Vermont vacation accommodation, USA

We use energy efficient light bulbs, refrigerator and freezer. We heat with wood, mostly. The wood is provided by Steve, a wonderful organic farmer who lives 6 miles up the road in Saxtons River. We also get our composted manure for the garden from Steve, and organic goat's milk from his wife, Celia. We dry our clothes on a clothes-line. We have no dryer. We are both professional housecleaners and always, absolutely always, use eco cleaning products, both in our own home and in the houses we clean. We recycle paper, cardboard, aluminum, glass and plastic bottles. We take useable items to the hospice thrift shop. We return egg cartons to the woman who sells us her organic eggs.

We grow quite a bit of produce in our own garden on the premises, including lettuce, arugula, herbs, tomatoes, beets, parsnips, beans, kale, cucumbers, potatoes, squash,peppers, onions, leeks, garlic, eggplants, rhubarb. This year we should also have fruit: peaches, plums, blueberries, elderberries, black raspberries, wolfberries. The rest of our produce, during the garden season, we buy from local farmers, as there are three farmers' markets nearby and many organic farms. We buy organic goat and sheep milk from local farms,(goat milk from Hartley Hill Farm, 6 miles north in Saxtons River, and Sheep milk from Patch Farm, two miles south, and prize-winning sheep milk cheese. We pick our own apples, blueberries and strawberries from nearby organic farms, and encourage guests to do the same. We have a wonderful food coop in Putney where most of the products are organic. That's where we shop.

Our fruit, vegetable and flower gardens are strictly organic. We use composted mixed animal manure from a local farm, as well as compost from our own kitchen and garden waste. We use some permaculture techniques such as permanent mulching. We cultivate a beautiful, peaceful and soulful environment in our gardens and home. The organic flower, vegetable, medicinal herb and fruit gardens are a regular feature of our local farm and garden tour. We are surrounded by wildlife in the wild forest. We discourage deer from entering our garden. We have seen coyotes, fox, moose and bear as well as small mammals in the garden. I am delighted that they generally stay out of the garden, as they have plenty of other places to live. We do encourage bats (we have three!) with kind words and a bat box. We encourage beneficial insects by planting lots of flowers and by leaving the edges of the garden in their natural wild state: full of many varieties of native wildflowers and trees and shrubs. We have a medicinal herb garden that is semi-wild and includes many native plants used by Native Americans for healing, as well as Europeans. We feed birds. We are working on building a small pond with waterfall and small stream. We participate in helping salamanders and other amphibians cross the road safely in springtime. It's called "The Big Night". We belong to The Pinnacle Association, a local conservation group that buys ridgeline property and creates a network of hiking trails in our town. We encourage guests to hike the well-marked trails.

In our home we invite teachers offering programs in self-awareness and spiritual awakening. We nourish ourselves, others, and the earth in body and in spirit. We host programs, classes and other events that are open to the public. Most of the programs involve fostering self-awareness and spiritual awakening. e.g.: a Tibetan Buddhist monk comes once a month to teach mind-training. A neighbor who is a marine biologist taught a workshop called "The Soul of the Whale". I teach a meditation class called "Ecstatic Gardening" in the spring. Every summer our garden is on a local farm and garden tour that benefits either our tiny Westminster West library or Westminster Cares, an organization that takes care of elderly in town.

We have raised money for starving Buddhist nuns in Tibet. We are currenty supporting six Tibetan orphans who are living in India, four boys and two girls from age 8 to 12. We have a poster with photos of the children on view at events. We send them $300 in January, a huge amount in rupees! Their guardian, a monk who is a friend of our Tibetan Buddhist teacher, says he would not be able to support the children without our contribution.