# Hi, milk soaper introduction



## Faye Farms (Sep 14, 2009)

Hi, I thought I would introduce myself. I'm Heather Faye and I'm a milk soaper from Kansas. I have actually been reading on the soaping section of this site everyday for quite a long time. I never joined up because I don't have any goats (not because of a lack of trying :/). When mullerslanefarm joined up I thought what the heck I will too! I've been making soaps for about 5 years now. I've been selling at farmer's markets for the past 2 years. My family and I run a farm where we milk 50 Ayrshire cows and we have Hereford and Duroc hogs. I also raise poultry for eggs and meat. Our goal with our farm is to sell everything our farm produces directly to the customer. Making soaps with our own farms milk and lard fit in perfectly with our goals. I really enjoy soaping because I can be artistic and still produce something functional. Plus soap is such a feast for the senses! Anyways, I hope you folks can put up with another cow milker. :biggrin


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## mamatomany (Aug 7, 2008)

hey welcome...I love cows...my brother milks 125 head up in buffalo....have fun


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## tmfinley (Feb 21, 2008)

Heather,
Do you use all your own lard? How difficult is it to get and about how much do you get per hog? We only raise a 2 hogs at a time and haven't use the lard because it seemed so time consuming and not really worth it. Anyone else here use their own lard?

Tiffany


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

Love that story of your move! What an endeavor. Your hogs are beautiful!
Wish I had some of that cream for butter. Welcome even tho goatless!
Lee


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

Welcome Heather! We would love to have a cow for all that cream and milk for baby goaties that didn't need to be pasteurized!


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## Guest (Sep 15, 2009)

Welcome to DGI, glad to have you on board
Barbara


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## Caprine Beings (Sep 19, 2008)

Welcome Heather!


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## Faye Farms (Sep 14, 2009)

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. 

Tiffany, I use up all the lard that I produce. I fill in with locally produced lard when I don't have any of my own available. I'm lucky enough to have a local meat locker that also renders pig fat. I'm just guessing here but I probably get around 25 lbs. of pig fat from a 250-300 lb pig. Then that renders down to maybe 12-15 lbs of actual lard that I can soap with. We grow out small groups of butcher hogs throughout the year that we sell to our customers. Many of my customers do not want their pig fat. I have a standing order with my meat processor to hold back all of the pig fat from the hogs I bring in. The particular meat locker I bring my hogs to does not do any rendering so I have them course grind the pig fat for me. Then I render it at home. For rendering I simply fill a 22 qt. roaster and set it on low for the day. When the fat is all melted I pour it through muslin to filter it. Then put it in the freezer. It's really pretty simple to do. I love it when I have lots of my own lard to use. To me it's like soaping with a free ingredient. I'm turning a part of the pig that most of my customers don't want into something useable that they really do want.


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

I know what you mean! I've soaped with tallow that I rendered myself and it made such lovely soap!


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## DostThouHaveMilk (Oct 25, 2007)

Welcome aboard, Heather! It's nice to see some HTers from the cow board over here!


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## mullerslanefarm (Sep 12, 2009)

Hi Heather!

I render my lard and tallow the same way you do. In a roaster. Took pictures a few years ago and put them on my webpage

We also have a standing order at the processor to save any and all leaf fat & suet for me that our customers do not want.

We also have pigs here .... Berkshires. Love your website!


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## mill-valley (Feb 22, 2008)

Well, that looks much easier than the other instruction sites I've seen. We have plenty of access to home-grown tallow and lard, pretty much free, but the last site I read made it look complicated and messy...this I could do!!

Welcome to both of you!!! :biggrin


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## Faye Farms (Sep 14, 2009)

Cyndi, I'm glad you like my website. It's a lot of work to maintain a site but I enjoy sharing with people what I do. I have enjoyed checking out your website quite a few times too! 

Here's a question for you. Have you ever tried sprinkling a little salt on your fat that you are rendering? I read online of another lady who does this. It is supposed to speed up the rendering I guess. It makes sense to me and if salt is supposed to harden up soap then you would have an added bonus of a soap that is a tad bit harder. I think I may try it on the next batch of fat I render. 

Beth, I really would recommend lard or tallow if you have easy access to it. They both make for some awesome soap.


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