When Covid-19 struck in March 2020, like most of us, I felt confused, anxious, afraid (not only for our personal health and for those we knew and loved, but for the viability of our owner-operated business.)  In April, here in Minnesota, we were all still on a stay-at-home lock-down, and we were uncertain when, or if, we'd be able to open our resort for the season.  The weather was still too inclement to start cleaning cabins and doing outdoor work to take our minds off of the stress.  Many a sleepless night was spent wondering if we'd have guests willing to come.  What new procedures would we have to implement?  How should we process through new cleaning/disinfection protocols for cabins, deal with lodge hours, staff safety?  New state ordinances seemed to be posting every few days.  It was a lot of information to understand and break down into how it affected our particular business.

I was so very grateful in late April to be asked to be on a panel for a "Non-Toxic Cleaning-for-Covid" Zoom class (coordinated by a statewide non-profit group, the Community of Minnesota Resorts.)   The subject matter was near and dear to my heart.  (I'd written several green cleaning articles for this same group in a published magazine distributed to all Minnesota resorts.  I had also hosted a couple of non-toxic cleaning classes with fellow resorters over the past 20 years.)  This new task led me on a research drive for days.  It really helped focus my energy - what a blessing!   

Despite all the fear and supply depletion of hand sanitizer and common disinfectants, I knew I'd find my own way to operate the resort without reverting to carcinogenic chemicals (e.g. bleach and other harsh, dangerous products.)  However, being invited to be a part of a class forced me to really delve into the data.   I wanted to relay resources, reliable website links, and scientific study information to others so that THEY could inform themselves about the proper application, dwell times, shelf life, etc. on Covid-approved disinfectants, and why the products worked or didn't.  But I learned a heckuva lot for my own edification.

I ended up collecting a list of six non-toxic disinfectants approved by the EPA to work on Coronavirus (list here.)  First on the list was Force of Nature, a product I'd already been using in my own household and which I'd occasionally use in cabins (in particular, for getting rid of odors on upholstery and rugs.) 

Below is a quick video clip of Big John filming me making a bottle of Force of Nature in our kitchen. - Kim, Owner of Crow Wing Crest Lodge

The more I research this product, the more impressed I am.   (The Force of Nature website is chock-full of scientific answers, commonly asked questions, links to EPA and CDC lists & research studies, comparison charts to other typical cleaning solutions, etc.)

Last April when attempting to plan for an uncertain resort season, I dared not make unnecessary expenditures.  I wanted to make do with what I had on hand if possible.  I ended up using non-toxic hydrogen peroxide as our go-to non-toxic disinfectant because I had several gallons of 35% grade stuff in stock, which diluted down into 13 gallons of 3% solution, sufficient enough grade to be EPA effective on Covid.  (See blog on hydrogen peroxide - coming soon.)   It took 1 - 2 gallons of disinfectant each week to mix into my backpack sprayer, which I used to spray down the insides of cabins between guest occupancy.  By the end of resort season, I noticed several whitened stains on certain lampshades and curtains (peroxide is also a bleaching agent, as we know.)  I have decided to forego the peroxide this next year (yes, we're still planning for another covid season) and instead have now stockpiled Force of Nature capsules and two more electrolyzers to create the solution each week.  We're ready!

I have constant conversations with guests about our green cleaning practices, what products we use, and where we get our supplies.  If you wanna try out Force of Nature for your own household use, I would certainly recommend trying it out, or at least learning about it for yourself.  Once you get started (starter pack is around $50 if you use a coupon), you'll find the cost is only about $.90 cents a bottle.   I really appreciate how it is an effective cleaner, deodorizer, and disinfectant; safe for me, my family, my staff, my guests, and our lakeshore environment.  I love the science behind it, the data explained clearly on their website and backed up by the CDC and EPA.  Again, the more I learn, the more impressive I find this stuff.  Here's a link to check it out for yourself:  follow this link.

