LAST year, Mary Lamielle, of Voorhees, N.J., traveled to Washington for a business meeting. Her room, at the Grand Hyatt, "was perfect," she recalled. But when she ventured into the conference area, she experienced vertigo and breathing problems, which she believed were caused by chlorinated water in the hotel's decorative pools. Within a day, she was so sick, she said, that she couldn't attend the session she had organized on healthy housing for people with disabilities.

Ms. Lamielle, the executive director of the National Center for Environmental Health Strategies, an advocacy group, suffers from what doctors variously label multiple chemical sensitivities or environmental illness, an elusive malady that can make exposure to household and industrial chemicals debilitating. Sufferers tend to purge their environments of products that cause them distress. But it's almost impossible to do that in hotels. For those with the symptoms, Ms. Lamielle said, traveling for pleasure is an oxymoron.

But there are resources that can help.

Nancy Westrom of Ocala, Fla., publishes the Safer Travel Directory - $17, on the Web at www.safertraveldirectory.com - a booklet meant to help the chemically sensitive find lodging in 40 states and a dozen foreign countries promising relative safety from pesticides and other chemicals. But the needs of such travelers vary widely, and Ms. Westrom warns in the front of the book that all lodgings pose "unforeseen risks."

Some of the hotels in the book are run by people with the disease, like Joyce Charney, who, with her husband, Alan, owns the Natural Place, in Deerfield Beach, Fla., www.thenaturalplace.com. The Natural Place offers apartment-style units with organic bedding and filtered water, a block and a half from the ocean. The owners depend on the cooperation of guests, who are "asked to sign a 'quality assurance form' when they check in," said Ms. Charney. On the form, guests promise not to use "cologne, perfume or any scented make-up, soaps, lotions, sun tan products, shampoo, conditioner, hair spray, deodorant, etc."

Kim Bowen, who with her husband, John, owns the Crow Wing Crest Lodge, www.crowwing.com, in Akeley, Minn., said she makes her own organic cleaning products and insect repellants from herbs and essential oils. One of her recent, chemically sensitive guests, Zane Madsen, of Dennison, Minn., said that she was attracted to the hotel's no-pet and no-smoking policies, and its avoidance of products with artificial scents.

A number of hotels in the Safer Travel Directory use air- and water-filtering devices offered by EverGreen Rooms, www.evergreenrooms.com, based in Wilmington, N.C. Other hotels buy cleaning products from Green Suites International, www.greensuites.com, of Upland, Calif.

One focus of Green Suites is sustainability - energy efficiency and use of recycled materials. But some of those materials, Ms. Lamielle said, may harm chemically sensitive people. For example, flooring may be made of recycled rubber bound with chemical adhesives. "They're doing things that are environmentally more sound, but not necessarily more healthy," she said.

Ms. Westrom, who began publishing the Safer Travel guide in 1998, said, "I'm surprised by how many new listings come my way all the time." On her Web site, environmental illness sufferers leave comments that would never appear in a conventional travel guide. "As nontoxic as my own bedroom, " wrote a traveler of the Arbor House, a bed-and-breakfast in Madison, Wis.

But there are also complaints. A hotel guest who believed that her mattress was making her sick demanded to have it covered in heavy foil. And a hotelier, Ms. Westrom said, complained that a guest with multiple chemical sensitivities "was so comfortable in the hotel that she refused to leave."

Ms. Lamielle said that sufferers are best off finding a hotel that they can tolerate, and sticking with it. In Washington, she said, she generally chooses the Capital Hilton, where her linens and towels are washed in baking soda before her arrival. She asks for a room away from renovation work (which often involves chemical compounds) and on a corner, where there are more windows: "Not that the D.C. air is so great, but sometimes it's best to let the inside air dissipate," she said.

Ms. Lamielle said she reserves far in advance whenever possible, and sends multiple e-mails confirming that various measures have been taken. The Capital Hilton doesn't charge for the services she requests, but Ms. Lamielle said she leaves generous tips for the housekeepers.

