Adventures in Crunch Land

Maybe it's that I'm getting older or, cheaper.....I'm not quite sure what's bringing this all on but I find myself becoming more and more like a cruncher.  A California tree huggin' granola cruncher to be exact.  Okay, not so much granola these days....I prefer oatmeal, but I'll digress.

Along with finding my Reine soda today, I also came across my favorite Kappus soap, discoverd yet another type of store, and learned a little tidbit of information along the way.

Other than the fact that Kappus Honig Glyzerin Seife smells just like honey, it's very mild on the skin and for 3 bars it's about 1.50 Euro.  I couldn't find much information on this product except on the shopping.com site:

'This 3 pack of soap is made of a mild formulation of honey that is highly beneficial for skin. They are 100 % biodegradable and are made with 72 % organic vegetable based oils. The natural fatty acids and organic oils used will keep your skin luxuriously moisturized. Kappus also mills their soaps 6 times to ensure a longer lasting bar of soap. Kappus glycerin soap is non aggressive and hypoallergenic to most types of skin, and they are not tested on animals. Axel Kraft International Honey Soap'  

I really, really love bar soap.  I use scrubby gloves in the shower with my bar soap and it's my favorite way to go.  The added benefit is that it's better for the environment.  Liquid soap requires more packaging and doesn't last as long as the good old fashioned bar.  I still use liquid in the kitchen (it's a little more sanitary) and the guest bathroom for the kids (it encourages them to wash for some reason and, it's the guest bathroom sanitary reason....) Kappus brand has been doing the soap thing for a long time here in Germany.  I really enjoy trying their soap. I've never tried their lotion yet but it was recommended for eczema from a French soap vender (where I buy my donkey milk soap....you heard right, donkey milk.  It's all the rage here in Europe) when I was shopping so, I'm guessing it's probably good.

Something else that I've been contemplating is creating my own sanitizing spray.  Like a natural Lysol.  To do this I need essential oils.  Because of my short attention span, I sometime just like to go to a store and find it instead of ordering it on the internet. So, I took my first steps into the local Reformhaus.  I was able to come out with the Rosemary oil that I needed. The lady at the small shop down in town was helpful and I'm looking forward to going back to explore a little more.  Another adventure that I'm looking into is finding Tallow.

The Commissary has stopped selling washing soda.  I use this to make my laundry detergent.  Unfortunately, I couldn't for a couple of months because I had no clue where to find it other than at an American store.  My online friend informed me that she found some at Globus.  I went to Globus looking and couldn't find it.  Just recently after doing some research online, I decided to go again.  Armed with a little more information this time, I went again. The Germans call this Wasche Soda or Reine Soda.  From what I understand, it can be picked up in just about any laundry isle at the store.  The bag I picked up was 500 grams which seems to me to be about 4 cups. It seemed as though the commissary may be running short on Borax....this may become another hurdle to blog about but for now, I am safe. 

 

Another tidbit of information that I've found out recently is German Chamomile. Apparently, it can be used for all different ailments but the one I'm planning to try it on is eczema for Joshua.  Some studies have shown German Chamomile Lotion does an equal or superior job to hydro cortisone cream.