Meant to be a rainy day.... not so much.

As it was meant to be a rainy day yesterday I decided to do some stuff around the house. I've had 12 lbs of butter taking up valuable real estate in our fridge so it was a good day to deal with it... Time to clarify some butter ( also called Ghee)

 

Literally just put the butter in a pot on medium.

Once completely melted turn heat to medium-low and leave for ~ 10 minutes...

... until you can see clear through to the bottom when you draw back the fuzz on top (do not scrape bottom at any point in this recipe - the stuff on bottom will wipe out easily at the end)

Run through cheesecloth

Pour into 1/2 pint jars (or whatever you have). This is from 1 lb of butter. I managed to get 6 lbs done throughout the day yesterday.

I also decided to try making laundry soap. That was even easier than the butter! 

Chop 1 bar of soap into 'bite size' pieces and put in blender with 2C washing soda (health food store), then blend until completely mixed.

Put in package. Use: 2 tsp / Load

I haven't tried this yet but will wash the bedding today and let you know what we think of it tomorrow.

Next up, body wash. 

Also super easy. 1/3C Castille Soap, 1/3C Honey, 1/3C Oil (Olive, Almond or fractionated Coconut) and ~ 30 drops of any essential oil you like. Brad likes peppermint, so I went with that this time. I did lavender last time - too much lavender, so its a tad too girly, I think...

At that point (Noon) it still wasn't raining, so.... I grabbed my handy basket carrier guy and off we went foraging in the woods of our property.

Sisal, Dandelion heads, Plantain and Gypsy flower

Also grabbed a separate basket of Bracken fiddleheads.

I know what I said the other day... but its there and it IS edible so we got some more. I'm just trying to get these plants set into my brain so I can learn them and gathering them will help me remember what is edible and what is not. (Remember I had a stroke at 32 (gheeze 20 years ago already!) and my memory leaves a lot to be desired.

I also found - though not in season yet: 

Salmonberry

Cascade Barberry

Cherry Plum

Red Huckleberry

Bigleaf Maple (for honey)

Creambush

Red Elderberry

Pink Honeysuckle

Pacific Blacksnakeroot

Brad made lasagna for supper.... many suppers...

We gave some to neighbours and still have 15 left... 

While I absolutely hate the mess he makes doing this, I do like having them handy since we can cook them from frozen... considering how often I forget to take something out.... Oh snap... better do that now for tonight's supper!

For the record, we had a heavy mist about 10pm last night and it clearly rained a tad overnight but I can't see inside my catchment bucket outside until I'm beautified and out there. According to 'those who have no clue' we got 0.4mm (0.015 in) yesterday and 1.6mm (0.06 in) today so far....