Banana Soap, who knew!!

I had two bananas sitting on the counter about to go bad, when I thought I should do something with them.  My first thought was to bake bread, but with it being over 95 degree outside and not having air conditioning in our older house I really didn't want to turn on the oven...then I thought soap...BANANA SOAP!  I searched online and see that people make soap out of bananas, but really didn't find any good recipes.  Most had ingredients that I didn't have on hand.  So after about 10 minutes of some not too serious thinking and running some numbers through the lye calculator, I asked my husband to watch the kids and I ran out into the garage for some sweaty fun soap making...it was 97 degrees here today..It was hot, but I didn't mind.   I got into the groove and made a great (fingers crossed, we will see tomorrow when I unmold it) batch of banana soap.

Here is what I found out about bananas online...who knew they are so good for you?  I will treat bananas with a bit more respect!!  Banana  is rich in potassium and vitamin A which is great for dry and sensitive skin.  It has also been known to help in the treatment of eczema, psoriasis and acne. And that is just for your skin...here is a link for what else a banana can do for you if you actually eat it.  Banana Link

After I unmold my soap tomorrow and determine if it is a good batch or not, I'll share my recipe and some pictures...until then here is a sneak peek.....

Infused Oils

I recently returned from an impromptu trip to NC to visit my parents.  I was able to cut some herbs from their garden as well as some eucalyptus from a nearby tree.  I decided to make some infused oils for some future soap.  I'd like to keep my soap as natural as possible and plan on not using pigments, dyes or scents for it.  Infused oils will help with color (oh well...most may be green!) and some scent.  Washed and dried and stripped the leaves off of mint, oregano and rosemary.  I left the leaves on the stalks of sage and parsely, but chopped them finely.  I chopped the mint and oregano too, but left the rosemary as is.  I was able to put my Alaskan Ulu knife to some good use.  I put the herbs in clean Mason jars and topped with oil.  I decided to use Soybean since it hardly has a scent.  I've used Olive in the past and it works fine as well.

My FIRST post!

How exciting, my first post. What an adventure I am going to have in the months ahead. I have many ideas and plans for my new business...Dusty Tree Soap and I cannot wait to share it with everyone. Stay tuned.......