BY THE GOAT CHEESE LADY: I tend to do things at the last minute — I believe they call it
procrastination; I call it thriving under pressure. As you know, we had our farm for sale but what I haven't told you yet is that it SOLD! The packing, downsizing, sorting and cleaning all went well, and actually rather smoothly. We have five weeks in between moving out of our old place and moving to our new farm, which is why we are grateful that my parents offered for us to live with them during our stint with no permanent address. By the middle of the second week of staying with my parents, I began to get restless. No goats, no classes, no farm, no laundry or cooking. I love my mom; she’s fed us the entire time! But there was A LOT of goat milk lotion and soap sitting, unsupervised and un-income-producing, in the basement just waiting to take over their kitchen in anticipation of becoming someone's Christmas gift. Here comes the last-minute part; why not launch a two-day online goat milk soap and lotion sale in the midst of moving and right before traveling out of the country? We launched the sale on a Wednesday, and had it end Thursday at midnight. My husband partnered with me to pack and ship all of the orders on the following Friday — two days before we took a trip home to El Salvador. (Yikes — throw in a little excitement, will ya?) And, yes; if you were at the Westend Post Office that day around noon, that was us holding up the line. We were the ones with the small mountain of Priority Mail packages that the clerk so patiently received one by one, by one. The mood of the place was cheerful, though. Chalk it up to the season, or just plain nice people, I couldn't feel any eyes boring into my back, seething over the fact that we occupied 50 percent of the postal staff for at least 15 minutes, but I digress. In celebration of the fact that we are in the midst of moving and as a thank-you for reading the IndyBlog, I’ll give you a sneak peek into how to make the lotion that was shipping in those boxes.
As for the ingredients, you'll need:
- 10.2 oz water
- 10.2 oz goat milk
- 1.2 oz emulsifying wax
- 3.7 oz oils (use any assortment of oils you like, as long as the total weight is 3.7 oz)
- 1.2 oz shea butter
- .3 oz optiphen or germaben II
Here are the steps:
- Heat oils and butters until melted. Add emulsifying wax and heat until melted.
- Combine milk and water and heat to 80-100 degrees.
- Combine oil, butters, wax with milk and water mixture.
- Mix with an emersion blender until mixture thickens, 2-5 minutes.
- Add optiphen or germaben II (preservatives), mix 1 minute. Mixture will thin again.
- Pour mixture into containers and let cool. The lotion will thicken again at room temperature.
Because I support as many local businesses as I can, and because they have everything I need for lotion-making, I get all of my supplies at Buckley's Homestead Supply. Now you know everything you need to about making your own lotion...just don't wait till the last minute!! Happy Holidays! Lindsey is a city girl turned urban farm girl. She and her family are the proud stewards of a few milking goats, a lot of working chickens, an organic garden and a budding orchard. Just around the corner is the city. But she, and her farm, are hidden by the rocks. Follow her on Twitter (@goatcheeselady) and FaceBook (The Goat Cheese Lady) or visit her website (thegoatcheeselady.com). E-mail questions, comments, suggestions, etc to Lindsey at: thegoatcheeselady@gmail.com. Source: Article
