Remember this lovely soap? Named Orange Blossom Special by my dear friend Cindy, thanks again Cindy for sharing that brain wave!

It's even lovelier on the senses than the picture suggests.

I have decided this is now going to be a standard recipe of mine. Carrot juice for the orange color with lavender, orange, and clove essential oils for the wonderful fragrance.

Next time I'll try adding lavender flowers instead of calendula for a bit of color and texture. Having said that however, I really like calendula for a lot of reasons.

• Calendula is easy to grow and self seeds in the garden.
• It blooms all summer and adds so much cheer.
• And if that weren't enough, it's wonderful for skin.

5 Orange Potatoes recently posted a very easy (and visually beautiful!) calendula oil recipe that can be made into a skin salve.

Making a skin salve

I made a skin salve for our family last summer and at the time I didn't have my nice camera (or the time) to photograph the process so I haven't written an official how to make skin salve post.

It was a large batch and lasts a long time so it could be a while before an official post on the topic is written. But very simply, a salve is made with herbal infused oil and a solidifier like beeswax (which has it's own great skin properties).

A good rule of thumb I've gleaned from my reading and own experience is to use 1 oz beeswax for every 4-5 oz. of oil, starting with less than 1 oz and working up to 1 oz.

For more on making healing oils and salves see this post at Simple Green Frugal Co-op. She uses cottonwood buds but you can substitute any healing plant; calendula, yarrow, echinacea, etc.... Here's a photo of the herbs I used last summer to make mine.

Easy Soap Recipe

A reader sent an e-mail and asked if I had an easy soap recipe I use. Not really since I do a lot of experimenting. (see updated how to make soap resources below). But this is the very basic recipe I used when I first started making soap:

• 24 oz. coconut oil
• 24 oz. olive oil
• 38 oz. vegetable shortening
• 12 oz. lye
• 32 oz. water

This recipe is from the book Clean, Naturally by Sandy Maine (for more book ideas see FIMBY Bookstore).

I've switched since then to using palm oil because I don't like how cottonseed and soybean oil, the ingredients in shortening, are produced in this country. Now I've learned about unsustainable palm oil growing so I'm kind of stuck but staying with palm oil until I figure out an alternative.

Want to learn how to make soap?

• How to Make Simple Soap a FIMBY video tutorial
• Cold Process Soapmaking Tutorial at Birch Bark Soap
• A Beginner's Guide to Soapmaking at Small Notebook