We have been thinking a lot about the impact our inn is having on the environment.
- We have always composted every scrap of fruit, vegetable, grass clippings and all the leaves coming of the trees. We have a huge compost pile that after it decomposes finds a home as nutritious new dirt in our organic garden.
- We don’t use chemical fertilizer anywhere on the property.
- We have found a local farmer that provides us with fresh eggs, bacon and sausage.
- We switch to “Green Earth” towels. They are a bit lighter in weight but still very fluffy and they dry much faster, therefor cutting down on the energy used.
- We use phosphate free laundry detergent and lots of white vinegar for cleaning.
- The use of bleach is kept to an absolute minimum.
- We eliminated the paper hand towels in our powder room and went back to using terry hand towels.
- In November we changed over from small amenities bottles to the larger 16 oz. size bottles that will remain in all the guest bathrooms. We calculated that every year we contributed approximately 7500 tiny bottles to the landfill. Yieks!
- We are slowly changing from electric water heaters to on demand hot water. It’s a big job. It involves a lot of re-plumbing. We had a total of 15 water heaters!3 have been done.
- Almost all the light bulbs at the inn and in our own quarters have been changed to incandescent bulbs. There are just a few old bulbs left. As soon as they die they too will be replaced. Even the chandelier has incandescent candelabra lights!
Our New Amenities!
It’s a work in progress but living so close to the Chesapeake Bay we feel particularly vulnerable to pollution and we certainly don’t want to add more than absolutely necessary.
Have a wonderful New Year!