Sesame Street's Kermit the Frog laments "It's not easy being green," but being a green bed and breakfast is easier than you might think and offers many rewards. Bass Cove Farm B&B is not a perfectly green operation yet; I'd place it perhaps midway along a continuum of the palest flesh of a Granny Smith apple to the deepest darkest pine forest.

When we bought our family home and future B&B, an 1840s farmhouse, the seller told us it had been insulated. Perhaps. But he did not know with how much of what material or its R value. Our first winter we lived with cold walls, drafty windows, an insatiable wood stove, and a furnace that guzzled oil even with the programmable thermostat set low. In the spring we took advantage of federal energy tax credits to have insulation blown-in and to install window quilts and a solar hot water heater.

According to architect Bruce Stahnke, rehabilitating an existing building is probably one of the greenest things you can do. We noticed a big difference in our energy bills and comfort level and felt very virtuous watching the temperature of our solar-heated water rise--all that energy we were not using.

We chose our furnishings, tableware, and linens carefully, buying local and green as our budget allowed. We are replacing incandescent bulbs with fluorescent ones, and use environmentally safe cleaning products. Occasionally, though not often, even the most powerful of these does not remove a stain and we resort to a commercial product.

We switched from white sheets and towels, which need bleach to keep them from looking gray and dingy, to printed bed linens and tinted towels that stay clean and colorful with nontoxic laundry products and our guests seem fine with our less-than-every-day laundry schedule. The flora and fauna in our immediate environment live with whatever we put down the drain and into our septic system. And lest we forget, just a look out a window reminds us.

Many travelers today are "eco-tourists": tell them you are green, as we do in our brochure and website, and they will come. In July 2001 we hosted the family of a TV actor (daytime soap and prime time sitcom). I wondered what we would have in common with folks from the fast-paced world of Hollywood. Quite a bit it turned out.

They appreciated the quiet beauty of our area and being able to honor their commitment to responsible stewardship while on vacation. At breakfast I served a banana bread I had made the night before and had wrapped in a recycled plastic bread bag, the way I usually do. They noticed and commented "oh great, you recycle those bags too!"

We compared how they lived their commitment to a green lifestyle in California to what we do here in Maine. They were impressed with the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association's success at recycling 95 percent of the trash generated at its annual Common Ground Country Fair, attended by up to 60,000 people.

The exchange reminded me of another breakfast conversation when guests from Germany described how their Oktoberfest reduced, reused, and recycled: fairgoers are supplied with a beer glass which they carry from vendor to vendor and give back when they leave.

For some guests the opportunity to meet a two-time Harry S. Truman Manure Pitchoff Champion--my husband and B&B partner Mike--was a deciding factor in their choosing to stay with us. Breakfast conversation often turns to gardening--compost piles and mulches, plant varieties, gardens in the area open to visitors.

We keep a file of local eco-friendly activities and businesses, for example telling those looking for a lobster dinner about the Tidal Falls Lobster Pound. Recently the Frenchman Bay Conservancy purchased this beautiful property for a park, forever open to us all, and continues to operate the restaurant on the premises to help fund their programs. Diners can enjoy a lobster in this beautiful setting and bask in the warm feeling that they are doing a good thing--their self-indulgence is helping to preserve this area for others to enjoy.

Our farm is more garden than farm, a demonstration of organic gardening practices. Guests can pick a succulent berry right off the vine or bush, create a bouquet for their room, or harvest a salad for their supper. We cook with local organic farm products when possible--eggs and fruits from local farms to supplement our very small harvest of strawberries, cranberries, and high bush blueberries.

Organic milk is not easily available here; there is no local organic dairy or even a farm with a cow or two and the alternative market usually runs out before we get there. But our supermarket is carrying an ever-expanding selection of organic products, including organic and even shade-grown coffee.

How green is your home or business?

There is help available for those wanting to rehab their building and keep house using nontoxic products. In the fall 2001 issue of Art Lines newsletter (www.warringtonhouse.org), architect Bruce Stahnke discusses green building principles: wanting less, using less, wasting less, and designing to sustain the health of a building's occupants.

He notes that the United States now has a rating system that considers the ways a building impacts on the environment--its greenness. See U.S. Green Building Council's website (www.usgbc.org). And the book Clean and Green by Annie Berthold-Bond lists cleaning methods and recipes and relevant resources.

Everything we do makes a difference; small changes add up, and today is a good time to start. Our solar hot water system, after 15 years, has long since paid for itself, and now provides abundant hot water all year long, at considerable savings…and I still get that warm do-good feeling when I look at the water temperature gauge on a sunny day.