She added that with a couple of exceptions, hotels have been willing to answer her questions about their use of chemicals. But those instances of a lack of cooperation, she said, illustrate a need to educate the hospitality industry to the requirements of chemically sensitive travelers.

It helps, she added, that those needs overlap the preferences of millions of Americans who don't have the disease. "There are plenty of other people who, when they open the door to a hotel room, don't want to smell perfume," she said.

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ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS

Sunday Paper full page article April, 15, 2007 by BETH GAUPER

(Click here to link to Beth Gauper's Midwest Weekends travel website!)

A WEEK AT THE LAKE

Other destinations beckon, but few can beat the classic Minnesota vacation.

Up north, there's a lake cabin with my name on it.

I don't own it, and I never will. But for a week in July, it's mine.

Only a generation ago, most middle-class Minnesotans could think of nothing better than renting a little housekeeping cabin on a lake.

"In the glory years, gosh, it seemed every Minnesotan vacationed at a Minnesota resort,'' says Dave Siegel, vice president of the Minnesota Resort and Campground Association.

Now, there's so much competition for a family's vacation time - from Cancun and Orlando, from RVs, from new cabins wealthy families build for themselves. And high-school sports leave only a few weeks between summer baseball and the football season.

"We always say, 'If only we had 20 million cabins for the last week of July and first two weeks of August,' " says Kim Bowen, proprietor of Crow Wing Crest Lodge near Akeley and a member of the Congress of Minnesota Resorts.

The demand for lakeshore property has made it more profitable for resort owners to sell to developers than run a business, and in the past 15 years, the number of resorts in Minnesota has shrunk from 1,300 to perhaps 850.

But that's still a lot of lake resorts. And little has changed about the classic formula of sun, sand and water.

EXTENDED FAMILY

My 18-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son have been going to Crow Wing Crest since they were infants, and they'd riot if I told them they couldn't go.

My son's e-mail address is CWCtheplacetobe, and he keeps in touch with his resort friends throughout the year. Once, three generations of one family came to watch him play football when his team had a game in a suburb near their home.

Watching the transformation of strangers into steadfast friends is Kim Bowen's favorite part of running a resort. She holds bingo night and a kids' scavenger hunt early in the week, so guests can get to know each other right off the bat.

"By Tuesday, they're all running around together; by Wednesday, the kids are all mixed up, and everyone's watching everyone else's kids; by Thursday, they're best friends; and by Friday, there are tears, and people don't want to leave,'' she says.

I've vacationed at a lot of places, and I still think a week at a lake resort is the best vacation of all. It's the most relaxing, anyway. There's nothing like the beginning of a lake week, when time seems to slow to a crawl.

"You get there, and there's nothing to do ... but enjoy,'' says my sister Lynn, who flies in from Orlando.

We wake to loon calls and take a cup of coffee down to the lake, where we sit in swinging chairs and watch fishermen putter with their gear and canoeists push off for a morning paddle.

The teen-agers sleep until noon, so I might walk down the road to gather wildflowers from the ditches. Then, I'll recruit my husband, a sister or a niece for a ride on the Heartland State Trail, perhaps to Walker for breakfast or to Dorset for a root-beer float. Or I might spend the whole afternoon on the beach; I bring a book, but I always end up chatting with other guests or watching children taking flying leaps off the raft.

In the evening, most everyone ends up at the 1898 log lodge, putting together jigsaw puzzles, playing cards or foosball, watching the sunset from the deck. Some nights, we fire up the old sauna and swelter until we have to rush into the lake. Then, we float on our backs in the cool water, trying to spot a shooting star.

The days go by and then time seems to speed up, like grains tumbling down an hourglass. It's bittersweet, but eventually, we have to leave our cabin for another family to use, until the next summer.

FAMILY RESORT

Over the years, genial co-owner Terry Heller became a family friend, and we always looked forward to seeing him. Then, in 2001, he had to sell the resort - to developers, he figured.

