When I first called Natalie Pepin, I told her I really wanted to learn how to make soap. “But I’m afraid of lye,” I confessed. I suggested maybe we should do candles instead. “No,” she told me. “Let’s ...

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 ...

If you’ve ever wanted to make your own soap from scratch, this easy cold process Bastille soap recipe is the perfect place to ...

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 ...

From tallow balm and natural candles to lip balm and now, even homemade soap! This simple ingredient has quickly become one of my favorite natural fats to work with. This tallow soap bar recipe shows ...

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 ...

Lye soap is made by boiling a mixture of lye (sodium hydroxide) and animal fats. Lye could be purchased, but most Arkansans seem to have made their own from wood ashes. Almost all the sources specify ...