Tag Archives: Soap

Apothecary Administration.

September 30, 2015 Munchkin 2 Comments

Hi Everyone, every now and then we have to do the mundane work of website administration. After all, one of the reasons why we took on this Blogging was to try to make some money from the Apothecary. Having done this for almost a year, I can confidently dispel the myth that you can “quit your day job” if you have a website shop. No, people are not flocking to buy our wares on-line. We find that people just enjoy reading our posts especially for the funny stories and the recipes. In turn, we have decided that, despite the lack of monetary return, we will continue Blogging because it is an outlet of expression for both of us, especially in my case. I had aspirations of becoming a writer/ journanlist before I became a medical doctor and I find that I can re-cultivate my writing skills through this form of expression. Besides, it is a really good way of informing family and friends of what we are doing so they need not worry that we are stuck in the middle of nowhere deprived of entertainment and variety.

Apothecary tweaks include:

The Apothecary has been better organised into categories. In the soap section, we are offering soaps in plastic wrap, tin and rolls of 50 to give people more of a choice (and a better price). Also I have added the pictures of the body sprays which have been missing for a whole year. Still more pictures to come…

Also, there is a new Custom Orders page which gives information on special orders. It gives a list of possible products (anything really from hair care to nail care to foot care…you name it..and we will create it) and available Belizean raw materials that can be used to create brand new products. There is a whole list of lovely local stuff; here are some pictures to entice you:

There is still more administration to come including New Products and a full list of Elixirs.

Have a good night!!

Amusing, Belize, Our Products, Soap

Town Day.

September 8, 2015 Munchkin

Hello Everyone!! It is so difficult finding a time slot to write a post; right now, the Internet is reliable from 4am to about 8am…this is however, our outside farm time and business emailing. After 8am, the Internet is virtually non-existent with a few minutes, now and then, of Internet activity to download emails. Not enough to quickly write a post for a Blog. At about 5pm, the Internet starts back up in spits and spurts…this is when I dive in and take my opportunity. After 6pm, Gnome uses the computer/ Internet to do Linux stuff. Oh and by the way, we share the one computer so that also limits usage.

Sometimes, because of all these complications, there is simply no opportunity to write a post. Hence, the reason why you might get short periods of silence.

Anyway, it was town day today. Instead of waking up at 4am, we made a compromise and woke up at 6am. This is still really early because nothing really starts opening in Punta Gorda until about 9am. The Government offices start at 8am but they aren’t really getting down to business until a later in the morning. If you ask me…the best time to go a Government Office is at 11.30am which is just before lunch. Don’t go at 11.45am because they will already be enroute to their favourite Rice and Beans joint. Supermarkets (the majority are Chinese owned) open after 9am…the Chinese can be a tad tardy and if you drive pass one of this places, you usually see the Belizean workers loitering outside waiting for their Chinese bosses to open shop. It is all very slow and everyone takes their own sweet time to start up.

So, at 6am, we were up and jumping about like hyperactive frogs waiting for the faithful opening hour. Gnome was laughing at the fact that we had to wait three hours for everyone else to start. It is extraordinary how farm life works on a completely different time line from town life! Anyway, we mixed up a batch of chocolate soap in the interim:

We are making Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate and White Cocao Butter soap for the new tourist season in November. This is the Milk Chocolate Soap:

Oooooh…looks like you could eat them!!

Anyway, we managed to get into town…trundling along slowly. Here are some pictures of places that we frequent in Punta Gorda.

We usually pick up the “chocolate trash” from The Cotton Tree Chocolate Factory. We use the trash for mulch around our trees:

And this is Tropic Air; we deliver all our orders nation-wide with Tropic Air because they are reliable, very friendly and they have a flight everyday so orders can be dispatched on the same day (yes…you can get 24 hour delivery in Belize).

The staff are absolutely lovely:

After town, we went to visit our friend Isabel at Cotton Tree Lodge.

It was really muddy and wet driving up to the lodge. At one point, our wheels nearly got stuck…we had to go on 4-wheel drive for the whole time. Boy, what a drive…the heavy rains have really made these back roads difficult to travel in.

Belize, Our Products, Soap

Neem and Jackass Bitters Soap is Ready!!

September 5, 2015 Munchkin

Hello Everyone!! Our Neem and Jackass Bitters Soap is now ready and available for purchase in The Apothecary.

