Soap Nuts

Today we had an exciting almost-field trip. I was going to take the children to the Baltimore Aquarium since Natalie had the day off from school for parent conferences but it was such a grey rainy miserable day that we turned around to come back home and got lost! Ended up on a road which dead ended at Maryland Sunrise Farm, an awesome organic farm with a CSA and educational programs. Right next door was a lovely little natural market which we enjoyed immensely. We had gluten-free pumpkin muffins and some papaya juice for a snack, bought three marvelous CDs of world music for children (http://www.putumayo.com/), and reveled in the colorful animal murals all over the back wall of the store -- including one of the ocean with fish, a manta ray, dolphin, whales, and a jellyfish, just as if we had gone to the aquarium after all. We had a leisurely stroll through the entire store, including a walk through the produce section where I identified things for the children, some of which were new to them. They had a ton of gluten free products so I got a business card for a friend with Celiac. I wandered up and down the homeopathic aisle in heaven. And in the natural household items section we really struck paydirt. Maggie's Soap Nuts! This is a completely new thing for me which I have never seen before -- the dried fruits of the Chinese Soapberry Tree. You put a few soap nuts in a small cotton sack (included) and drop it in your laundry. One box does 36-50 loads. Soap THAT GROWS ON TREES! I cannot even tell you how jazzed I am to have found this product. Leah has terrible eczema and so we are constantly trying to figure out what is irritating her system. Then we found out that this store is just a mile or so off a road that I travel and know well. It's not exactly near my house but I do head up that way on occasion, so we are happy to have discovered it. And as soon as I can find the CDs I will put them here. One of them has a version of "Old Macdonald Had a Farm" in Italian which was absolutely fascinating!