"I didn't want to take anyone's vacation away, but we knew that's probably what was going to happen,'' he said.

It would have been an ignominious end to the resort, which began life as a logging camp and includes several virgin white pines, including a 300-year-old called Luna.

After the Akeley sawmill burned in 1916, the site served briefly as a chicken farm before becoming Aunt Polly's Girls' Camp, where etiquette was taught to children from around the nation in the 1920s and '30s. It sat vacant during World War II, but in 1946 became a family fishing resort.

The first day Crow Wing Crest was listed, a couple from Newton, Iowa, drove up and bought it. Heller thought he was selling to a developer, Krupp Rental Properties of Newton, Iowa, but was pleasantly surprised when the Krupps' daughter Kim and her husband, Big John, continued to run the business as a family resort.

John Bowen had spent childhood summers at resorts in northwest Wisconsin, and he and Kim had shopped for a resort for three years, limited by their desire for one that didn't rely on a bar to make a profit. When a Park Rapids real-estate agent tipped them off to the impending Crow Wing sale, they sprang into action and made an offer.

"There was a developer who was interested, and they were livid they didn't get a crack at it,'' says Kim Bowen, who says she receives at least one call or letter a week from developers hoping she'll sell.

For now, she won't: "It makes me sick even to think about it,'' she says.

FAMILY FUN

Now, my family and about 250 others still have our summer week at the lake. We're grateful. The Bowens have retained the resort's peaceful atmosphere and signature phrase - "If you are looking for a resort for heavy drinking and all-night partying, do not choose us'' - and added various New Age pursuits.

It makes for an interesting mix. Last summer, I attended and enjoyed John's introduction to reflexology and Kim's aromatherapy class, but I missed the drumming circle and sing-along.

There was too much to do outdoors. Little kids fished, rode the carousel, played in the log playhouse and used the kayaks and paddleboats. Bigger folks played volleyball, basketball, bocce ball and horseshoes; one family brought a bean-bag game, and another a homemade game they called "cowboy golf.''

A family from Iowa brought two hand-made canoes and a sailboat. A four-family group brought three powerboats and spent most of their time waterskiing and tubing.

"We want to be on the water all the time,'' said Michelle Boelter of Winona, who switched to the smaller 11th Crow Wing Lake after nine years at resorts on big, windy Leech Lake.

Michelle Rademacher of Blaine wanted to be on the beach most of the time, with a good book.

"My husband doesn't fish, we don't own a boat, we're not big-toy people,'' she says. "You don't rush around, you just relax.''

She found Crow Wing Crest after the Annandale resort her family went to closed. Like so many people, she gravitated back to lake resorts after spending childhood summers at them.

"When I was little, we went to a lake resort near Osakis, and I have great memories of that,'' Rademacher said. "My husband didn't have that, but he's a convert.''

There's a resort for everyone - with as much tranquility as anyone could want, or as much action and activity.

It's still possible to find cabins for prime weeks in July and early August, and there's a good selection available in June and in late August.

It may not be the most glamorous vacation in the world, but for many people, it's the best.

Beth Gauper, who writes about regional travel, can be reached at 651-228-5425, bgauper@pioneerpress.com.

TRIP TIPS: CHOOSING A MINNESOTA LAKE RESORT

Where to look: Get the visitors guide for your chosen region and start comparing ads and Web sites, which often list Internet specials. Consult the staff at regional tourism bureaus; they can't recommend resorts, but they can give you names if you're specific about what you want. Minnesota Office of Tourism counselors also can help, 651-296-5029, 1-800-657-3700, along with the state tourism site, www.exploreminnesota.com

The Minnesota Resort Campground Association has an online guide at www. hospitalitymn.com, or order at 651-778-2400. The Congress of Minnesota Resorts represents many good, small resorts and also has an online guide, www.minnesota-resorts.com

The Internet is helpful, but always reserve over the telephone. (See "What to ask'' below.)

