The theme for this month’s Giveaway is gardening. I wanted to include a homemade soap for the gardener and came up with this one. It’s handmilled from my base soap of olive, coconut and castor oils and superfatted with almond butter for a bit of extra conditioning. Oatflour for a little oomph and soothing plus a “bug-away” blend of essential oils– because gardeners always go back out into the garden after they have washed their hands just to wander around and moon over the work they just accomplished (not just me, right?)

Gardener’s Soap
makes one huge 8+ oz. bar or two regular bars

8 oz. grated soap
1 T. oatflour (whir oatmeal in blender or coffee grinder)
1 tsp. almond butter (or other conditioning fat)
1 tsp. essential oil (a blend of eucalyptus, citronella, catnip, cedarwood, et al.)

Melt the soap using your preferred method. This time I used a double-boiler. Since I chose not to add any water to my soap to hasten drying time, the soap only melted to the point of becoming like soft clay.
One at a time, stir in the oatflour, almond butter and essential oil.


It was like adding color to homemade playdough, but it all blended in eventually. It helped to keep it over the hot water bath as long as possible.

Smush the soap-dough into the mold. I used an upside-down heart cookie cutter, overfilling it. I had a bit left over so I shaped it into another little heart.


Because gardening= LUUV.