Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lye Organic?
This question does not belong in the food catagory - soap is not usually eaten (hobbies would be more appropriate).
Lye can be organic. It is made from ashes. In order to be completely sure you can make your own lye using organic woods. Here's some instructions to get you started:
How to Make Lye
The first step to making soap is making lye. You could easily pick up soap at the local supermarket, but you'll probably find great satisfaction in doing it all yourself.
Steps
1. Start a rain barrel to catch soft water. This is a key step. Depending upon how much lye you want to leach, make sure that you have 2 or 3 gallons of soft water before you proceed.
2. Find a local brewer's supply house and pick up a wooden barrel and a cork about 3" long. You can use a cask-sized or waist-high barrel.
3. Take the barrel home and drill a hole in it approx. 2" above the bottom. Make sure that the cork will fit snugly into the hole.
4. Find a place that the barrel will be undisturbed. Lye is caustic. Take the necessary precautions. Put some bricks down and place the barrel on top of them. The brick base must be stable. It raises the barrel up so that you can easily drain off the lye into a container when it is ready. Give yourself room to work.
5. Cover the bottom of the barrel with some palm-sized clean rocks (e.g. river rock). Cover the rocks with approximately 6" of straw (this can be hay or grass). This will filter the ashes and help your lye drain cleanly.
6. Gather branches and/or logs of oak, ash, or fruitwoods. Remember that the best lye is made from hardwoods. Avoid pine, fir, and other evergreens.
7. Burn it outside in a pile, or better yet, use it in your fireplace.
8. Scoop the ashes out and put them in the prepped barrel. (Make sure that the ash is completely cold, or you'll set your barrel and anything around it on fire.) You can put in whatever amount you need.
9. Put a pan under the hole and remove the cork. Pour the soft water in until you see it start to drain into the pan, then put the cork back in tight. The water level should be about 6" from the top. After a day, the first ash should settle and you can add more ash.
10. Let it sit for at least 3 days. You can add ash all week and drain it regularly on a specific day of the week.
11. Check to see if your lye is ready. For what are you leaching this lye? Body soap or heavy cleaning? Lye concentration gets stronger with each leaching. For average soap making, you can use these measures: Drop a fist-sized potato or a raw egg into the barrel. If it floats enough for a quarter-size piece to rise above the water, it is ready. If it doesn't, you need to add more ashes or drain all the water and re-leach it (pour it back into the cask and let it set one more cycle).
12. Make sure that you have a wooden crock or glass container to catch your lye when it's ready. Put it under the tap, gently pull the cork, and fill your containers. Leave enough head room that they will be safe and easy to pour. Make sure that you have tight fitting lids.
13. Store your lye in a cool dark place until use. (The sooner the better.)
Tips
Do not start this project until you have collected 2-3 gallons of rain water and have purchased or scavenged all of your supplies.
Make sure that your lye barrel has a stable foundation and is in a secure place where it cannot be knocked over by, for example, roving children.
If you run a dehumidifier its collected water is an alternative to rainwater.
To dispose of old leached ashes, dig a hole away from everything and pour the muck into it. Don't cover it until the ashes dry thoroughly.
Warnings
Lye is a base, also known as an alkali. Both acids and bases are caustic; they "burn" anything that they touch. Please use common sense and follow the tips provided.
Wear rubber gloves and eye protection when draining off or handling your lye, it can burn your skin and blind you!
If you do get lye on yourself, rinse with vinegar - rinsing with water will produce heat and cause conventional burns.
Adding concentrated acid or a base to water has a "heat of solution" and causes all of that heat. Adding a base to acid (vinegar) will have the "heat of solution" and a "heat of neutralization". If you are worried about the heat burns, vinegar will only make it worse.
The safest way is to brush off the solids you can and what every you rinse it with, make sure there is a lot of it to absorb the heat of solution. Then five minutes of constant rinsing. MINIMUM. Especially if it is basic. Base will cause nerve damage as it works away and you may not feel the effects right away as it eats though your skin (very painful and disfiguring).
For all backyard chemists, gloves (the yellow kitchen ones will do), glasses (sunglasses are fine in a pinch) and covering up is a must. There is a reason for wearing the white coat and the goggles.
Hope this helps.
Womens Us 0Pen Tickets!?
In Pine Needles. Does Anyone Know Like The Differences Between Tickets? I Am Trying To Figure Out What &Quot;Grounds Tickets&Quot; Are Because They Are The Cheapest. Also, It Says That Kids 17 And Under Are Free With A Paid Adult. Does That Mean One Child Per Adult? Any Information About This Would Be Great =)!
How To Muck Out A Straw Bed In A Stable?
Basically, I'Ve Started To Help My Friend Down Her Stables, And Tbh I Feel Totally Out Of My Depth. I Do A Lot Of Mucking Out, But I Find It Difficult And I Have To Use A Fork Designed For Shavings Since There'S No Pitchforks Left. I Was Just Wondering If Anyone Had Any Tips For Finding The Poo, And Picking Out The Dirty Bedding From The Clean. Because I'Ve Seen People Take A Load And Kinda Turn It Upside Down To Separate The Clean And Dirty. Any Tips?
