Today I put a thin layer of wood ashes over my vegetable garden, trusting that the potash will enrich the soil with the winter rains. Our Arkansas ancestors did the same thing, but generations of ...

Today I put a thin layer of wood ashes over my vegetable garden, trusting that the potash will enrich the soil with the winter rains. Our Arkansas ancestors did the same thing, but generations of ...

Area park guide Ellen Cox, knowing the many merits of lye soap, will be the first to tell you, "It's one of those old heritage crafts that we want to make sure continues." While it may take some ...

Soap-making is one of those traditional skills that are undergoing a huge renaissance. With many people craving healthier, more natural and more personally crafted skin products, artisan soaps have ...

At first blush, the counter before me has all the makings of a cooking class: kitchen scale, olive oil, Hershey’s cocoa mix, 6-pound tub of Crisco. But the latex gloves and safety goggles suggest I ...

SCOTT -- The first thing one learns when making soap is that there is a lot of stirring involved. And trickling. And waiting. And hoping not to blow anything up. Photo by Sean Clancy A bar of lavender ...

Martha’s Health Foods and Herbs at 215 W. Kenosha St. used to sell lye soap produced by a family living in eastern Oklahoma until the family simply stopped making it. “About 15 years ago,” said Kathy ...

Making soap is an ancient practice. It is believed the Babylonians were making soap by about 2800 B.C. Egyptian papyri, dated as early as 1550 B.C., describe soap making. Aleppo in modern Syria was a ...