Feeling Domestic:Made Soap And An Apple Pie!

After arriving home from my short trips, I felt grateful  to have my sweet little pink cottage. Hotels and motels are nice, but home is special and familiar.  I got up early this morning and enjoyed a couple of mugs of cafe au lait out on the shady porch. The gliders are getting a lot of use. The artichokes are in bloom now. They are absolutely gorgeous! They attract all kinds of bees; some of them are huge!  I wasn't going to let the globes flower, but they look so pretty. I decided to let it happen, organically.  We'll see how they produce next year. I hope the blooms don't zap too much of the plants' energy.  This year the crop was excellent. I had nearly thirty artichokes on the healthiest of the plants!

I spread out some homemade compost beneath my zucchini  this morning. I watered them well, and then recovered them with straw mulch to keep the soil cool. When it gets too hot, the plants wither. It looks like I will have some female blossoms soon, and then I can hand pollinate the fruit. I should have enough to share with my neighbors and the chickens.

I felt like baking this morning, so I made an apple pie. I got the apples on special last week at Valley Produce. I hadn't made a double pie crust in years. It was fun and easy.  I ate one piece after lunch, and am dying to have another. I generally try not to eat desserts with white flour and white sugar. When I was driving to Reno, I kept seeing advertisements for fresh pie at the restaurants, but nobody had any when I asked. Once I got home, I decided to make one of my own. An apricot pie sounds delicious, too! Maybe I'll do that next week.

I was in a soap making mood this afternoon, so I tried a new recipe. I saw it on Martha Stewart's blog. It uses Crisco. I have never used shortening before  in soap, and was anxious to try it. Her recipe has olive oil, coconut oil, Crisco, lye, and goat's milk. I added some blueberry fragrance oil. It should be nice and hard.

The consistency of the batter worried me at first, since it seemed like the ingredients were separating. After I stick blended it for a few minutes, it started to come together. It's a shiny white color, and mine was very thick. I plopped it into the molds, and placed them in the freezer. I moved them into the fridge after thirty minutes. It makes a small batch. I'm eager to try them. They will need to cure for eight weeks. Fortunately, I have plenty of soap that is already made.

I brought my brother a bar of olive oil soap when I saw him in Big Bear. He commented that he likes my soaps much better than what he and his wife buy at the store. I think I will send them a box of it, since they enjoy and use it so regularly. Those are the best kind of gifts, the ones that people like and use.  What are you up to today?

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