How much you'll spend: Expect to spend $900-$1,000 per week for a basic, updated two-bedroom housekeeping cabin and $1,100-$1,200 for a three-bedroom cabin at a resort that has a lodge, a beach, a playground and use of canoes and paddleboats.

New cabins that feature dishwashers, air conditioning and other amenities cost more. For cabins at resorts that offer something extra - a nine-hole golf course, a pool, free waterskiing, supervised children's activities - add several hundred dollars.

Cottages at big resorts that include designer golf courses and meal plans cost much more. Medium-sized, family-run resorts that offer meal plans also are expensive, but there aren't many left: They include Driftwood in Pine River, Lost Lake Lodge in Nisswa, Nelson's Resort on Crane Lake and the Gunflint Lodge on the Gunflint Trail.

When to go: The weather is most reliable from late June to mid-August, which is peak season and books up fastest. But resorts lower their prices substantially for weeks in early June, when fishing is best, and late August, when weather usually is fine and many resorts offer 10 days for the price of seven over Labor Day weekend. If you'd like a discount but worry about cool weather, find a resort with a heated pool.

Making a reservation: The most desirable cabins usually are reserved a year in advance, as guests check out. If you like the resort but the cabins you like aren't available, you may have to work your way up to them. Rent another cabin and, as current guests check out, try to snap up cabins they don't reserve for the next year.

A week's rental is the standard in peak season, though more and more resorts are offering partial weeks, especially in early June and late August.

What to ask: Ask as many questions as possible. Describe what you're looking for, and ask whether the owners think you'd be comfortable at their resort. If a certain resort isn't for you, nearly every owner will tell you so.

Every week has a personality, and resort owners can tell you what it is. Some weeks are dominated by large family groups that may or may not make other guests feel excluded. Some weeks have a lot of older teenagers who may or may not be well behaved. Some weeks may feature a lot of sweet children who are close in age to yours; ask.

The personality of the owners dictates the atmosphere of the resort, so chat away. Ask if it's the kind of informal resort where children can run around, or if it caters more to couples who keep to themselves. Ask if there's much drinking, or if many guests or nearby cabin owners like to use personal watercraft. Some resorts ban them.

Ask if the beach has sand; a surprising number don't, or the beach is very small. If you have a toddler, ask if there's a steep drop-off in the water. If you have teens, make sure there's a lodge or game room where they can congregate with other teens. If you want a family atmosphere, make sure there's not a bar.

Family reunions: Resorts are a great place to hold them, but plan early. Many resorts have newer "reunion houses'' for family gatherings, and these often are booked two or more years in advance. You'll also have to plan ahead if you want to line up three or more cabins for prime weeks - one strategy is to reserve one cabin the previous year and, at the end of that week, snap up other cabins that guests don't immediately reserve for the following year.

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STAR TRIBUNE FRONT PAGE of TRAVEL SECTION, Sunday Paper June 24, 2007

From family games to championship golf, these resorts provide Up North vacations with plenty of diversions.

By Chris Welsch, Star Tribune Minneapolis, MN

Thick early morning fog had erased the view from Cabin No. 15. But as the sun rose over the tree line, shapes emerged. The spindly geometry of the dock extended onto the surface of 11th Crow Wing Lake. Then the shadows of the pines emerged on the shoreline. Finally, a loon cruised by, breaking the calm surface of the lake.

It wouldn't be calm for long. Giggling kids would swarm the swimming float, anglers would cast off in the row boats, and the porch swings would be occupied by novel-reading parents, temporarily relieved of their charges.

In the boom years after World War II, Minnesota had more than 4,000 resorts, most of them literally mom-and-pop operations. Today, there are about 900 in the state. Wisconsin's resort scene has undergone a similar evolution. While the lake is still typically the focus of the vacation, the resorts that thrive occupy distinct niches that draw a steady and passionate following.

At Crow Wing Crest Resort, Thursday night potluck luaus, a foot massage specialist and a congenially quirky atmosphere keep the cabins full all summer. At the other end of the spectrum, the American Club in Kohler, Wis., centers its appeals on world-class golf, a sophisticated European-style spa and adventures of the culinary sort.