About the author:

Mary Ann Solet is a freelance writer, editor, and proofreader; spinner and weaver; and B&B proprietor (www.basscovefarm.com). She lives in Sorrento with her husband Mike and two Maine Coon cats, and can be reached at maryannsolet@downeast.net or by phone at (207) 422-3564.

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***Recent Green Mantle Events

Managing Home and Garden Pests Naturally April 22, 2004 Lime Kiln Middle School Fulton, Maryland (Howard County) Reducing your dependence on traditional chemical methods to control household and garden rodent, insect and disease problems without hazardous chemicals. Bill Currie, Integrated Pest Management expert, explained how. Sponsored by Rachel Carson Council, and the Patuxent Reservoirs Watershed Protection Group.

Low-Risk Pest Management for Pets' Sake April 24, 2004 White Oak Library Silver Spring, Maryland (Montgomery County) Bill Currie, president of the International Pest Management Institute, presented "Low-Risk Pest Management for Pets' Sake." Sponsored by the Rachel Carson Council.

Healthy Homes and Gardens: Low Risk Pest Control Commonly used household and lawn and garden pesticides can contribute to the pollution of our air, water, and soil threatening wildlife and human health. Low risk, inexpensive alternatives to these chemical pest control methods exist. These alternatives are less damaging to both our health and our natural resources. On April 24, 2003 we held our workshop, Healthy Home & Gardens: Low Risk Pest Control Workshop, featuring Bill Currie in Burtonsville, Maryland. It was co-sponsored by Patuxent Reservoirs Watershed Protection Group. There were 38 participants and the event was videotaped, so copies will soon be available. The crowd, from a variety of locations and backgrounds, consisted in the main of people who had not been to previous RCC functions. Two of the attendees were maintenance staffers from the Greenbelt Homes Maintenance Association. We had three door prizes donated by local businesses and ten plants donated by DeBaggio Herbs. The man from DeBaggio's asked for and was given our handouts to distribute at the DeBaggio greenhouse facility in Chantilly, Virginia. Also in attendance were a master gardener from nearby Howard County, two ladies interested in starting an organic cleaning business, and several local environmental activists. We gave out over 40 information packets. A woman from the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection represented the co-sponsor. She was very enthusiastic about the event and is interested in planning another similar meeting in the future. A man from the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission attended at the request of the Chairman of the Montgomery County Planning Board. They are interested in considering establishing IPM (specifically to reduce pesticide use) in the properties that their Agency controls. Dr. Post heard this from the chairman himself who said he was very interested in exploring this option. He also stressed his regrets that a scheduling conflict prevented him from attending the workshop, so one of his staff attended in his place. The workshop evaluations were outstanding: Excluding relevance to work, over 77 per cent of the responses were in the "most favorable" column and no answers were in either of the "unfavorable categories." Comments on which portion of the workshop was rated most valuable ranged from "all of it" through "Bill's presentation" or his theme of learning "how to think outside the box" to our folder of handouts, and included remarks on specific topics. Eighty percent found nothing to describe as least valuable. Everyone felt that there was sufficient opportunity to speak with the program speaker and participants. One person's comments on Bill Currie and the event seemed to sum it all up: On Bill, the remark was "Very good style" and for other comments, "Enjoyed it very much." We had compliments on our lovely new Rachel Carson exhibit poster (32" x 40"), which was also on display. It had just come back from a 10-day visit to Johns Hopkins University where it had also been received very favorably. Other items we displayed included a table of samples of alternative pest control products. We served organic refreshments, including coffee, apples, cheese, vegetable chips, crackers, cookies and non-organic dips. William Currie's International Pest Management Institute is a consulting firm of scientists "dedicated to promoting successful urban IPM through high quality training."

Environmental Film Festival - 2003 RCC hosted a free screening of the film Healthy Home and Garden -- Less-Toxic Pest Control at at the Charles Sumner School Museum and Archives as a part of the 2003 DC Environmental Film Festival. The 25 minute film describes a variety of natural pest control methods which reduce the use of toxic chemicals and risks to human and environmental health. It was followed by a showing of excerpts from The Silent Spring of Rachel Carson, a 1963 CBS television interview with Rachel Carson conducted by Eric Sevareid, and an open discussion led by professional landscape designer and nationally known lecturer Michael Talbot. Michael Talbot, called "the organic lawn care guru of Boston" by This Old House magazine, has spent more than two decades focusing on developing, applying, and teaching environmentally sensitive approaches to managing trees, shrubs, and lawns. He believes "a properly conceived program treats the landscape as a mini-ecosystem, seeks to maximize natural balances, and avoids practices such as poor maintenance and excessive or improper pesticide use that create more problems than they solve." Healthy Home and Garden -- Less-Toxic Pest Control was one of 130 films that were screened during the 2003 DC Environmental Film Festival at locations throughout the nation's capital from March 13 -23.

