Green Postcards

Wisconsin sunshine powers Artha Sustainable Living Center, Part 2

See yesterday’s post for more about Artha Sustainable Living Center’s workshops on solar power and solar heating.

Artha Sustainable Living Center
9784 County Road K,
Amherst, Wisconsin 54406
Phone: (715) 824-3463
E-mail: info AT arthaonline.com

Artha Sustainable Living Center runs a bed and breakfast along with its many workshops and solar heating consulting business. Room rates include breakfast, which will most likely feature ingredients from the B&B’s organic garden. Additional guests are $15 per night. If you’d like to host an event at the B&B, the center provides event planning services for $45 per hour. (You can also arrange to rent the yoga studio, gazebo, and grounds – call or write for details.)

Program and Marketing Director Chamomile Nusz suggests visitors interested in renewable energy should time their stay to coincide with the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair, held 20 minutes away in Custer, Wisconsin, from June 20-22. Find more information here.

Solar Room: One king bed (could be separated into two twins) and a day bed. Shared bathroom. $75 per night for two.

Garden Room: One double bed with a shared bathroom. $55 per night for two.

Energy Room: One queen bed with a shared bathroom. $65 per night for two.

Rent the entire house: Sleeps thirteen. $100, plus $15 per guest per night. ($295 per night for thirteen.)

Chamomile suggests you pick up Artha’s Solar Water Heating, an in-depth primer on sun-powered heating systems, to get you in the mood for a solar-stay at Artha. You can buy the book on their website or at Amazon. She also says John Denver music reminds her of Artha. Load up your ipod, start learning about solar power, and you’ll be on your way!

Photo courtesy of www.arthaonline.com.
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Wisconsin sunshine powers Artha Sustainable Living Center, Part 1

The bed and breakfast at Artha Sustainable Living Center doesn’t just offer travelers a guilt-free vacation (with solar power and heat, organic amenities, and chemical-free food) – it teaches its guests how to take those eco-practices home with them.

Artha is in central Wisconsin, outside of Amherst and about an hour and a half west of Green Bay. Chamomile Nusz is Artha’s program and marketing director and the daughter of its owners, Bob and Marguerite Ramlow. “Artha, in one form or another, has been around for 37 years,” Chamomile explains, “and we opened the bed and breakfast in 2007.”  Many of their guests come first to learn, then to relax.

The green-curious can sign up for workshops and retreats year round on renewable energy, organic gardening, and yoga. For example, next month, Artha will host  “Planning and planting your vegetable garden” (May 10, 9am-4pm, $65), “Solar water heating installation lab” (May 12-14, 8am-4 pm, through the Midwest Renewable Energy Center), and “Standing Poses and Backbends” (May 31, 1-4pm, $35).

“Our biggest eco-effort is education,” says Chamomile. “We try to teach by example and reach out to people all over the U.S.” Beyond the on-site workshops, Artha also acts as a solar consultant, designing systems for home and business owners without local solar providers in their areas. The center has definitely proven that those who can, teach.

Artha’s 4-kilowatt photovoltaic system provides the B&B and the on-site office with 75 to 85 percent of their energy needs. Solar thermal collectors – 800 square feet of them – heat the facilities’ water, 85 percent of the office space, and 25 percent of the B&B space (efficient wood stoves make up the difference). In the future, Chamomile says they will install fan convector radiators to increase the amount of solar-heat they get in the B&B.

They put similar forethought into their guest accommodations. The B&B was renovated with wood from their own 90-acre property and from the sustainable forests of the local Menomonee Indian Tribe. The linens are organic cotton, as is the produce served up straight from their garden. Non-VOC paint and energy- and water-efficient appliances are without.

Come back tomorrow for Artha’s rates and Chamomile’s suggestions on prime times to visit.
Photos courtesy of www.arthaonline.com

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Inn Serendipity: The grass is always greener at this Wisconsin B&B, Part II

Read the eco-scoop on Inn Serendipity’s uber-green and ultra-comfortable bed breakfast in yesterday’s post.

