Natural Facial Soap

I finally ran out of Noxzema. It was a little bitter sweet because I have been washing my face with it it for over 20 years, since I was a tween, you do the math. But my new found green calling has lead me to try more natural personal products. I was at the farmer's market yesterday and found Delta Moon Soapworks. The bar is made with the "Cold Press Method" with Aloe and Oatmeal and says it is "great as a facial bar." The woman selling the bath bars claims that everything is natural with no artificial colors, no phthalates and no parabens. I asked her if the soap was organic. Her answer perplexed me. She said, "There is organic and then there is natural. My bars are natural. I can't afford to make them organic. The bars would be $10." Isn't organic also natural? She made it sound like you had to choose one or the other.

Anyway, I did buy the bar because it is better than Noxzema, natural and local. Here is what's in it:

• Olive Oil


• Coconut Oil


• Goat Milk


• Glycerine (also spelled Glycerin)


• Aloe


• Ground Oatmeal


• Vitamin E

The only ingredient I questioned was glycerine. Off to Google I went. Google did not help. Wikipedia justs gives the facts, not if it is good or bad. (Unless you are a chemical scientist of some sort you can understand all the scientific names.) Treehugger, Alternative Consumer and The Environmental Working Group barely had anything to mention about glycerine. Does that mean if it is in my soap glycerine is ok? I also checked Burt's Bees and Kiss My Face to see if they noticeably excluded it as an ingredient, they did not. And lastly, I did google "organic, natural soap" to see if organic natural soaps exclude it. I stopped at 3 sites and none of them excluded glycerine. But they did boast their bath bars were "cold pressed" which made me feel better about how my bath bar is made.

So I will start tonight to wash my face with it. I will give it, say, a week to report back my findings.

My Farmer's Market is Open!

I went to the Brentwood Farmer's Market on Saturday. I was so excited to see it open. I have been on a quest to see if I could find a lot of my food locally. And I scored at the farmer's market.

• Fresh eggs from Shelly's Garden in Brentwood-my hometown
• Zuchini and cucumbers from Arata in Byron-next town over
• Lettuce, broccoli, carrots and potatoes from Garcia Farm in Hollister-about 111 miles away but still considered close to me
• Blueberries from Alpine Blue in Vacaville-56 miles north of me
• And sweet potato pie from Gran'ma Lillie's in downtown Brentwood

I also bought oranges which I forgot exactly where they came from. I believe they were from Allard farms in Westley, which is 45 miles southwest of me. Oh, the asparagus is of unknown origin to me also, but looking at the list of farmers on the market's website it was local also.

I am blessed to live here in the far East County of the Bay Area because we are very close to the main farming belt of California in the Central Valley. And Brentwood is known in the Bay Area as a farming community (well, after the SF Chronicle this weekend, we will be known as foreclosure central. I don't care, I enjoy raising my children here.) In July we will be up to our "ears" in corn and we will get a huge influx of Bay Area people coming for u-pick cherries, apricots, peaches and nectarines. Besides the heat, and I mean hot dry heat, I believe I live in a great place.

I am still looking for local cheese and meats. I will ask around to see if those exist within my area. But I live about 1 1/2 hours from Sonoma and Napa areas. I am going to look there for cheese. Where else would I look but in wine country for cheese. Actually Brentwood has a couple of wineries now. Come to think of it, we also have our own olive oil. Am I set or what? Now where can I find grain? I may have to just resort to the bulk section at Raley's.