a good facial cleanser, Bentonite Clay and Tea Tree. 

I had some spare time (between cleaning the kitchen, picking up dog food, washing laundry, photographing for class—balance and emphasis, seen below—and all my usual responsibilities) to make some soap. 

Bottle and Light, Amanda Kathleen Photography, 2012. All Rights Reserved.

My first batch I wanted was a good summer, mildly floral, round bar. Looking through my jars of dried herbs, bottles of oils and essences, and small containers of colorants, I decided on rose. It’s floral, I can make it light and airy, and it screams summer. Even better, I had sliced loofa discs that make excellent exfoliators…what better way to make your skin summer ready than exfoliation? 

Jars and bottles and loofa in hand I meandered into the kitchen, melted down my beeswax and soap base, added rose petals, and stirred in some color. Added the fragrance, placed loofa in the wells of the molds, gave the soap a good stir, and poured. 

Ah, beautiful. 

Demolding was a bit more of a hassle. Something wasn’t quite right, the soap didn’t want to come out and was very soft (seriously, like butter) on the bottom. Hmm. Well, back to the melting pot! (I had to scrape the soap from the loofa) but remelted it, added more soap, added a touch more fragrance, and poured again.

Success!

Of course, that wasn’t all I was doing. Herbs from the front yard have been going haywire, and I have been collecting and drying them to store in my jars. 

Herb Press 1, Amanda Kathleen Photography, 2012. All Rights Reserved.

Herb Press 2, Amanda Kathleen Photography, 2012. All Rights Reserved.

And of course, once I have finished drying the herbs I make infused oils. I don’t have any good photos of oils in the process (although I can take some, hopefully tomorrow), but I do have one of an oil as it is being decanted. (This involves pouring the oil into a jar and straining out the herb.)

Decanting Oils, Amanda Kathleen Photography, 2012. All Rights Reserved.

Of course, I didn’t stop with the rose soap and herbal concoctions, I decided to take a leap and test out some bentonite clay. My mother has a book that has a complexion soap made with bentonite and tea tree essential oil, and lo and behold! I have both in my stock. Hmm.

One thing I learned: clay needs to be blended into a smaller portion of soap (or oil, depending on what sort of soap you are making) before being mixed into the whole. It tends to clump and is a p.a.i.n to break up. Still, the effort was worth it, the bars are beautiful! (I will try to get a good photo tomorrow as well.)

Well, I have a good chunk of work left to do and, much as I enjoy writing about soap, I gotta go. Have a great rest of your week, and keep scrubbing!