This is my dream: To live as my forefathers once did - in harmony with the land that sustains us. A project to investigate and innovate the creation of a low impact home with methods of living in a form of permaculture designed to sustain my family and improve biodiversity. To leave the land richer than before and in doing so enable others to do so.
Soap from trees
Posted 19/06/08 by Matt B in the Woodlands category
As Linda rightly says in her post "Petroleum-Based Cleaners" soaps made from pertrolium (itself derived from oil) are not a sustainable way to clean yourself or your clothes. Linda points out sources where you can purchase petroleum free soap but I want to take things a bit further. I'm going to look at using things you can pick yourself as soap.We'll start with conkers which are the seed from the Aesculus hippocastanum or horse chestnut tree. This is a tree that is common throughout most temperate areas and is a common sight in most parks in the UK. A mere 20 conkers are needed to make up three litres of washing water. The only caveat is that it should be rainwater if at all possible or softened in some other way.
In the past, Horse-chestnut seeds were used in France and Switzerland for whitening hemp, flax, silk and wool. They contain a soapy juice, fit for washing of linens and stuffs, for milling of caps and stockings, etc., and for fulling of cloth. For this, 20 horse-chestnut seeds were sufficient for six litres of water. They were peeled, then rasped or dried, and ground in a malt or other mill. The water must be soft, either rain or river water; hard well water will not work. The nuts are then steeped in cold water, which soon becomes frothy, as with soap, and then turns milky white. The liquid must be stirred well at first, and then, after standing to settle, strained or poured off clear. Linen washed in this liquid, and afterwards rinsed in clear running water, takes on an agreeable light sky-blue colour. It takes spots out of both linen and wool, and never damages or injures the cloth.
The traditional school boy way of getting conkers from trees is to throw sticks into the lower branches however after even a reasonable autumn wind there will be plenty of conkers on the ground. The best time to collect them is early in the morning or just before lunch. After this time there are significantly less available as school kids and even adults will be collecting them to "play conkers".
You could always host a big conker contest in your front garden which would at least give you lots of pre-cracked conkers ready for processing while avoiding competing with the local hoards of school goers.
So that takes care of some of your clothes but what about your body - the conker is not especially suitable for that.
If you can get hold of it Achyranthes aspera more commonly called "Devil's Horsewhip" can be reduced to ash and mixed with mustard oil and a pinch of salt to clean teeth. The plant is also a rich source of Pot Ash and it can be used for washing clothes. [1].
In the USA you might be able to find Aesculus californica also known as the "Californian Buckeye" or the Aesculus flava known as "Sweet Buckeye" both of which can be chopped and infused in hot water for use in washing ones body. A possible drawback is that you smell like horse chestnuts. [2] [3]
For us in the UK Chenopodium album or "Fat Hen" provides a source of cleaning product. The young shoots make a good green dye which is not much use but the roots crushed make a mild soap substitute. The flowers, leaves and seed can all be eaten the leaves are similar to spinach apparently. [4]
In all I have identified 113 plants that can be used as soap by searching pfaf.org. I have also created a short list of plants that can be used in making actual soap. All of the following can be used in soap making: Glasswort (Arthrocnemum fruticosum), the Sea Orach (Atriplex halimus), Western Balsam Poplar (Populus trichocarpa), Almond (Prunus dulcis), Bracken (both Pteridium aquilinum and Pteridium aquilinum esculentum), Sea Arrow Grass (Triglochin maritima), Gorse (Ulex europaeus), Horsebean (Vicia faba equina), Broad Bean (Vicia faba major) and the Tick Bean (Vicia faba minuta).
With so much choice why use oil by-products at all?
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