Here we've chosen five of the Upper Midwest's best resorts. They span the range of budgets and styles, but they all know how to make the best of summer in the north.

Continued on page G4 . . . . . . .

Crow Wing Crest: A funky place by the lake that's second home to many

Crow Wing Crest is a mom-and-pop resort of the sort that is harder and harder to find Up North. Most of the 19 housekeeping cabins are homey and idiosyncratic (one sports tilted floors that would be at home in a fun house) and they cluster together on the shore of pristine 11th Crow Wing Lake near Akeley, But owners Kim and Big John Bowen have perfected a "we're all in it together" vibe, which extends to Thursday night potluck luaus, when the guests clear out their refrigerators and Minnesota hotdish meets the aloha spirit.

WHAT TO DO: fish, swim, sauna, play cards, join the drumming circle. Bring a bike for the nearby Heartland Trail.. Kids enjoy a game room, a coin-operated merry-go-round and various organized activities.

PERKS: John Bowen is a reflexologist (foot massage) with a dedicated following, and Kim Bowen offers programs on aromatherapy.

ADVISORY: No "personal watercraft" allowed. Lovers of big engines and loud parties should look elsewhere.

PRACTICALITES: Near Park Rapids, Minn. Book in advance; returning guests keep the occupancy level high. In high season, cabins rent from $380 for the snug two-person "Sleeping Cottage" (the bath is in the main lodge building) to $2,342 for a four-bedroom, newly built cabin that can easily accommodate a family reunion. More info www.crowwing.com, 1-800-279-2754

The following articles were written for the CMR Resorter Reporter, a publication meant for other resorters. Our group motto: Resorters helping resorters!

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published January 2006

Natural Cleanin’ Corner (Kim Bowen, Crow Wing Crest Lodge, Akeley)

For a healthy RESORT, and a healthy YOU!

Why natural products instead of store bought chemicals?

1) HEALTH (yours, your guest’s, your planet’s), and

2) they’re CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP!!!

Yep, believe it or not, you can clean pretty much everything in your house and cabins with stuff like: baking soda, salt, vinegar, club soda, olive oil, beeswax, cream of tartar, lemons, walnuts, etc. (Dang, dessert anyone?)

Here’s the thing: just because a bunch of guys came up with cleaning chemicals than can melt your face off and burn your lungs, so what? Geez . . . that doesn’t mean they’re GOOD to use. It just means somebody’s gettin’ rich and somebody’s gettin’ toxic (*ahem* . . . that would be you and me and mother earth. Getting toxic, I mean. Not the getting rich part. That certainly isn’t me. I wish. I’m a resorter, for pete’s sake, somebody please tell me when this thing is actually going to cash flow!)

“Golly gee, Kim” (you might ask), “do natural cleaners REALLY work, or is this just a crock of hooey?” Well, I’m here to tell ya . . . . “YOU BETCHA they work!” And my cleaning staff is happier and healthier as a result. (Sometimes my cleaning ladies will fight over who gets to clean the showers. Get THEM apples, hehe. Whoever wins inhales mega doses of aromatherapy peppermint oil cleaner, which helps boost the immune system, increases energy, helps one lose weight ---yep! it’s true--- and helps drain the sinuses. Those are just the side benefits, ‘cause the real reason I put peppermint oil in my cleaning solution is because it’s naturally anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal and a fantastic deodorizer.)

My repeat guests often give us feedback about how clean our cabins are these days and how wonderful the cabins smell when arriving. Because the solution is non-toxic, I now leave bottles of natural all-purpose cleaner and natural glass cleaner in each cabin. My cabins are left cleaner, because guests really do use it. I’ve been told by several guests that they sometimes just spritz the cleaner around the cabin because it smells so good. Plus I don’t have to worry if a kid gets into it and gulps it down accidentally. (Well, okay . . . so the kid might have the runs for a few minutes, but hey! You don’t hafta call the poison control center, or pump their stomachs, or make ‘em upchuck. No big deal. They might smell like a candy cane and whine on the toilet for a few minutes, but in the time you can roast a marshmallow, they should be “good to go” and have learned their lesson.)

