Caribou Coffee Gardening Soap - step-by-step photos

I was in our local Caribou Coffee, buying a much needed Mint Condition,

when I spotted this near the checkout.

Ahh....what perfect inspiration for a new batch of herbal soap!

I'd like to create something special to use on my hands, and perhaps all over, after spending an afternoon working out in the garden.  I'm one of those people who start off wearing garden gloves, but always end up slipping them off for one reason or another. I need a scrubby bar of soap, and coffee grounds I know, will be perfect.  Look closely, I love that the label says, "Even your garden needs coffee after a long slumber. These free used coffee grounds will wake your plants up with essential elements they need!"

So my daughter and I left Caribou not only with our coffees, but with a special package of gardening coffee grounds to sprinkle in the garden and more importantly, stir into a batch of soap.

Here's a look at the finished bars of Caribou Coffee Gardening Soap. Most of the flowers in my garden are pink, so this is a perfect color combination for me. And the scent is amazing. It's a blend I created using berry vanilla and adding a bit of strawberry to bring out and enhance the berry notes more.

Following are all the how-tos and step-by-step photos.

I couldn't wait to get home and get started. First, I measured out Cocoa Butter.

Next up was weighing the Coconut Oil. Coconut is my favorite oil. I use it in each and every batch of soap we make because of the fantastic bubbles it helps to create.

 I weighed out a small slice of coffee butter. What's coffe butter you say?  It's a blend of coconut oil and coffee seed oil (coffea arabica seed oil) and smells just like a cup of coffee.

And some pure unrefined Shea Butter.  I love Shea Butter on my skin!

I added some Olive Oil to the mix and then melted all the oils together.

Then I set aside the melted oils to cool, while I prepared the water and lye mixture.

 It's important to measure the water.  It's more exact.

After measuring the lye flakes out on the scale, I carry them outside and add them into the weighed water.  I like to do this outdoors, even during our freezing cold Minnesota winter months.  That way, all of the fumes created when the lye dissolves into the water are not inside my house, but outside.

After the lye water had cooled some outside, I bring it in and add it to the melted oils.

This is what the soap batch looks like as I'm stirring.

Sorting through and getting the coffee grounds ready - looking for any stray beans.

Adding the finely ground Caribou Coffee beans.

Stirring the Caribou grounds and some berry vanilla scent into the soap.

Getting the mold ready by lining it with freezer paper.  This makes the soap easier to unmold.

Pouring the first layer of coffee soap into the mold.

Getting the second layer ready!  I colored it with a touch of bright berry and scented it with strawberry and berry vanilla - yum!  This smells delicious.

Adding the second part to the mold and then swirling it with a spatula.

Perfect!  It's all ready to cover and set aside for 24 hours.

I unmolded the soap after 24 hours. It looks good, smells wonderful and is ready to cut into logs.

Soap logs ready to cut into bars. I like the swirls already but know they will look even better when they are cut into bars.

Happy Gardening!

Christine Kennedy

www.AllThingsHerbal.com

Soaps for the Outdoor Life

  Can you think of summer without thinking of casting out a line on one of our 10,000 lakes?  My uncle shared with me his secret, using Anise oil to improve his catch.  Here's my take on this "Old-time Secret": I've taken Anise essential oil and created a soap that not only cleans your hands but helps eliminate human odors that transfer to lures when handling them.  Try washing tackle with this soap - it cleans and coats your lure with the scent of Anise making it more attractive to all fish.           Fisherman's Scrub Soap

  Here's one of my purple coneflowers from my garden, which I need to work in more often.  When I do, our Gardener's Healing bar is what I reach for to clean the dirt off when I'm done.  It's filled with natural ingredients that protect your skin.  I've added powdered echinacea root for healing and lots of honey to soothe and soften hands.  The poppy seeds and ground apricot kernels help to gently scrub.  Shea butter and olive oil are added to help restore moisture lost while working in the garden.       Gardener's Healing Bar 

  It seems that this year especially, the bugs have been extra aggressive.  Or maybe, our long Minnesota winters help us forget how pesty the creatures can be until the next summer when the sun comes out.  One trick I like is to keep a bar of Bug Repelling soap in our shower for the summer months.  I love the smell, a blend of 5 essential oils: peppermint, litsea, lemongrass, citronella and eucalyptus, all known to repel bugs.  Tip: When heading out for the weekend, don't forget to tuck a bar inside your travel bag.  The smell will linger lightly on your clothes, acting as a natural bug deterrent.       Anti-Bug Soap

  Summer living sometimes includes accidentally bumping into poison ivy.  In our family of five, three of us get poison ivy and two of us don't seem to be bothered by it...yet!   As soon as a family member thinks they may have been exposed to poison ivy, they wash with our poison ivy bar of soap.  Usually, washing is all that is needed to protect one from an outbreak.  If a rash does appear we do two things: continue washing the affected area with our soap and leave the lather on the affected area to dry.  The clay in the soap lather helps calm the rash and makes it itch less.    Poison Ivy Soap

  This specialty bar helps soothe the skin after a little too much exposure to the elements ~ both sun and wind.  Although we're careful about the amount of time spent in the sun, sometimes we over do it.  And when we do, our Sunburn Soother Bar is waiting for us.  This is one of those soaps that looks as good as it works, filled with skin soothing Aloe Vera and an extra helping of Shea Butter.   Sunburn Soother with Aloe Vera

Christine Kennedy

simple ingredients, extraordinary benefits

http://www.allthingsherbal.com/ 

Bird of Paradise

I have the most wonderful surprise!  Our Bird of Paradise is BLOOMING!  Take a look-

Last night, right at midnight, I discovered these blooms.  David was with me and he turned to me and said, "We better take a picture of it right now, it won't be here in the morning."  It really seemed that magical!

I've had this plant for a few years, ever since our son spent a summer working at the Treehouse, a local garden center.  One day after work, he arrived home with the back seat full of unwanted tropical plants.  Brian, knowing that I love all things green, and himself, wanting to bring along something exotic for his dorm room that fall, knew we could take on these plants.

And if I'm counting back correctly, it's been four years now.  Four long years of carefully and faithfully taking care of the Bird of Paradise and begging it to bloom.  All summer I hope and am on the look out for flowers.  I place it in full sunshine and made sure it has lots of water.  With our Minnesota summers as humid as they have been the past few years, I've thought for sure that I would be able to coax it into blooming.  But it never did.  Until today, in the middle of February.

This plant has been and still is in our basement.  Lots of other plants are down there too.  All sharing the light from the patio doors and waiting till spring and the warm weather when I'll bring them outside again.

My kids tease me about this forest of green.  But I just hate letting the plants go in the fall.  I like to bring them into the house and give them a chance to make it though the winter.  Most make it till spring, but not all. We're not down in the basement all that often and sometimes I forget to water things as often as I should.  Plus, we've closed off all the heat vents for the winter.

That's why I was so shocked to see these gorgeous blooms.  I could not have been more surprised.  But, isn't that just like life, when you least expect it, that is when something wonderful happens.  It's fantastic and magical and makes me so happy.

The only thing that could surprise me more is for our Banana Plant to produce fruit.  Maybe I'll go take a look.

Christine Kennedy

simple ingredients, extraordinary benefits

http://www.allthingsherbal.com/