Austin was going to show our Vanuatu trainees some of the products we make from coconuts, one of which is soap. You can see here that he made it. But he had a bright idea: why use our really nice home made coconut oil, when there is cheap, lower grade coconut oil in the store?
Here it is. Not VIRGIN coconut oil (VCO) that is colorless and delicate, but coconut oil made of copra (dried coconut) that is yellow and not something you want to eat. Unlike the VCO that costs nearly $10 for 500 ml, this is $3.49 for 750 ml. And it only took 2 cups, about half a bottle, to make the equivalent of 12 bars of soap. That an a few cents of commercial lye – although Austin can make lye from wood ashes if needed.
A more pressing need for strong commercial lye for us right now is to make HOMINY, because we have all this dried corn. Austin did give hominy a go. Our lye was not strong enough – the shells did not dissolve off, and the corn never swelled up. And it was not photogenic. But it tasted ok and didn’t kill us, so we will probably try again.
The fate of the Pumpkins. The pretty ones got taken to the kitchen or given away. The rest turned into a buffet for the resident fowls.
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I’m going on vacation – and this time I will not blog from my vacation site (unless something super interesting comes up) – but am instead pre-scheduling some little “vacation edition” blogs. In getting ready to leave on my trip to Canada (again) to see my grandkids there (again) – I went back to visit the Teddy Bear tree in Suva, knowing that my granddaughter is too big to really appreciate it any more.
On the left, the tree in 2013; on the right, the tree now.
Ah — going a bit bald.
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Ever since I typed Sing a Song of Sixpence last week, I’ve been thinking of “Sinker Sucker Socks Pants, Apocryphal Awry” – the Anguish Languish version of that poem. So this morning I went to a website that has some works in Anguish Languish, and there I read a poem that had me laughing so hard tears were rolling down my face. It has NOTHING to do with flora, fauna, Fiji or anything … and not even vacation since I don’t imbibe. But I cannot resist. If you ever sang this French song in school, perhaps you will like it.
FRYER JERKER
Fryer Jerker, Fryer Jerker,
Dormer-view? Dormer-view?
Sunny lay martini!
Sunny lay martini!
Drink, drank, drunk.
Drink, drank, drunk.
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Happy week, everybody.
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Flora and Fauna Weekly Report 
Until I read soap, I thought it was some kind of candy 🙂
Maybe Austin wrote SOAP on it thinking someone else might make the same assumption. Hey! Creative labeling might be a good way to keep “poachers” out of actual candy. Good idea!
That is indeed a great idea. I should remember this.