(For a limited time, until March 31, 2021, they are offering 25% off plus free shipping on Starter Kits & Value Bundles.  Just type "MAKEITSAFE" into the coupon code entry.  Or google coupons for Force of Nature.)

We invite you to come up and relax by the lake with us, in a cabin freshly cleaned and disinfected with non-toxic, environmentally sound products.  Here's to our health!

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Answer?

Lots of places!

Essential oil sources I use commonly for both personal and Aromatherapy Class:

• New Directions Aromatics - bulk oils (by the gallon or quart, plus other raw materials) I use for cleaning products and sauna spritz'.
• Imani Oils- organic french oils from a local distributer friend of mine, Brian Skinness, in Nevis, MN
• Frontier Coop:   They carry the Aura Cacia line of essential oils.   I commonly order 1/3 oz size for re-sale in the lodge because it's easy to tack it onto larger order of 7th generation toilet tissue cases and other resort cleaning products from this Iowa company.   Their customer service is fabulous and you can order direct from them as a non-wholesale customer.
• Young Living Oils  - This company has consistently top-quality educational materials about essential oils.  I personally dislike the multi-level marketing and the hard sales pushing, but their lavender oils are hard to beat anywhere else.   I also appreciate their consistently high-quality frankincense oil (the pricing matches, but you get what you pay for!)  We started using the Thieves multipurpose cleaning solution to clean cabins a few years back: not only does it actually disinfect, it boosts the immune system of our cleaning staff!
• DoTerra is getting more and more popular and I have enjoyed their concentrated oils from guests from whom I've purchased a few samples the last couple of years.
• Darlene & Earl, a couple who are regular vendors at farmer's markets on the Big Island of Hawaii (where we annually visit), create their own unique essential oils and blends on their farm:   http://www.dmedicinewoman.com  (I've carried several of their sprays and lotions and essences in the lodge over the years.   They have unique oils you won't find anywhere else.)

Progesterone Cream --- Found a new source, endorsed by Dr. John Lee and now his family.  Progesterall    (2 oz.  approx. $21 - you can order direct from them)

If you have purchased potions, candles, oils, etc. from the lodge over the years and want to re-order, just e-mail me directly and I'll try to hook you up or let you know if I'll be carrying that product again soon.  :   -- Kim, CWC   (click "Contact Us" below)

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Kim Bowen, published April 2012 Community of Minnesota Resorter Reporter Magazine

To bleach, or not to bleach?

If you know me at all, I reckon you’d assume my immediate answer to this question would be a big, fat “NOT!” followed perhaps by a rather annoyingly muttered “duh”.  Well, you’d be wrong.  Wrong, I tell ya!       Bleach, bleach, bleach away, peeps.  ‘Course, by ‘bleach’, I am assuming we’re all on the same page about its meaning?   ‘Bleach’ simply means to leach out color, or to whiten.

For example, the sun is quite an effective natural bleaching mechanism, as you already know when you move artwork around your cabins each winter to fade the picture outlines on your pine walls, or throw sheets over your nice cabin furniture in the off season to prevent upholstery fading.  (Oh, you don’t do that at your resort?  Okay, me neither.  I like the worn-in look, --albeit this statement could simply be my justification for outright laziness---, but I’ve been to some resorts whose owners are very particular about this.  It’s always been fascinating and educational for me to learn about all our different resorting pet peeves, but I digress . . . . . .)

As you might suspect, the bottom line of this article is about the dangers of chemical bleach, the kind you buy at any supermarket in the white gallon jug, and what kinds of alternatives there are to replace it with.  And yah, there really are some.  And they actually work.  So that’s gotta be good, right?  Worth a read through the rest of the article anyway, even if you’re pretty sure you’ll never, ever, ever give up your trusty, stinky white jug ‘o germ-away.

