Barkwells Pet Friendly Cabins Website

It's Easy Being Green!

At Barkwells we do our best to be good stewards of the land and ourselves. We are big believers in natural cleaners and an organic environment beyond the natural spring fed pond and fresh mountain air. Although this retreat is not 100% organic, we are converting to and use mostly natural cleaning products to clean cabins, including Murphys oil soap, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal aromatherapy essential oils like peppermint or lemon; plus vinegar, baking soda, peroxide, borax, Shaklee products and other non-toxic ingredients.

Most of our washers are front-load, highly efficient units that use only 15 gallons of water compared to 40 gallons for standard washers. The dryers are high efficiency, energy star rated to use less electricity.

We wash our own bed linens and pillows in-house with non-toxic, chemical free, non-phosphate soaps. We do not use chemical fabric softeners.

We use only Murphy’s Oil Soap or vinegar to wash our wood floors. We leave a bottle of natural all-purpose cleaning solution and non-toxic glass/window cleaner in each cabin for guests to use while they stay with us.

We provide toilet tissue (recycled paper) for guest use in each cabin. Our septic systems are sensitive to anything other than toilet paper so we thank you for not stressing them.

Our amenities are natural tea tree and olive soaps and lotions from Greenwich Bay Trading right here in North Carolina.

We provide starters of organic, fair trade coffee locally roasted at Smoky Mountain Coffee Roasters in Waynesville and unbleached coffee filters.

Recycle bins are at each cabin and we encourage guests to recycle glass, aluminum, plastic and paper.

The bulk of light bulbs throughout the retreat have been replaced with compact fluorescent bulbs.

New cabins have energy efficient windows, deep insulation, and Energy Star appliances.

Baxter’s cabin is our first cabin to have solar powered hot water. We plan to use alternative energy sources for all new cabins. We have two rain barrels to recycle rainwater and will continue to add them to the property to quench our thirsty landscaping.

Our chickens, while not fed organic feed, which we so far can’t find in this area, don’t indulge in any activities or treatments which would harm their delicious eggs, which we make available to guests at the pleasure of our hens.

Bo’s Hideaway is the first to have a compost container with bio-bag liners in the kitchen for recycling kitchen scraps. We will add others as we go.

We created our first organic vegetable gardens last summer and hope to have more this year. Look for tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, watermelons, pumpkins, peas and whatever else looks fun to grow and eat!

Local Access to ORGANIC & NATURAL FOODS:

Asheville is a haven of organic and natural foods. You’ll find a directory of organic shopping in your cabin, but for planning purposes, the closest stores are:

· Earthfare, just 10 minutes up 25 (Hendersonville Hwy.) You’ll also find

· Pet Supplies Plus next door, an excellent source for healthy dog products

· Ingles grocery has organic foods in nearly every section of the store

· Greenlife is in downtown Asheville as is

· French Broad Coop

· Hickory Nut Gap Farm is a wonderful place to stock up on organic, free range meats and eggs – a gorgeous drive out there, too! About 25 minutes away in Fairview. Bring a cooler to stock up for the trip home.

Check out the Asheville Independent Restaurant Association for some

fabulous choices for organic and local foods.