Farm and Soap Updates

Why doesn't my soap look perfect?

soap making

Why doesn't my soap look perfect?

Soap as Art A bar of soap can be a remarkable art form. Have a quick glance around the internet looking for fancy, quirky, and detailed soaps and you will see the amazing artwork that soap makers are capable of! Alas, I do not count myself among these soap maker artists. Without wishing to cast even the smallest of aspersions upon those who do raise soap making to an art, my goal has always been to make a simple, functional bar of soap that almost anyone can afford to buy regularly. Functional Soap When I photograph my soap for the...

Read more →


Kitchen Sink Stir Fry

recipes

Kitchen Sink Stir Fry

I don't often share recipes here since following them is generally confined to baking in our household. Both my partner and I have a similar method of cooking where we poke around in the fridge for a few minutes to see what veggies we have and what meat is thawed, maybe look at a few recipes online or in cookbooks for inspiration and then proceed to fly by the seat of our pants! So this is less a recipe and more some general guidelines for putting together a quick tasty meal with whatever you have on hand. Ingredients: 3 tbsp....

Read more →


How to Steam Hard Boiled Eggs

recipes

How to Steam Hard Boiled Eggs

If you've stumbled on to this recipe, you probably already know that fresh eggs are a beast to peel if boiled and that steaming is the solution! It's true, I use the steaming method to hard boil eggs that are only days old and the shells slip right off. First I'll give you the quick recipe, then you can scroll down if you want more details and pictures! How to Steam Hard Boiled Eggs (the short version) Set up your steamer, bring water to a boil. Put eggs in the steamer, cover tightly with lid. Steam for 6 minutes for soft...

Read more →


Why there's no such thing as a grass-fed chicken

farming

Why there's no such thing as a grass-fed chicken

Skip to: Chicken Digestion Goose Digestion Further Reading Cow Digestion As people learn about the benefits of grass-fed beef they often wonder if the same principle can be applied to other farm animals, which then leads to the question: Do your chickens eat grain or are they also grass-fed? To fully answer that question (and if you don't want full and detailed explanations, you should probably stop reading my blog posts!) we have to first understand a bit about animal digestion. The cow is a ruminant. This means that it has a system of stomachs (four in this case) which...

Read more →


Lard and Tallow - What's the difference?

soap making

Lard and Tallow - What's the difference?

Animal fats are far less common in our daily lives than in the past and in recent decades there has been a push to remove them from not only our diets but from our skin products. The result is that most people today are not very familiar with the different types and uses of animals fats. Did you know that prior to the widespread use of petroleum products, animal fats were used for anything from candles to axle grease, not to mention forming an important part of the diet. Here at Fat Chance Farm, we are, of course, big proponents of using...

Read more →