It is next to impossible to use a plastic manure fork on a straw stall. IMHO you should get a 4 tined hay fork and use that to move the straw, then use a shovel or smaller tined fork to remove the poo once you locate it.
I personally loathe straw - bed stalls, and only believe they're necessary when having a foaling stall. Even then I use about 4" of pine shavings under a 1' layer of straw. This way, you poo pick, peel back the straw and then remove the wet spots. Straw isn't known for its' absorbency so there's always a wet floor and a funky, ammonia stink in a clean straw stall.
In other words, lower your expectations on how clean you're going to make this stall smell after your'e done, despite your best efforts.
Good luck.
My Pine Trees Got Sunburned. Will They Die?
I Have A Colorado Blue Spruce In A Pot. It Is About 2 Ft. Tall And I Believe The Pot Is A Sufficient Size. But This Summer, While We Were On Vacation, It Got Sunburned And Some Of The Needles Are Turning Brown...About 70% Of The Tree Is Still Green And I'Ve Been Watering It Every Day. We Live In N.E. Oklahoma And Experienced A Very Hot Summer. It Is Now Early September And The Temperatures Are In The High 80'S During The Day, Down In The 60'S At Night. Will My Tree Likely Survive?
Not in a pot, it won't. The root ball will likely freeze through this winter without protection, if the winter is very cold.
Get that baby into the ground. The earth is naturally insulating.
I'ts possible to winter it over above ground, if your winters are mild, or you insulate the pot somehow (put the pot where it is out of the prevailing winter winds, and surround it with strawbales, or piles of bagged mulch a foot or more thick.
And I don't think it was "sunburn", so much as possibly "thirst", if you went on vacation, and it was somewhat browned upon your return. Getting it into the ground will also make it way easier on you with the watering. A newly planted 2 ft tree should need a nice soak (in the ground), about every 5-7 days in hot weather, 10-14 days in cooler weather, and not at all in the winter. And you'll also be able to go on vacation, and not hire a babysitter to water it. And after it's been in the ground for a year or two, you can stop watering altogether. But you'll need to water periodically forever if it's in a pot.
My Guniea Pigs Is Snezzing!?
He Doesnt Have Upper Respiratory Infection! He Just Sneeze And Boogers Come Out! I No Why He Doesn'T Cause He Would Have Be Dead! He Been Like This For Over 2 Weeks Now! He Eats/Drink Fine! I Give Him Vita Drops! And Hay..... Any One Knows What I Can Do! Beside Taking Him To The Vet! It To Expensive Down Here
At its simplest, a pig's sneezing could be due to dusty bedding, which happens frequently with pine bedding and sometimes with aspen or wood pulp products (like Kaytee Total Comfort).
Slightly more complex, but still solvable with some diligent observation and detective work, is the possibility that a pig's sneezing is due to an allergy or sensitivity to any of the following:
* pine or aspen bedding
* laundry detergent and/or fabric softener being used for washing cozy cups, cozy sacks, fabric tunnels/tents/hideaways, towels or blankets used in the play area, towels or blankets used to cover the cage at night
* air freshener products used in the home (including the low-intensity plug-in fresheners)
* carpet cleaning or deodorizing products (which leave strong odors)
* household cleaners (which leave strong odors)
* perfumes, colognes, after-shave products, and other scented body care products
If your pig isn't showing any other signs of a URI (and continues not to), and the bedding you use isn't dusty, you will want to start working through the above list of allergens. It will be an ongoing process of elimination for a few weeks, but if allergies/sensitivities are the culprit, your hard work will pay off.It is very possible that the pine shavings and dust are the reason why it's is still sneezing. It could very well be allergic to these and finding this a constant source of irritation to his nasal passages and respiratory system.
It would be advisable to bed it on some organic hay only, or at least some good quality dust extracted hay to reduce the possibility of it being affected by this.
Lots of guinea pig owners find their piggies are allergic to different types of shavings bedding, the most common ones being pine and cedar. The problem can be easily solved by bedding him down on hay only and keeping him out of close proximity to where the shavings are.
This should reduce the possibility of an allergic reaction occurring, but bear in mind your guinea pig is sensitive to the dust and shavings and so be careful not to place him in a position which might aggravate his condition or cause a flare up of his allergy. For example it may be best to take him in the house when you are changing the other guinea pig's bedding in order to keep him away from the increased dust that will be in the air. also guinea pigs normally sneeze after they groom themselves.but a guinea pig with pneumonia will sneeze at times other than grooming.hay or straw dust can cause sneezing.while it is normal for guinea pigs to sneeze.so don't worry but its also caused by a cold but that will give some signs but since its showing some signs it might be having a cold.hope this worked !!
Backyard Landscaping Ideas Pictures (Diy Landscaping Ideas)
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