The neem leaves are dried in the shade and then infused in coconut oil which is used in the making of the soap.

Neem is known for its anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-helminthic and anti-viral properties. In Aryuvedic medicine, neem has been used to treat skin diseases such as eczema and psoriasis.

The jackass bitters plant is a well-known herb of Belize which is used in treating ulcers and cold-sores.

A perfect combination for a gentle soap with soothing properties for problem skin. It is also a wonderful “everyday” anti-bacterial coconut oil soap.

If you live in Punta Gorda or in the Toledo region of Belize, you can buy this soap at Vance Vernon Pharmacy on Front Street.

This is what the packaged soap looks like:

If you look at the packaging closely, you will notice that it only states “Neem Face and Body Soap.” This is because we are still using our old labels…we are being eco-friendly and do not want to throw out perfectly good labels!! So, I would like to assure you, despite the use of these labels, the soap is made from neem and jackass bitters!

Have a good night!!

Belize, Our Products, Pets, Saving Money, Soap

Our Pet Dip and Pet Soap.

July 8, 2015 Munchkin

Today we were in Punta Gorda doing our delivering, “hailing” and the usual town stuff. In Punta Gorda, everyone knows you so you have to go through the custom of “hailing.” Ignore this at your peril! Basically, you need to say “Hello, how are you?” to everyone that you know…who happens to be crossing the street, sitting in their shop, driving in their car or standing in the queue in front of you. If you can handle a bit of small talk then that is an added bonus because every-one loves to stop and chat. If you ignore anyone who knows you, you are considered an “ignorant outsider” or just plain rude. These are the unspoken rules of a small community.

We delivered our Pet Products to The Farm Store in Punta Gorda. This particular shop is owned by Mennonites (Anabaptist Christian Group who emigrated originally from Germany and now settled in Belize) and run by local Mayans who have converted into this particular faith. The Farm Store sells anything to do with farming, hardware and pet supplies, basically, anything that is useful to man or beast! We delivered the following:

This is not the same as our same-name soap for people. This one has a higher percentage of active ingredients so that it is extra strong for the treatment of fleas, ticks and mites in pets (usually dogs and cats). Gentle but effective, without the use of strong chemicals.

We also took this opportunity to launch our new pet product: Lime Sulphur Pet Dip for Mange, Fleas, Ticks and Ringworm.

This is the label with the instructions. We used recycled beer bottles for this product because they are the cheapest thing to use so that we could sell the product at a rock-bottom price. Gnome created a tag to go with the product with regards to the philosophy of recycling; unfortunately, the network connection to the printer wouldn’t work so we didn’t get this part printed in time. So, this tag will be on the next order:

…Gnome Philosophy stuff in small writing for anyone who cares to read Gnome humour.

We use all our stuff on our own pets; they are very healthy and have the reassuring smell of sulphur to them:

This is a picture of the very friendly bossie of the Farm Store. He is a lovely young man:

So, you can now get our pet stuff at the Farm Store in Punta Gorda. The products will be posted up in the Apothecary soon for those of you living outside Toledo or outside of Belize.

Amusing, Belize, Our Products, Soap

Soft Lilacs For Springtime!!

April 22, 2015 Munchkin

Hi Everyone!! Just something short and sweet today because we are both hot and knackered from our town day. It is was our usual frenzied running around seeing patients in between delivering soap orders, opportunistic coconut cream selling and buying supplies. Sometimes it gets so funny…I have a bucket of coconut cream in one hand and a doctor’s bag in the other!

Anyway,”Soft Lilacs For Springtime” is the kind of title that a well established British boutique would use to sell expensive furnishings and perhaps soaps! So, I just wanted to see if I would get more traffic into The Apothecary with a title that promises elegance and panache!

Furnish your bathroom with these delightful soft-lilac soaps:

**Stacks of Lilac Soaps: Indulge in Sophistication.**

Gentle swirls inspire calmness and serenity:

A must for the discerning; Gentleman’s Shaving Soap:

When the lady of the house hosts her fabulous dinner parties, visitors will see this remarkable soap in the bathroom and she will be praised for her soap discernment. Her social standing will surely be raised as a result of this…

Our new soaps are Clay Artisan Soaps made from the purple clay from Bladen, Toledo area of Belize. They are gently exfoliating and have a lovely and luxurious scent of sandalwood. The Gentleman’s shaving soap is back by popular demand as the clay acts as a good slip which results in an even, smooth shave.

