Lately I have had this yearning to just get back to the basics… to strip down away from all the pressure to be this, do that and just pour into my family.
I love the idea of being off the grid and learning to make everything on our own.
I didn’t grow up this way though so it is definitely a challenge.
Praying one day we can move out to the country and live off the grid, I thought I would start teaching myself a few ways of self-reliant living. These are great ways, especially since we are stuck at home to help produce what your family needs without relying on others to get it.
DIY Dish Soap:
2 cups hot water
1 Tbsp baking soda
½ cup pure castile soap
2 Tbsp Thieves Cleaner
10-20 drops pure essential oil (Find what I use here)
Once the water is hot, pour into a mixing bowl, add in your baking soda and stir. Add the soap and the cleaner. Choose any oils you may like, I love ones with cleaning properties like Thieves, Lemon, Grapefruit, Orange, Citrus Fresh or Purification. Once all stirred together you can add into a squirt bottle, I saved my old dish soap bottle to reuse. This should make two bottles. Great way to use a safe recipe that has no harmful ingredients and a great way to use any of those essential oils that have been lying around.
DIY Hand Soap:
¼ cup pure castile soap
10-20 essential oils
Vitamin E oil
Water
I usually order a refill to fill all of my pumps in our bathrooms and kitchen, but with shipping delays and things closing down I thought I would make my own this time. This one is quite easy, add castile soap first, then drop in whichever oils you’d like to use, I love lavender, Thieves, or orange. Then add some vitamin E oil for your skin and top with water. This will make enough for one pump.
Fermented Garlic
1 ½ cup raw organic honey
1 whole bushel of garlic
Is it called a bushel? Ha, well use a whole bunch in this recipe to maximize your efforts. This one is very easy, you cut your garlic in half, take off skin and put in a mason jar. Top with honey. Every so often you can turn the jar upside down to make sure it is mixing up. This provides you with a fantastic way to boost your immune system. Let sit and ferment for about 6 months and then you can pop a clove of garlic a day to keep your immune system strong. If you are feeling sick, double your efforts to fuel your body with tools to help fight off whatever is going on.
Bone Broth
I have talked about this one a lot, find my recipe here. This is a wonderful way to keep your own stock on hands for making meals, or even drinking a mug of by itself. Bone broth helps heal the gut which is the control panel for your entire body’s immune function. If you have a leaky gut, you will have issues with continually being sick. So heal that gut! Plus it is delicious.
DIY Body Wash
¼ cup pure castile soap
10-20 drops essential oil
We were using that last sliver of our bar of soap… it was time. My monthly order wasn’t coming for a few more weeks so I decided to get domestic and make my own soap. This one is so easy, a great staple to have in the house is pure, unscented castile soap. You can make so many things using it. For our body wash I used essential oils that were on their last leg and created our very own body wash blend.
DIY Body Lotion
1 cup coconut oil
10-20 drops pure essential oil
Coconut oil can be truly wonderful for our skin, I add it into baths, foot soaks, chest rubs and when I was running low on my regular lotion I thought it was about time to try a batch with my coconut oil. I whipped it and added essential oils that are beneficial for the skin. For my batch I added frankincense, ylang ylang, lavender, and orange. But you can create your own combo with whatever smells you prefer.
I even made my own sourdough y’all! Recipe on that soon, I gotta keep practicing first.
Happy DIY-ing!
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