Busy

Hello ladies.  I had intention of having pictures to go along with this post but somehow managed to completely forget to take any.  Sorry.  Anyway, yesterday the girls and I attempted something new for us.  We rendered fat into lard.  What I thought would be fairly easy, of course, WAS NOT.  Things are usually more difficult the first time you try to do it so we are hoping-if- we try it again it will go smoother.  First off, we tried to do it on the propane burner we use for canning.  We couldn’t turn it down low enough without it going out.  Then we put it into the crockpots.  That went better.  We have 3 crockpots.  We filled them up and let them simmer for about 5 hours.  Then we strained the fat through a colendar and a cheesecloth.  We then had enough to fill 2 crockpots with fat and start the process again.  We finished last night about 8:00 P.M.  Long day.  I’m not really positive we did it right though.  I was probably about 14 the last time we butchered a hog and my Mom was in charge of rendering the fat.  I think I should have paid more attention. 

Then today we went to Jessica’s and attempted to make soap.  Key work, attempted.  We have made soap before with lard purchased from the store but not rendered lard.  For some reason, we could not get the soap to trace.  We finally just poured it into the molds and said a prayer.  We’ll see how it turns out.  We made regular lye soap and a laundry soap bar.  Even if it doesn’t turn out, we sure had a lot of fun doing it.  I’ll keep you all posted on the outcome.

Well, it’s been a long two days and I am tired.  I hope you all have a great evening.  God bless.