Hello from New Zealand

[Seifenblase]

Hi everyone

I'm in Wellington, New Zealand, and I've read most of the articles on the site but somehow never picked up on the fact that there was a forum here too!

I'm interested in various aspects of self sufficiency. I particularly enjoy soap making, which I've been doing for a couple of years and happens to be a horribly addictive hobby.

I've started growing things in the garden this year. I've never grown more than a small collection of herbs and lettuce, but so far I've planted rhubarb, climbing beans (which have since died down) and radishes, which all seem to be reasonably happy, despite the garden's windswept conditions.

I'd love to try home brewing and bee keeping. Home brewing appears to be the more popular option at my house, so bee keeping may have to wait for the meantime...

Cheers
Samantha

[shiney]

Hi Samantha,

Welcome to the forum. 8)

Got any good recipes for homebrewing? We are just about to start experimenting with our own 'Rocket Fuel'!

[Wombat]

G'DAy Samantha,

They're a good lot here,

Look forward to your posts!

Nev

[Magpie]

Hello, welcome!

There suddenly seem a few Kiwis around here - hooray! It can sometimes be lonely being green in this country.

[ina]

Hi Samantha

I have an idea how you could combine the beekeeping and brewing... Keep bees, and make mead with the honey!

Any particular reason why you use the German word for soap bubble? What do you make the soap from?

Ina

[Seifenblase]

I don't have any recipes for homebrew yet, but I would love to try making a very very strong stout. I tried a family friend's homebrew a while ago, and it was just wonderful - so thick and black it was almost like Marmite!

Absolutely agree that making mead would be the perfect way to combine the beekeeping and homebrewing...

I chose Seifenblase because of the soap connotation, but also because I just think it's a really nice sounding word - like Schmetterling. (I don't speak German unfortunately, having retained absolutely nothing whatsoever from my three years at school, but I do have several German friends and I've picked up random words and phrases from them).

I make soap from vegetable oils like olive oil and coconut (as I'm vegetarian) and lye. The really exciting part comes from adding in all the other bits and pieces - eg essential oils, dried herbs and spices, honey, oatmeal, scraps of silk - which add to the smell and texture.

[greenbean]

Hi Seifenblase,
Welcome, lucky you in NZ, never been but would like to. I have found people here very friendly and helpful. I am interested in making soap too, I have just bought a book on how to make soap, which I have just started to read, I haven't actually made any yet, it seems more complicated than it is and I was surprised to see ingredients like tallow - yuk. What beginner's tips do you have?

[Andy Hamilton]

Hello Seifenblase and welcome. I too am starting to experiment a bit more with home brew. Got some dandelion wine brewing at the moment and am thinking of doing some elderflower wine too. I really like the idea that what some people consider to be weeds can be used to drink.

Soap making sounds interesting, never given it a second thought untill now. Can it also be used as a shampoo?

[hay331]

Hi there Seifenblase, lots of help here, theres always someone able to answer a query. I am waiting for the sun to come out again so I can pick some Elderflowers. Got 2 wine kits bubbling away (first time I've ever made my own) but can't wait to make the "real" thing.

[shiney]

The sun is out and I can see my elderflowers waiting to be picked from my window. Only problem is that I don't have a brewing bin to put them in yet. Need to go and sniff something out that I can get the wine 'ackling' in!

[cheap&cheerful]

Hi Samantha,

Hello, good day and welcome,

I've only been a member for days but every one is so nice I feel like I've been here ages, and I'm sure you will too.

It's so nice to have people to talk to with the same interest.

John's the brewer in our house, he makes a not 'alf bad wine and this year we got to drink his rhubarb, banana and date sherry. not bad at all, trouble was we had to wait TWO years before drinking it.

When I was nine I came SO close to living in N.Z. We were days away. My parents were packed up ready to go when my eldest sister refused to leave her boyfriend (later husband). My mother said she would only go if we all went. So that was it, we never went. Luckily for my sister I was too young to realize what I was missing out on, if not I would of killed her!!

Jill..

[Guest]

Soap making is actually miles easier than authors of soap making books would have you believe. It's very similar to baking, really.

The basic principle is that if you add lye to oil or fat and then mix it really well, it will turn into soap.

The two main things to remember are:

- you need exactly the right proportions of lye to oil. Too much lye and your soap will burn your hand, too little lye and your soap will go rancid. It's easy to calculate, but you do need an accurate pair of scales.

- safety precautions. You have to be careful around lye, and the soap will also be caustic until it cures. You don't have to go overboard, just wear rubber gloves and some eye protection if you're worried and don't start flinging the soap mixture around the kitchen.

Let me know if you'd like me to post instructions or recipes - there's quite a lot of useful info on the internet too, of course.

You can use homemade soap bars for shampoo, but its effectiveness would depend on the ingredients. That's because some oils make a soap with a good lather, some make a very soft soap, some are quite drying, some are moisturising etc. As homemade soap contain no detergents, you'd probably be looking at using a high percentage of something like castor oil in order to get a lather good enough for hair.

[greenchi]

Hi Samantha, welcome to this most in teresting and informative of sites.

[couscous]

Hi Samantha and welcome.

I had to look up Lye in the dictionary so now I know what it is. A derivitive of ashes. So soap making has something in common with my 'thing' - pottery. Ash glazes which have to be soaked and rinsed and rinsed and rinsed until they cease to become caustic. Very laborious and I've only ever made one ash glaze. Was tempted to turn my mother's ashes into a glaze but the family were horrified. Ho Hum!

Presumably you can buy the lye already prepared? I wouldn't mind having a go at soap if that were the case.

[Wombat]

G'Day Couscous,

These days a solution of sodium hydroxide (casutic soda) or other alkali is also termed a lye!

Nev