I started out playing with natural cleaning recipes from a book called “Clean & Green” by Annie Berthold-Bond. I have since gotten lazy and am just ordering non-toxic liquid concentrate from various sources (see next paragraph). However, I found that these home made recipes really did work! EXAMPLE:

NATURAL ALL-PURPOSE CLEANER

1 gallon water (hot tap water initially to dissolve the minerals)
1/8 cup borax
1/8 cup vinegar
20 drops – 2 ounces aromatherapy essential oil (like peppermint, lemon, pine, tea tree, etc. You can get these at any health food store. Or I guess, me, if you’re serious and want bulk portions cheaper, since I’m an aromatherapy retailer: click here)

If you wanted to make a strong grease cutter, add 1/8 washing soda to the mix and maybe 1 Tablespoon of vegetable based liquid soap (i.e. Dr. Bronner’s Pure Castile Soap – which, by the way, is also a fantastic soap to wash your hands and floors of pine sap, icky-sticky!).

Of course, to use this stuff, just pour some into an empty spray bottle and keep on hand. This whole mixture costs less than $1 a quart spray bottle.

Since I’ve gotten lazy, I have started to buy non-toxic liquid concentrates and added my aromatherapy oils to them. For instance, BotanicGold (www.nontoxicsoap.com) and Hy-Pro Spray Cleen (www.hy-pro.com) are both products you can get by the gallon in concentrated liquid form. Diluted, the cost to make up some all-purpose cleaner is about $3 - $4 quart. My sister-in-law has recently turned me on to Basic H Concentrate from Shaklee (www.shaklee.com) which I have been using effectively for set-in stains on sheets and as a fertilizer for our newly planted trees and herbs. It’s supposed to be a fantastic all-purpose cleaner and since it only costs less than $1 per diluted quart, I’m going to try this product out next season and let you know how it goes. Has anyone else tried this? If you’re adding peppermint essential oil to your mix, add another $.50 - $5 per quart (depending on how much aromatherapy you wanna add. I use the expensive organic kind ‘cause I’m making a stand on the idea of organic farming to encourage it. But I have access to the normal stuff of which maybe I can bring samples to the next School of Resorting class on Aromatherapy & Natural Cleaning Products.)

(All opinions in this article are 100% subjective, but if you got issues with me, I can take it: bring it on! E-mail me. J Here’s to your continued good health, campers!)

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published March 2006

Natural Cleanin’ Corner (Kim Bowen, Crow Wing Crest Lodge, Akeley)

For a healthy RESORT, and a healthy YOU!

In this issue I’d like to yak about the toxic ickyness of chemical oven cleaners (even the “fume free” type). If you have a self-cleaning oven, GREAT! Using high temperatures as a cleaner is a great non-toxic avenue. However, if your resort is like mine, we still have many traditional cabins with older ovens in them. Our charcoal GRILLS also get tons of use, and instead of using chemicals to clean your grill racks, continue reading to learn about natural, safer and CHEAPER alternatives.

Chemical oven cleaners: Nasty stuff. I started playing around with natural cleaning recipes for oven cleaning 10 years ago when my hubby and I were landlords in Iowa. Nobody likes cleaning ovens, especially vacating tenants apparently. I tried the store-bought “Easy” spray-on cleaner. After practically passing out and having an utterly wretched headache using it, I decided to try the “fume-free” stuff on the next oven cleaning job. I even held my breath, sprayed it on and ran like heck outta that apartment. I didn’t go back ‘til the next day thinking it wouldn’t be as bad if it settled down. ‘Course it was winter and the windows were only cracked open a bit, so I’m not sure where I thought the chemicals would settle down “to”. It certainly wasn’t “away” from the vicinity I put it. (Yep, I had an idiot moment, what can I say?) What I learned from the experience was that despite the happy, carefree marketing of this “Easy” spray-on product, it stank. In more ways than one. I had to wear gloves, wipe loads and loads of gunky stuff from inside the oven, my nose burned, my eyes watered and I had a bad headache again. If you need to kill a cow at 10 paces, this here’s your stuff. Just spray ‘em in the snout and wait for the mooing to fade. Gee whiz.