Urban Low-Risk Pest Management Seminar, presented by William E. Currie August 2002 Offered by the University of the District of Columbia in cooperation with Rachel Carson Council, Inc. This was a presentation supporting Integrated Pest Management (IPM), to reduce the risks from exposure to pests and pesticides. It was presented in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and District of Columbia Government, Cooperative Extension Service and Agricultural Experiment Station.

The Second Annual Writers’ Conference and Workshop in honor of Rachel Carson Boothbay Harbor, Maine - June 2002 A blend of science and the lyrical appreciation of nature took place at the Spruce Point Inn, one of the finest resort inns on the East Coast, overlooking the sea that Rachel Carson so cherished -- a most fitting location. This year featured Bill McKibben, Tom Horton, Linda Lear, Joseph Bruchac, Andrea Cohen, and Stephen Kress.

The Green Mantle™ Workshop: Creating Bird-Friendly Backyard Habitats at the 2002 Writers’ Conference, featured a dynamic presentation by Dr. Stephen Kress. Dr. Kress discussed selecting plants and arranging them for maximum benefit to birds. He provided details on how to create backyard water pools and encourage cavity nesting birds. He suggested ways to create a hummingbird garden by selecting specialized plants with high nectar content. After the lecture, he led a walk on the grounds of the Spruce Point Inn. Dr. Kress has restored puffins and other rare and endangered seabirds to islands on the Maine coast. He is Vice President for Bird Conservation for the National Audubon Society and manager of the Society’s Maine Coast Seabird Sanctuaries.

INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT (IPM): How to Reduce Your Risk From Exposure to Pests and Highly Toxic Pesticides A Free Workshop in Rockville, Maryland - July 2001 Presented by Rachel Carson Council, Inc. and the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection

Presenter: William E. Currie, Director, International Pest Management Institute This workshop covered the principles and practice of integrated pest management for apartments, offices and schools. Alternatives to highly toxic pesticides were emphasized, concentrating on low-risk and non-toxic methods. Open discussion addressed individual pest management concerns brought to the workshop by participants. Case studies were presented. Take-home reference materials were available.

Annual Writer's Conference and Workshop Honoring Rachel Carson Boothbay Harbor, Maine - June 2001 Venue: The Spruce Point Inn in Boothbay Harbor, one of the finest resort inns in New England, a short distance from where Rachel Carson liked to spend the summer. During the Conference/Workshop, as part of the Green Mantle Program, Rachel Carson Council sponsored a presentation on Ecological Landscaping with Michael Talbot. Mr. Talbot, known as the Organic Lawn Care Guru of Boston is himself from the New England area and lectures regularly in Maine. His October 2000 Ecological Landscaping event at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (see summary below) surpassed our expectations. It was an enormous success as reflected by the high attendance and the great number of favorable evaluations!

A Green MantleTM Workshop on Ecological Landscaping in Maryland On October 28, 2000 RCC sponsored a four-hour Ecological Landscaping Workshop at the National Wildlife Visitors Center at the Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel, Maryland. The workshop was offered as a free service to the public and was designed to provide area residents information on ways to improve their lawns and gardens without damaging their health or the environment. Professional landscape designer, arborist and nationally known lecturer Michael Talbot was the featured speaker. A seven page background piece on ecological landscaping written by Mr. Talbot was provided to workshop participants at no charge, as were organic shade-grown coffee and other organic refreshments. An optional workbook prepared by RCC was available for purchase. A charge of $5 per book covered the price of printing. It contained some of Mr. Talbot's own articles as well as considerable other information on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and pesticides. Individuals from Maryland and across the country unable to attend the workshop chose to purchase the workbook. A variety of businesses, governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations provided participants with information in the form of on-site exhibits, free publications, and free consultations. Exhibitors and other businesses and organizations generously donated more than 40 door prizes, which were raffled off to workshop participants. Feedback from the more than 90 people who attended the workshop was overwhelmingly positive. The majority of those surveyed felt the workshop was well organized, relevant to their work or home, and provided new information they could use. One participant commented "Great show and very fine turnout. Thanks for educating so many people." Others commented on the additional materials available. One man said the workbook was an "excellent reference tool," another added that the "exhibits and workbook are excellent take-home resources."

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