If you grew up in a rural area, then you know that one sure sign of spring is laundry hanging out on a line. There’s nothing quite like the scent of clean linens that have been air-dried in the sun. Unfortunately, this is not a “perk” we can offer here at the Brampton, but we do our very best to come close!
April is the month of Earth Day; it’s the 18th this year. It’s well known that we care about the environment and we do our best to be as “green” as possible all year long. While we can’t dry all our laundry in the sun, sometimes a towel or sheet with a stubborn stain will make it to Danielle’s house to sunbathe. That big ball in the sky is quite the “stain-lifter”! But first we try a few tricks of the trade.
We use vinegar, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and elbow grease to get stains out whenever possible. If we absolutely must use chemicals, we use Borax, Biz, or Fels-Naptha Heavy Duty Laundry Bar Soap. But the one thing we will not use is bleach. Being so close to the Chesapeake Bay, we are keenly aware of the movement of unnatural products through the watershed, and so we try to contribute to it as little as possible. There is a lot of iron in our well-water so we have to use a softening agent, otherwise everything would turn orange; we use as little of this as possible though. Repeated washings and no bleach means that sometimes the towels in your room might be two different shades of white. Or that maybe a small stain remains on a washcloth. Let us reassure you they are clean, clean, CLEAN! And the bottled tap water that we keep in glass bottles in the guest fridge is super clean and tasty too!
One of the other ways we keep it green in the laundry room is by using cotton towels and microfiber sheets that dry fast! Our Comphy Sheets (yes, that’s a brand name) are incredibly soft and luxurious; guests always ask about them. Like most places, we also offer guests the option of keeping their towels rather than automatically replacing them.
There a lots of little things each of us can do that add up to a lot of good. After all, every day is Earth Day, when you’re an earthling. 🙂