Have you ever read the labels on these cans? “DANGER!” it reads, in big, fat capital letters. A clue, huh? Although to me, it’s kinda like saying “Hey, this product will poison you, but as long we’re telling you that it will poison you, it’s OK for us to sell it to you”. From an article entitled Cleaning Chemicals: Are They Affecting Your Health, 2001, by Michael McCagg, he states: “OVEN CLEANERS contain lye (caustic soda, sodium hydroxide) which is highly corrosive. Direct contact may cause severe burns to the skin, mouth, throat, and stomach. Direct contact with eyes may cause permanent blindness. Inhalation may permanently damage the respiratory tract, especially the lungs. Prolonged exposure may cause kidney damage, brain damage, and reproductive disorders.” (source: www.cmmonline.com, Environmental Archives) Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Not to mention that even if you get your oven or grill racks cleaned, chemical residue that’s not wiped up thoroughly “‘outgases” itself and intensifies the next time heat is applied which infuses into your cooking food. Ewwwww.

The US Consumer Protection Agency has issued numerous statements linking 150 chemicals found in your home (including Oven Cleaners) to allergies, birth defects, psychological disorders and cancer. Yikes! Why are these products still available if they’re so toxic? Well . . . in a nutshell: big business is protecting big business and you gotta follow that money trail for it to make perfect sense. Research it for yourself. Please. As consumers, we could probably do a lot legislatively to protect ourselves and our environment, but that’s a whole other issue for another type of magazine . . . soooooo . . .

Enough bad news, here’s the good news in two words: BAKING SODA. At seventy cents a box, baking soda is your best buddy in the cleaning arena. It’s CHEAP, versatile, and non-toxic! I put a box of baking soda in every cabin’s refrigerator and freezer at the beginning of each season for odor control. If the box gets soggy or we feel the need to put a fresh box in, I’ll save the old baking soda for scouring out ovens, baking pans, pots and grill racks later. The following are some amended recipes I’ve been using for years (original source: Clean & Green, 1990, by Annie Berthold-Bond):

“Believe it or Not” – The BEST AND EFFORTLESS OVEN CLEANER

baking soda
water
squirt or two of liquid soap
optional - white vinegar rinse

Sprinkle water generously over the bottom of the oven, then cover the grime with baking soda. Sprinkle more water on top of the baking soda. If you let it sit overnight you can effortlessly wipe up the grease the next morning. Use a green scratch pad or razor blade to loosen stubborn spills. When you have cleaned up all the mess, dab a little bit of vegetable-based soap (Dr. Bronner’s is the best!) or white vinegar on a sponge and wash all the sides, top, bottom and inside of door. Rinse thoroughly to remove all baking soda (you may have to let it dry first to see areas you’ve missed).

TOUGH-JOB OVEN CLEANER

1 small box of baking soda
¼ cup washing soda (Arm & Hammer is a good brand called “All Natural Super Washing Soda” in a yellow box-- you can find this in the laundry detergent area of any big supermarket)

Follow directions for “Believe it or Not” recipe, but add washing soda, particularly to burnt-on areas. Washing soda will help cut the grease, but it requires a lot of rinsing.

SALT VARIATION OVEN CLEANER

Salt
Hot water

Pour salt and hot water over grease and grime. Let sit for a couple of hours or overnight before scrubbing with a mild abrasive pad. Pour salt directly onto the grease when freshly spilled and come back to it later for easy removal.

