Passions of the Innkeepers
It has been a while since I posted to this Blog. Today, I want to revisit the Inn – and to write about the Inn is inevitably to write about ourselves. Joan and I have poured our lives into this place. It is not a sacrifice – although our kids in a pique might say that it has been. We care about everything here – the material – from toilet seats (you should see the back-up supply) to beds – we always have a couple of back-ups of each size and only buy the finest available. We care about our guests’ “experiences” – and provide opportunities to get out of doors – not just walking around, but paddling the beautiful Big River Estuary, mountain biking Mendocino’s many trails and back roads. If you want to learn about the forest or marine...
Land – Our Relationship to the Ground upon which we stand
In Growing Potential – Wealthy Investors snap up farmland amid rising food prices Bernard Condon writing for the Associated Press notes that a Tulsa software executive snapped up 430 acres of Michigan cornfields for $4 million and a California insurance executive purchased 156 acres in Iowa, overbidding the farmer who had rented the land for 20 years. The farmer’s maximum bid was $1.1 million. A former Goldman Sachs executive has been reported buying arable land in Africa, competing with Chinese investors seeking to profit from coming food shortages. Investors are free to invest in farmland; however they are removed from the land – its texture, smell. They do not experience the land’s response to hoe or disc harrow. They rarely experience the excitement...
Mendocino County – A State of Mind | Sustainability
Mendocino County is beautiful – stretching from forested mountains overlooking river valley vineyards to the rugged Coast. The coast itself is a study in contrasts – from the banana-belt in the south to the foggy redwood forests in the north with sweeping beaches, lighthouses and historic villages. In many respects Mendocino County is a “sustainable destination.” The Stanford Inn engages in sustainable practices. And we are not the only business and family to do so. Nor were we the first. In 1956, the Lolonis family of Redwood Valley chose to purposely manage their vineyards using traditional, sustainable methods – no chemicals and lots of ladybugs. They are the oldest purposely organic vineyard in the United States. Mendocino...
Our Passion: Creating an Evocative Destination
Joan and I have been innkeeping for 34 years. The average length of time in this business for “owner-innkeepers” used to be 7 years and we are certain that we have raised that average. We remain innkeepers because we are essentially educators – in the truest sense of the word. The word educate is related to educere in Latin – “to lead out” or to “evoke.” We are evokers – at least Joan is – I might be more a provoker. The inn is our “campus” and every guest room, common rooms, the gardens, and the river are classrooms. Text books are our newsletter and the books that we offer for sale or inspiration (usually inspiring guests to order from Barnes and Noble, Borders, Amazon or, better, their...
Happiness is where you are
Where else can it be? In my last writing I noted the explosion of life in Manitoba – here’s a field of canola: And here are Dana’s gardens at the Stanford Inn – she planted wildflowers, where last was a 4-H project – now in summer hiatus. Nature in explosions of color is happiness. And nature is in continuous change – which is what I wrote about earlier in “The Weather”. And embracing change, which is our very nature, is embracing our life and for the I Ching’s “superior” man (or woman) leads to success/happiness. But the I Ching guidance is far stronger – embracing our lives is success. And sometimes one has to cross the great river to get to that realization – to that success....
Eco Tourism – Green-Washing
A group of international writers who specialize in “green” visited our Inn this week. These were knowledgeable and interesting men and women from England, France, Germany, Holland, Korea, China and Australia. The writer from the U.K. was particularly astute, questioning a statistic I through out from memory which was incorrect. I appreciate critical thinking – challenging inquiry. What I learned is that much of their work is to identify legitimate green enterprises. Many people are moving toward sustainability – and others simply create a veneer of green. But as I have gone deeply into this, I have learned that what we choose to eat has the greatest impact on the environment and that any “green” action is of little significance...
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