So, here’s my truth and the real reason of why I don’t use chemical bleach at my house or resort, and why I rarely will go into a chlorinated pool or hot tub: I don’t want cancer.  I’m really afraid of it and uncomfortable admitting to it, but there it is.  I’ve seen my daughter-in-law fight breast cancer for a year and lose, I’ve experienced my grandson dying of brain cancer at age 3, too many of my resort guests and personal friends have gone through the cancer process and sometimes come through it and sometimes not.  And although I’ve witnessed many, many, many positive things come from their process and heard and even agreed quite often that a diagnosis was a ‘blessing in disguise’, I do not wish to go through a similar situation with the pain, the exhaustion, feelings of helplessness and fear, worries and stress of medical and money issues, etc.  There are many things I cannot control in my life: so what I can control, I try hard to make educated decisions about.  In particular, when I learn something is a known carcinogen (directly linked to causing cancer), for example, I avoid it as much as possible, research how I can reduce any damage I may have already caused to myself when I didn’t avoid it in the past, and try to pass along any wisdom learned to others as much as I feel they might be open to it.

The chemical chlorine bleach is a known carcinogen.  No if, ands or buts on this one.

Not only can you absorb toxic carcinogenic amounts into your body by inhalation, skin absorption or ingestion (if dishes or eating implements are rinsed with it, or a piece of food set onto a countertop rinsed with chemical bleach is eaten it may have collected residual chemicals from the countertop) it can also be an instant killer as I hope you are aware:  if you accidentally mix liquid bleach with ammonia in a poorly ventilated room; Ooops!  down ya go, deader than a doornail, instantly suffocated from the toxic “chloramine gas”.  (This is what our government used in World War II as a very effective chemical warfare weapon, by the way, they called it ‘mustard gas’ because of the greenish/yellow color of the gas.  There’s fascinating, and rather morbid reading out there on the history of the chemical chlorine bleach if you should choose to cross reference this stuff.)   Also, if you accidentally mix chemical bleach and vinegar, or chemical bleach and hydrochloric acid (found in many toilet bowl cleaning solutions) you will also be instantly poisoned by the new kinds of toxic gases produced by the mixture.  Wait a minute! - isn’t the acid in our stomachs mostly hydrochloric acid?   Holy upchuck, Batman!  No more cleaning up after barfy guests in an enclosed bathroom with chemical bleach, dude!  Speaking of bathrooms, isn’t ammonia just stale urine?  (I’m positive I read in several sources you can make ammonia by simply peeing in a bucket and letting it stand for several weeks.  The urea breaks down into pure ammonia.)  Crap!  (no pun intended)  I’m freaking myself out here worrying about all of you out there cleaning cabin bathrooms with bleach and other stuff, getting poisoned by new gases even more than I was originally thinking . . . I gotta focus here . . . . .

Okay.  So why are we ‘allowed’ to use such a volatile, unstable substance?  That’s a whole topic altogether, but my personal opinion in a nutshell is:  somebody somewhere is making tons of money selling this very cheaply and easily manufactured product, the marketing campaigns are very successful (hey, who wouldn’t want to be that carefree lady in the commercial floating around the kitchen spraying down all surfaces valiantly fighting germs on behalf of her family?) and chlorine bleach is a very inexpensive germicide and bleaching agent.  In the past 100 years, it has indeed been used to successfully eradicate bacteria and nasty diseases caused by  contaminated potable water supplies.  But being that we’re fighting bacteria with a known poison, how much is too much?  On a side note of positive news:  I just read on the Seventh Generation website (they manufacture and distribute a line of natural cleaning products and recycled toilet tissue, paper towels, etc.) that a group of bipartisan legislators in Washington DC are on the verge of changing the EPA’s ‘acceptable’ level of chlorine bleach allowed in public drinking water systems to be more on par with European standards, perhaps not to the extreme France does, as they use ozone almost exclusively now to purify their water treatments, but it’s a step in the right direction and I really hope they can work together and get something passed for our betterment of health.)

