What do you get when you cross a mom-created grassroots business with a social network? The answer is MomSpace, a rather unique network that taps into the personal recommendations of its members as well as the power of moms as a potent local salesforce.

Need a reliable plumber? Looking for the best gardener in town? Want to know what’s going on in your town for kids this weekend? Designed as a tool for what its founders call “the CEO of the household,” MomSpace lets you network with others in your area and search for top-recommended local resources. In addition, a cadre of salesmoms commissioned by MomSpace, offer enhanced listing and ad space to local businesses.

When you join the site you adopt an avatar that’s your cyber-persona. You can establish local groups–the soccer moms or ride-shares, for example. You’ll find resources about local happenings, local craftpersons and services, and kid-friendly events in your area. In addition there’s plenty of localized content like weather, gift ideas, school and camp listings, and more.

The founders, two moms from Pennsylvania, say that they want MomSpace to be a place where moms can find utility and fast answers to pesky problems (like where to find that instrument rental place) quickly. While they built social networking into the site so that moms can keep personal journals and post their profiles, they expect most moms to come to the site for utilitarian reasons.

The site is relatively new, so some of the categories like travel, garden, food, employment, education, finance, fashion, and beauty might not be as filled with information as you’d like, but they’re growing quickly. I love mom-created businesses that take time-proven concepts like grassroots business and meld them to today’s powerful technology.