Where does all the soap go?

Our inn keeper, Trish, and house keeper, Debbie, had noticed "our total waste of soap."
Each time a guest used a fresh bar......it had to be thrown away. While attending a Green Seminar, Trish was told about the non-profit organization Clean the World and their soap recycling program.
Now, we collect our used soaps & send them to the program. There, they are sterilized & reformed, then distributed to impoverished communities throughout the world. Simply providing soap to these communities helps prevent potentially fatal diseases.

Winter Renovations

Each winter, we use down time to tackle needed renovation projects

In keeping with our commitment to being green, we work to use sustainable products, practices and solutions.
This winter, three bathrooms were completely renovated. We used bamboo floors, a rapidly renewable resource & made a point of considering our paint options. We chose Mythic paint, supplied by Ethos - a local store that specializes in healthy paints & wall coverings; it is a non-toxic, ultra low odor, zero VOC paint.

We also painted some of the bedrooms... ...the living room... ... & the library with the Mythic paint. We're happy with the outcome and feel good knowing we have created a healthier environment for our guests.

Flower Gardens

This year, we planted a cutting garden with the hopes of providing plenty of flowers for the inn. Despite the excessive rain this year, the garden did well. And it even managed to survive the first frost, so we had flowers from June through the end of October. Even a few in November...

... zinnias, nasturtium, & alyssum ...... sunflowers (Keeping the bees happy) ...... cosmos & salvia ...... lisianthus, ageratum & rudbeckia ...... cleomi & huge sunflowers ...And in October, while harvesting the pumpkins, we cut some of the Kong Sunflower heads to collect seed for birds!

Fall in the Gardens

The arrival of fall marks many changes in the gardens. Pumpkins, gourds, and flowers are harvested for decoration, inlcuding goldenrod from out new meadows. The last of the kitchen crops are picked before the first frost, just in time for soups and stews.With the harvest complete, there is still time for planting before the ground freezes. New blueberry beds are dug and planted. Twelve evergreen trees are also planted; that's almost 50 trees in the past two years.

Creating Meadows

One of our green initiatives has been to convert areas of maintained lawns into meadows.Meadows improve water quality, prevent soil erosion, provide wildlife habitat, and decrease fuel consumption from less frequent mowing... ... not to mention, they can make for some beautiful scenery.

Flowers!

The summer sun has finally come around and stayed. With it came the summer flowers. The first substantial cutting made for our first home-grown table arrangements.The first collection of nasturtium, an edible flower, made its way to the kitchen, and then to the table on plates.And the vegetable garden seems to be kicking in, yielding zucchini, beans, and the beginning of the tomatoes. The blueberry bushes and raspberry canes are also putting plenty forth.Lastly, the herb garden (and over-flow garden) has been supplementing the kitchens needs.

Wet weather & the vegetable garden

After a particularly rainy early spring, the weather pattern continued. For parts of the vegetable garden, the rain certainly helped. Plus we didn't have to water the gardens once! The peas grew to over 8 feet high. You almost needed a ladder to pick them. Plenty of them and daily. The swiss chard flourished.

The rain, as it was excessive, did some damage. While we managed to save a few, many of our root vegetables essentially drowned. These turnips were ready for pulling. We still managed a springtime basket of plenty! Turnips, potatoes, peas, radishes, chiggia beets, swiss chard, onions & nasturtium (edible flowers)! Blueberries arrived as the sun finally managed to peak through the clouds. And the champagne pink currants are also finally starting to color. In the background, chamomile and and ladybugs lend their help. Lady bugs eat the aphids that eat anything green while chamomile attracts beneficial insects. (Some even say that it has fungicidal properties!)

With all the growth and new life comes and end too. An old pine was felled, but instead of it laying to waste, we had the lumber milled up to be used in future projects!