But!  Back to the bottom line and taking action on things we can control directly.  Ready to consider some possible alternatives to using chemical bleach at your resort?

Instead of chemical bleach to whiten, try these natural alternatives:

• Hydrogen Peroxide.  (It’s a natural bleaching agent.  Cheap, too: about a buck a bottle at any pharmacy.) The brown bottles are only about 3{c55c8048ce70815a53cedbe8c58af6e7018bd1f9249d13e1ed06da752e55b489} peroxide, but it works well on some things.   For example:

• • refrigerator seals (brush on a few coats with a toothbrush to eliminate dark mold spots and to prevent future mold).  It’s awesome!

• • white towels spots – if used WITH lemon juice.  If it’s used by itself, or if lemon juice (also a natural bleaching agent) is used by itself, it doesn’t seem to work as well as when used together.  (We tested this at the last Green Cleaning class.)  Here’s my personal story with what did work:   my folks own a condo in Hawaii in which they also use as a vacation rental.  Last year when I was helping them manage the place, I was going through all the folded white towels and washcloths.  There were about 38 pieces with stains or spots on them.  Since I had researched both peroxide and lemon juice as natural cleaning bleaching agents and seen them listed over and over again, I decided to try it out for myself.  Hence, I soaked each spot/stain with lemon juice (sometimes I really rubbed it in well, sometimes just soaked the spot) then threw all of the pieces into the washer and let it fill with hot water.  I then shut off the washer and dumped in two quarts of hydrogen peroxide and let the washer load sit overnight to soak.  Then I let the washer run the load like normal.  Guess how many stains and spots came out?  ALL 38 pieces but two. (I’m pretty sure the one towel was used to dye some guest’s brunette hair.  Nasty stuff, hair dye.  Couldn’t get it out.  Everything else cleaned up, though.)

• Shaklee’s Nature Bright powder:  Hands down, this is the best clothing/bedding whitener I’ve found, and it’s organic!  Wow.   We did a test at the last Green Cleaning class (by the way, there will be another Green Cleaning class on April 9^th as a CMR Pre-Workshop bonus class – it’s free, and will be lead by a local Shaklee distributor and her husband, they’re a hoot!).  The test involved cutting up a dingy used-to-be-white rag and soaking pieces in hydrogen peroxide by itself, lemon juice by itself and Shaklee’s Nature Bright  by itself, overnight.   We were all amazed at how freakin’ white the piece of cloth in the Nature Bright solution turned out.   Really remarkable.  (www.shaklee.com  you can buy directly from website, $3.40 for 32 oz.)

• Restore EnzAway Spot Remover: This stuff is really great on getting out bloodstains and other protein based spots in sheets, even those you missed the first time around and baked in after a clothes dryer cycle.   ($6.09 for a quart spray bottle www.greenmercantile.com)   EnzAway is also what I use to spray on sofa arms and chair rests where lots of guest body oils have soaked in.  Yuck.  This natural enzyme will actually ‘eat’ up the protein and make it go away.   I’ve used it on carpet spots and upholstery to remove bacon grease, poo spills (dang two-year-olds), urine and once a bloody trail left on the carpet from somebody who ran around outside barefoot and got a cut.

Instead of chemical bleach to disinfect, try these natural alternatives:

• KITCHEN counter tops, dish rinse, produce rinse:   Vinegar and hydrogen peroxide (common brown bottle you can get at any local store).   Don’t mix the two together.  Put some white (or apple cider vinegar) vinegar in one spray bottle, and dump a brown bottle or two of hydrogen peroxide in another spray bottle.  Then spray your surface with one, then the other (apparently doesn’t matter which one you spray on first, it’s just important to keep them separate until you apply them).

