The Clean and Green Club

Several months ago, I had Dee Boyle-Clapp, co-owner of Starlight Llama Bed & Breakfast in Florence, MA, as a guest on my radio show. Prior to the show, she sent me a marvelous list of the Green steps she and her husband have taken with the inn, and the list so inspired me that I put it in my Future Positive Power Spotlight file. Having just read Barbara Kingsolver’s wonderful book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (all about eating locally and minimizing environmental impact), I feel this is the perfect time to share it with you–in part as a tribute to Barbara, whose book doesn’t quite fit the criteria for reviewing in my column, but is extremely worth reading, and in part because it shows how much each of us can actually do to improve our environment, even here in cloudy, cold New England. I have both photovoltaic and hot water solar systems on my own roof, but unike Starlight Llama, we do remain connected to (and dependent on) the grid.

Here’s Dee:

We are Massachusetts’ first solar-powered, off the grid B&B.  Our house has never been grid-tied.

We serve gourmet vegetarian breakfasts using organic or locally grown products.  We feature vegetables, fruit and herbs grown in our own organic gardens and we serve eggs from our own free-range hens.

Wherever possible we use green and scent-free laundry and cleaning products.  We never use a dryer, which we feel wastes energy.

The house was built with wood taken from our own land and many found or recycled products including our large  4 x 8 ft windows in the greenhouse and diningroom.

We are commited to preservation and put 55 acres of our property into a conservation restriction, to help serve as a wildlife corridor for the region’s deer, bobcat, coyotes, moose, bear, fox and other animals.

Much of our heat is from our passive solar greenhouse (in the winter on sunny days we don’t need to turn on other heat sources).  Our home is also heated by wood cut, split, stacked by family members from our own land.

We heat our hot water via 3 systems: on-demand for the B&B rooms, and a blend of wood heated or solar heated water for the kitchen and the rest of the house

The B&B is located on a llama farm that uses integrated pest management to control ticks and bugs harmful to llamas.  Our guinea fowl and peacocks wander our property freely and together have reduced deer and dog ticks.

Our product choices are as low impact as possible.  Many of our bed sheets are made from bamboo.  We use cloth napkins at breakfast, and reusable cups in the rooms.

I knew bamboo could be used as a sustainable, regrowble building material, but didn’t know you could make bedsheets out of it!