Address: 7843 County P, Browntown, WI 53522
Phone: 608-329-7056
E-mail: info@innserendipity.com

Both guest rooms are made for two and include a big organic, vegetarian (or vegan upon request) breakfast made from the farm’s own gardens.

The Writing Room: Queen-sized bed, private attached bath. Literary decor, including a cooperative novel – add your own chapter during your stay! $120 for two.

The Music Room: Full-sized bed, private porch, private bathroom across the hall. Musical décor. $105 for two.

Bonus! Inn Serendipity Woods: This A-frame cabin sleeps up to six and is available from Memorial Day through mid-September. Located 2 hours and 20 minutes northwest of Inn Serendipity in Vernon County, Wisconsin, the cabin sits on a 30-acre wildlife conservation area with a spring-fed pond and plenty of good hiking. Inn Serendipity has two bedrooms (one king; two singles), a sleeping loft (two singles), a kitchen, one bathroom, a big front room, an outdoor shower, and an EPA-certified woodstove (for getting warm after using that outdoor shower). Weekend (Friday night-Sunday morning), $395; Sunday night through Friday morning, $625; Full week, $795.  (Six people for a week comes out to $22/pp/night!)

John and Lisa are proud of their environmental journey at Inn Serendipity and their ability to share what they’ve learned with others. They’ve put all that knowledge into several books. Ecopreneuring: Putting Purpose and the Planet Before Profits comes out in May 2008, but you can pick up copies of Rural Renaissance: Renewing the Quest for the Good Life (with a forward by eco-hero Bill McKibben) at their online store or at Amazon. Edible Earth, a cookbook of recipes used at the inn, is also available on their site. John and Lisa suggest picking up one of these books or some Enyato get in the Serendipity mood.

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Inn Serendipity: The grass is always greener at this Wisconsin B&B, Part I

Oh, the Midwestern work ethic. Leave it to a fly-over state to up the eco-ante: The good & green folks at Inn Inn Serendipity couldn’t stop at carbon neutrality. Their windmill, solar power, and thoughtful offsetting makes this southern Wisconsin charmer carbon negative. That’s right. They’re so far off the grid, they feed back into it. And to make sure your carbon guilt is assuaged as well, the inn will offset your travel CO2 through Trees for Travel .

Carbon shame done away with, you’re free to enjoy all the comforts of the simple life. A Co-op America member and a Gaiam Real Goods demonstration home, Inn Serendipity matches its environmental credentials with some serious down-home comfort. Owners John Ivanko and Lisa Kivirist will start you off with a “local, seasonal, vegetarian, and organic” breakfast, created from produce picked 100-feet from the B&B’s back door. Fueled up, you’ll be ready to strap on cross-country skis or a bike helmet (depending on season), journey to nearby Spring Green to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright homes there, or meditate while walking the inn’s labyrinth. If you’re eager to feed your head, ask John and Lisa for a walking tour of their operation, from the permaculture gardens to the new strawbale greenhouse, where they grow tropical plants (papayas, bananas, coffee) to complement their local varieties. Alternatively, you could choose to curl up with some home-grown tea by the woodstove, or flop down for a luxurious bookworm session in the inn’s “pillow room” library.

If you stop having good, old-fashioned fun, you’ll notice some fine eco-details: The inn’s two guest rooms feature organic linens and solar-heated, aerated-faucet bathrooms. The kitchen’s wood floors are FSC-certified, the walls are covered with no-VOC paint, and the foyer bathroom’s tile is made from 70% recycled auto windshield glass. There’s no clothes dryer in sight (unless you count the very energy efficient clothesline), but there are plenty of Energy Star appliances. The cleaning supplies are all natural, and, yes, that’s recycled toilet paper you’re using.

Make sure to check the inn’s calendar before you schedule your trip. They have some fun events coming up in March, including a flower give away: Stay two nights in March or April and take home five perennials for your own garden, dug and divided from the inn’s own grounds. There are also regular educational workshops, like “Sustainable Living in the 21st Century,” an afternoon tutorial in sustainable farming on March 15.

Stay tuned tomorrow for contact information, rates, and reading suggestions from John and Lisa!

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