Virginia Polytechnic Institute studies found that “ pairing the two mists killed virtually all Salmonella, Shigella, or E. coli bacteria on heavily contaminated food and surfaces when used in this fashion, making this spray combination more effective at killing these potentially lethal bacteria than chlorine bleach or any commercially available kitchen cleaner.”   Cool, huh?  Source (http://www.michaelandjudystouffer.com/judy/articles/vinegar.htm )

I have read that the Mayo Clinic actually uses vinegar and distilled water to disinfect bi-pap and c-pap plastic tubing, humidifiers, etc.    I use that recipe (plus lemongrass essential oil) to make a natural alternative to "swiffer" wipes and leave them in cabins for guests to use.

• Shower curtains:   I use polyester cloth shower curtains at my resort, and wash them each week between guests.  Instead of washing them in chemical bleach, I  use borax (you can buy ‘MuleTeam’ borax at pretty much any grocery store, hardware store, or Walmart) and vinegar.   I use hot water for this wash (usually I only use cold for sheets) to dissolve the powdery borax, then put a full cup of vinegar and a lot of normal soap.  Works great!  (Borax is a natural deodorizer, too, not just a disinfectant and mold inhibitor.)

• Shock your well with 35% hydrogen peroxide.  (Update 2016:  YES!  we've been using 35% hydrogen peroxide to shock the wells and numerous water heaters in cabins for last three years to GREAT SUCCESS.   I laugh at wikipedia instructions telling how to determine when the peroxide has processed through your water lines.  With chemical bleach, you just run a faucet until you smell bleach, then let it run out.  With peroxide, you slap a hunk of raw meat in the sink, run the faucet until the meat bubbles, then let the water run a while.  Fizzing meat, heh.  I’m still googling sources of bulk hydrogen peroxide, as most instructions are calling for 4 gallons of it initially to shock your well, then 1-2 gallons the next time you smell odors or see rust.  Ehow website has a guideline, also http://www.cleanairpurewater.com/images/stories/documents/well_treatment.pdf, or just try searching as I’m doing and feel free to chat on the resorter chatline about it so we can trade notes!)

• 35% hydrogen peroxide instead of chlorine bleach for your pool or hot tub (guidelines: http://purehealthsystems.com/hydrogen-peroxide-pool-spa.html )   Although we don’t have a pool at our resort, I thought some of you might be interested in exploring the possibility.  (It looks as though we’ll either have someone speaking about alternatives to chlorine for your pool (a salt cleaning system? Ozone?) at the upcoming Spring Workshop April 10^th in Walker, or we’ll at least have a crackerbarrel with this starter topic leading off.)

There are a ton of resources (website, books, magazines) out there for ‘green’ cleaners, and I’m happy to see several local groceries/department stores carrying a couple of organic cleaning lines to make it easy for you to try ‘em out.  I’ve been asked to write a few more articles on natural cleaning and will attempt to keep the topic running for chats, ‘cause I’m learning stuff all the time.  I’ve got a rant on air fresheners I’ll save for when I need to work out some frustration, tub & tile cleaner alternatives, natural pesticides, and maybe another look at general cheap natural cleaning solutions (I make up a glass/window cleaner here at my resort for about $.04 quart – compare that to the toxic blue stuff at $2.50 a quart!)   Looking forward to seeing you at the next Green Cleaning Class on April 9^th and the CMR Spring Workshop on April 10^th!

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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?

All natural wood polish - or use vodka and have a heckuva fun afternoon washing down cabin walls . . .

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.)

Originally Published July 2006

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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 . . .

We use baking soda to clean pots and pans, ovens and grills here at CWC

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.)

----March 2006 edition of Resorter Reporter

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(Kim Bowen, published Jan. 2006 in Resorter Reporter, a state-wide resort magazine)

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.

All cabins have a foaming soap dispenser in bathrooms with organic peppermint castile soap

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{c55c8048ce70815a53cedbe8c58af6e7018bd1f9249d13e1ed06da752e55b489} subjective, but if you got issues with me, I can take it:  bring it on!   E-mail me.   Here’s to your continued good health, campers!)

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