Come on everyone, show that you know good soap…show your discernment. Buy our soap!! 🙂

Belize, Medical Related, Our Products, Soap

A Day For Copal.

February 1, 2015 Munchkin

We are having a busy run right now with making our stuff. I made a batch of Copal Medicinal Ointment today. Here is copal (Protium copal) in its raw form with the cleaned-up material to the front of it:

A pound block of copal is sold in the Punta Gorda market wrapped up in a leaf as shown. If you actually look closely, you will see all sorts of detritus in the resin. Through a cleaning and filtering process we remove all the muck out of it to get what is shown in the picture. It is a really messy procedure because the resin is a very sticky.

So, here is the pot with my magical formula for copal ointment:

The bright yellow stuff is beeswax melting in sticky goo (sorry for the lack of technical jargon).

And then we package it into containers:

Copal is used for skin ailments including bacterial and fungal skin infections. It also has natural cicatrising properties which aids the healing of skin and helps the formation of scar tissue. You can read more about Copal if you press on this link.

And, Gnome has been working too…

He has been working his magic on the soaps and has been hand-stamping a custom order batch. This is definitely not his favourite chore but alas, somebody’s got to do it! Stamping soaps actually requires co-ordination and correct alignment…it isn’t as easy as it looks!

and this is the result:

Gnome will be cutting a batch of Copal Medicinal Soap later on so I will adding a few more pictures later. Okay, hope everyone is having a good Sunday!

More Pictures:

In the above picture, the piece of wood at the back is a frame with horizontal wires running along the whole length of it. The front piece of wood is pushed down to ease the column of soap through the cutting wires.

And, this is the result:

Gnome only uses the cutter for the Medicinal soap because the result can be rough-cut. For aesthetic reasons, the Artisan Soaps are cut one by one with a single wire.

Amusing, Belize, Our Products, Soap

Soap-making, Selling, Doctoring and Waiting!

January 30, 2015 Munchkin

Today we did a combination of things; the first thing was making soap which actually spans through the entire day. We begin by mixing and pouring the soap into molds. Later in the day, once the soap has hardened and done its magic, Gnome cuts it one by one with a wire implement; this is actually the longest part of the procedure and can take him about 2 to 3 hours to cut a whole batch of soap. The soaps that we made today are Chocolate Vanilla which involved the addition of essential oils. At first, you will see that the oils actually cause a lack of uniformity of colour:

As the soap ages, the blotchy appearance does fade and it takes on a smooth finish as you can see from the next picture:

This soap is a custom order and will be hand-stamped one by one over the next few days. Phew..making soap actually requires time and dedication!

I had to put on my “selling hat” today and show samples of our products to hotel management. Honestly…I don’t like this part because I feel like I am going through a script and I feel so automatic and robotic. You can see that I have not been to marketing school and what I would like to say is, “buy my stuff, it’s good ****!”

In between all of that, we saw some patients and did some doctoring.

Also, I had to queue up in a bank and a post office and it was painfully slow! This was actually the worst part of the day. Remember that every person in front of you is an additional 15 minute wait. Aaarrghh!!

Lastly, we saw a Fridge on a Pick-up, which is worth a 1000 points!! Donum Bonum!

Belize, Soap

Keeping The Blog Alive.

November 14, 2014 Munchkin

I am tired today so it is going to be a short one; I was not going to write one but Gnome said that I should try to keep the Blog alive. It is like something alive which I am trying to cultivate and at some point it will assume a personality and a presence.

This morning I spent many intense hours cutting out labels, sticking them on jars and bottles and packing a lot of products.

Ribbons and Labels for Packaging Chocolate Velvet.

Gnome dipped the bottles in wax and I followed up with the ribbons and labels for the product.

The Final Product Bagged and Packaged For Sale.

We packaged soap; this involved the cutting of plastic from a roll and sealing.

More tomorrow!

Casa Mascia Apothecary

Tag Archives: Soap

Apothecary Administration.

Town Day.

Neem and Jackass Bitters Soap is Ready!!

Our Pet Dip and Pet Soap.

Soft Lilacs For Springtime!!

Soap-making, Selling, Doctoring and Waiting!

Keeping The Blog Alive.

Everything Handmade in Belize.