Non-Toxic Dish Washing Detergent

Dishwasher Detergents

Many dishwasher detergents contain dry chlorine which is activated when dissolved in water. Chlorine fumes in the steam that leaks from dishwashers may cause eye irritation and difficulty breathing. Dishwasher detergents may also contain quarternium 15, an eye and skin irritant and an allergen which can release carcinogenic formaldehyde. Dyes and artificial fragrances are common ingredients.

Less-toxic Alternatives


Down East - Dishwashing Powder
Nature Clean - Natural Dishwasher Powder
Seventh Generation
Simply Unscented
Shaklee Basic D


Home-made Alternatives
Mix equal parts of borax and baking soda and store in a tightly sealed container. Use 2 tablespoons per load. If you have hard water, double the amount of baking soda in your mixture. For either mixture, use vinegar in the rinse cycle.

Sodium hexametaphosphate can be used instead of dishwasher detergent. The amount required will vary depending on hardness of water.
Less Toxic Guide

Click Here to see our Natural Soap Products

Curious about Homeopathy?

Ever curious about homeopathy? This is a great ' remedy finder' website:
ABC Homeopathy.
You start by entering your symptoms, then the software will gather a more detailed picture of your compaint by asking questions to their 'tick' categories. Several minutes and many questions later the website lists remedies that will effect the various symptoms you entered. Only choose one remedy from the list of recommendations to use. The old proverb " more is better" does not apply with homeopathic remedies.

Click Here to see our Natural Soap Products

The Pesticide Data

Some fruits and vegetables had over a 100 different pestisides found on them when tested. 100! A non organic peach had 99 pesticides.
See the complete data for percentage of pesticides on 44 different fruits and vegetables, at:
Food News from Environmental Working Group

Click Here to see our Natural Soap Products

How to clean non organic produce.

I know it is not always possible to buy organic produce here are some tips to help protect yourself and your family from pesticides on fruits and vegetables.
Remove the outer leaves of leafy vegetables and then rinse the vegetables.
Peel hard skinned produce.
Or rinse it with lots of warm water mixed with salt and lemon juice or vinegar

Click Here to see our Natural Soap Products

Why buy organic produce?

Why buy organic produce? Just check out the amount of pesticides found on the following produce. This list was compiled by the Environmental Working Group from over 100,000 studies by the USDA of the 46 fruits and vegetables listed between 1992 and 2001.
The scores given are a composite of numbers and amounts of pesticides found in the studies.

Pesticides on Popular Produce

Peaches 100
Strawberries 89
Apples 88
Spinach 85
Nectarines 85
Celery 83
Pears 80
Cherries 76
Potatoes 67
Sweet Bell Peppers 66
Raspberries 66
Grapes Imported from outside U.S. – 64
Carrots 57
Green Beans 57
Hot Peppers 55
Oranges 53
Apricots 51
Cucumbers 51
Tomatoes 48
Collard Greens 48
Turnip Greens 41
Honeydew Melons 40
Lettuce 40
Kale 39
Mushrooms 36
Cantaloupe 36
Sweet Potatoes 35
Grapefruit 34
Winter Squash 34
Blueberries 30
Watermelon 27
Plums 26
Tangerines 25
Cabbage 25
Papaya 23
Kiwi 23
Bananas 19
Broccoli 18
Onions 17
Asparagus 16
Sweet Peas 13
Mango 12
Cauliflower 10
Pineapples 6
Avocado 4
Sweet Corn 1

Click Here to see our Natural Soap Products

9 year olds go to a documetary film and love it

I took a bunch of 9 year old boys to see the documentary Who Killed the EV Car. Hours of intense discussion followed our viewing.

Fact: 1 gallon of gas burned by a gas powered car adds about 19 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air.
Kids comment "Yuck!"

Fact: US consumes almost 9 million barrels of gasoline daily, 43% of the total global daily gasoline consumption.
Kids comment "That's terrible!"
Check out their website for more amazing and disturbing facts Who Killed the Electric Car

Click Here to see our Natural Soap Products

Sweet Citrus Soap with Calendula

Calendula officinalis is the scientific name for Marigold!
Marigold as we all well know, is a common garden plant, producing lush yellow blossoms that open and close in time with the sun, thus the name kalendae, meaning first day of the month.

The golden flowers are usually considered to be the medicinal part of the herb. The flowers contain saponins, flavone glycosides,and vitamin A. The effect is similiar to witch hazel and arnica, as an anti-inflammatory and soothing topical compress.
We add calendula flowers to our Sweet Citrus soap!

Click Here to see our Natural Soap Products

70 year old walks 300 miles in 30 days

That's my dad. He, along with two 65 year olds walked the John Muir Trail through the Sierras ending up at the top of Mt. Whitney. My dad's John Muir Photos
How inspiring. The whole trip was a year in the planning and less than 30 days in the making. They carried enough food for 10 days, slept in a tent and hiked at least 10 miles a day. Along the way other John Muir Hikers stopped and took photos of the oldest hikers on the trail, gave them high- fives and hugs. Back in the Bay Area my dad isn't such a celebrity but he sure is an inspiration.

Click Here to see our Natural Soap Products

Think Before you Drink Bottle Water

The environmental impact of bottled water is profound:

It takes an estimated 1.5 million barrels of oil to make the plastic water bottles Americans use each year.1

Americans throw away 38 million recyclable plastic water bottles into landfills each year, taking more than 1,000 years to biodegrade and leaching toxics into ground water.2

Water coolers and individual water bottles are extremely heavy to transport. Distribution of bottles water by boat, truck and train involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels.

Bottles water is often from a municipal source. Water diverted from local aquifers for the bottled water industry can strain surrounding ecosystems.

1 "Bottles Water: Pouring Resources Down the Drain" Earth Policy Institute, February 2, 2006. June 28, 2007.

2 "Message in a Bottle" Fast Company Magazine, July 2007

Click Here to see our Natural Soap Products

Milk: plastic or paper container

The conundrum of which milk to buy- plastic or paper container. Certainly, reusable glass is the best as far as energy consumed but glass isn't always available or isn't always handy. Using your paper milk container as a compost container then composting the entire package works only if you compost. Here in San Francisco, the compost is picked up by the garbage company which makes composting food waste here easy but I know that in other parts of the Country it is not so convenient to compost. So if you can not find re-usable glass and you don't compost the next best container to use, using the least amount of energy, is plastic. The plastic used in milk containers is easy & cheap to make and recycle.

Click Here to see our Natural Soap Products

PLA Plastic: Compost it.

PLA to you, actually that's polylactic acid. A new type of plastic derived from corn is fully biodegradable because it is derived from plant-based materials. At River Soap we've been using packing material made from potato starch for years. These 'poppies' break down in H2O within seconds. And because they are made from plant based material it is perfectly safe for the environment. So next time you are out shopping, turn over that 'plastic ' container and see if it is PLA.
PLA, Compost it.

Click Here to see our Natural Soap Products