The picture of being hippie organic on our homestead does not include wearing clothes until they can stand on their own. I like clean clothes - obsessively so. I like spotless laundry. I actually like sticking my nose between a pile of cloth diapers. And isn't it wonderful climbing into bed that smells like sunshine!
I have two busy farm children - one still in cloth diapers - who daily traipse half the homestead through our house. Daddy Buckaroo frequently tosses oil stained and mud soaked clothing in the wash basket so I need a laundry powder that actually works. I want laundry that has that zest of freshly picked lemons.
While people are becoming increasingly aware of what they put into their bodies, have you ever considered what you put on your body? Our skin is our biggest organ. Not only do soap, shampoo and other beauty products get absorbed into your body but the chemicals and toxins in conventional laundry detergents enter your body, through your skin.
For years I bought natural detergents. I make most of my family's everyday essentials (clothing, bread, cheese, soap, toothpaste, deodorant). But, quite frankly, I like to choose my battles. Laundry powder just seemed too challenging to tackle. I mean, I need to sleep sometime in a 24 hour period! And then a gardening discussion with a random stranger about the uses of borax, and it being a vital part of natural laundry powder, stopped me in my tracks. I use borax in our gardens. I tried it in the washing. I've never looked back.
Here is the very simple but efficient recipe. It has three essential ingredients. Four when you add essential oil. All you need is a food processor and a few minutes of your day.
Borax
Soda Ash (also called Wash Soda)
Castille soap (in my case I use my goats milk soap or Boerseep for us South Africans)
Your favourite essential oil - mine is lemon. Not only do I love that zesty fragrance but lemon has some powerful attributes such as being an antidepressant, antibacterial and antioxidant.
Although I make large quantities you can make smaller. We're on a farm and I have to wash for a lot of really dirty people. As much as I love this recipe, making it every day would get old. I make enough to last me comfortably for a month.
RECIPE:
800 grams Soda Ash
800 grams Borax
250 grams Castille soap (grated)
A generous dose of lemon essential oils. Lavender is also nice
Grate your bars of soap, if you haven't already. I don't like the manual labour so I use my food processor to grate and then add a blade for the powdering.
Divide your 3 ingredients into 3 or 4 parts so you don't strain the food processor. With a portion of the grated soap, soda ash and borax in the food processor add a few drops of your essential oil. I do this totally based on smell.
Let your machine run for a couple minutes. You'll notice the soap takes a while to break up and mix in. Then it's as simple as storing. Depending on the size washing machine and amount of dirt on the clothes, a couple tablespoons should suffice.
I love washing. Clothes are clean and smell like sunshine. Also, the view from the wash line is spectacular and the songs of the birds mingles with my children's laughter. So I don't mind that every day is laundry day.
