At The Pillars, we not only think that it is important to live lightly on the land, we try our best to put that concept into practice each day to provide you with green lodging – a vacation spot that is environmentally friendly. At our bed and breakfast, we find small ways to reduce our impact on the environment each day, but some of the most visible ways include:

Changing our whole cleaning system to use Shaklee products, eliminating all toxic chemicals such as chlorine bleach and ammonia, making The Pillars safer for us all. Shaklee has been around since the 1950s, and introduced one of the first biodegradable, non-toxic cleaners, Basic H, in 1960. Not only is our home cleaner and smells fresher, but it is costing us less, too. An added bonus, and additional environmental benefit, is that our linens are lasting much longer! Check it out at www.shaklee.net/thepillars.

BioShield - We keep things clean, but there is always the unseen. To further protect our guests, after cleaning each guest room, frequently used surfaces such as bathroom fixtures, telephones, and mattress pads are treated with BioShield, an environmentally safe microbiostatic finish that effectively inhibits bacteria, mold, and mildew. This is especially good newsÂ for our guests with allergies or mold sensitivities.

We love to cook, and that means we use a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. All that cooking means we produce kitchen scraps like crazy! We keep a container on our kitchen counter that cuts our garbage production greatly: our compost bowl. The collected kitchen scraps and our yard waste and grass clippings go into our compost bins, and we use the wonderfully rich soil that is produced to feed our garden beds each spring and fall.

Speaking of gardens, our backyard has been certified as a Backyard Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. We keep that back part of our yard natural, and keep bird feeders full, to encourage local wildlife. Enjoy birding in the backyard, the rabbit families under the front hedge, visiting raccoons and opossums, and even the occasional hawk or owl!

Recycling: we are adamant about it. We sort everything, so rest assured that all bottles, cans, metal, paper, and glass will end up in the right place - the recycling centers, not the landfill.

You might not think about soaps and lotions being part of our Going Green plans, but they are. Our guest soaps are all made by hand, from all natural ingredients, and using herbs specially grown for use in the soaps. Even the wrappers are made from recycled paper. These are low impact products, and yet they feel so indulgent. Treat yourself today!

Let there be light, but let it be florescent! We have replaced almost all of our light bulbs with florescent bulbs, and we find other ways to cut back on electrical use where we can. All of our rooms have ceiling fans, individual air conditioning, and most have either fireplaces (converted to efficient gas) or electric fireplaces, so that guests may adjust their room temperatures without the whole house needing to be super heated or cooled.