CHARCOAL GRILL RACK CLEANER

Confession time: I personally have not cleaned a charcoal grill rack. At our resort it’s the husband’s job. Or, rather, he makes our grounds-keeping employee scrub the grill racks every week with a wire brush. (How’s that for delegating icky tasks?) However, I HAVE personally cleaned about a million oven racks, blackened pots and pans, greasy baking sheets and cake pans. These are all metal items and respond similarly to the baking soda/salt scouring treatment. When I’m washing all the dishes in cabins during fall, I often have a dirty pot on the stove simmering with baking soda water to soften up the baked-on food particles. (I drop in stove top burner racks, too, and then rinse in vinegar.) I imagine it would be easy enough to brighten all charcoal grill racks in the spring by:

Spritzing a grill rack with plain old water OR salt water (dissolve a couple Tablespoons of salt in hot water and pour into an empty quart spray bottle)
Throw grill rack in a big plastic garbage bag (you could do several at once)
Shake a box of baking soda into the garbage bag and coat the rack thoroughly
Tie up the garbage bag and leave it sit for a few hours or overnight
Take the grill rack out of the garbage bag and wipe down with a sponge or scratcher
Rinse or spritz with white vinegar for sparkling finish (and to prevent grease build-up, making it easier to clean next time)

Other non-toxic oven or grill rack cleaning options: Steam cleaner gadgets. I haven’t tried one myself, but those home shopping network commercials make cleaning with hot water look easy. (I think I have two of these machines, courtesy of my mother, a.k.a. Queen of the QVC, but they’re still in their boxes.) Apparently these machines work on steamed water applied with a small pressure hose to clean showers, toilets, floors, ovens, whatever. Anyone try this kind of gizmo? Another option I will be trying this season is a product by Shaklee called “Basic I” Industrial Cleaner with 9 degreasers. It’s non-toxic and rather inexpensive, too (about fifty cents a pint). (Go to www.shaklee.com to learn more.)

(E-mail me if you have a natural cleanin’ tip or product that you use at your resort that you would like to pass along to other resorters.)

to be published July 2006

Natural Cleanin’ Corner (Kim Bowen, Crow Wing Crest Lodge, Akeley)

For a healthy Resort, and a healthy YOU!

Wood Furniture Fix-its

Got some water stains, spots or cup rings on your end tables? Try:

a fresh walnut (or other nut). Break it in half and rub the freshly broken edge of nut meat on the furniture.
OR, get some wood ashes and mix with a tablespoon of vegetable oil to make a paste. Rub it gently onto the affected area
OR, try rubbing some white toothpaste onto the spot

I used to LOVE using Old English Scratch Remover on scuffed chair legs and wood trim, doors, etc. But whew! Stinkipoo! It was sadly expensive ($6 a bottle, what a rip!) and toxic (gave me a headache every time).

You know what works just as well?

Vinegar and iodine. To make up a batch, simply pour some vinegar in small bottle and dump some iodine in. Presto, instant scratch remover! Apply with a cloth and rub into the wood. Use lots and lots of iodine in a batch for dark woods, and less for lighter woods. (You could also use vodka or whiskey instead of vinegar. This may be too much of a temptation to gain a headache in an entirely different manner, but you could have a heckuva fun afternoon polishing furniture.)

(Note: Crayola crayons that match your wood color also make wonderful boo-boo fixers. Color your scratches away! OR, even better: instead of yellin’ at the kids and grandkids for coloring your walls, you can sic ‘em on your cabin furniture with the appropriate crayons. They’ll prob’ly even work for cookies. Train ‘em early, right? They get to do the work while you go fishin’. Ahhhhhhh, life is good, life is great.)

(Original recipes came from the book: “Clean & Green” by Annie Berthold-Bond which I highly recommend. If you have a natural cleaning technique, product or solution to a common resort issue, zip me an e-mail so that we can write it up and add it to our Natural Cleanin’ Corner column.)

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Crow Wing Crest Lodge

11th Crow Wing Lake

31159 County Road 23

Akeley, MN 56433

(218) 652-3111 information

(800) 279-2754 reservations
HOURS: 8 a.m. - 10 p.m. CST

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