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sustainability
We care passionately about our planet. We can see the damage that has been done by greed and exploitation. To reverse such selfish thinking is a tall order, and it can be difficult to see what contribution can be made on an individual basis. One thing is certain though – to do nothing is not an option.
Chemical agriculture and intensive farming are two of the most serious mistakes Man has made. In Herefordshire, however, there is an organic revolution going on, and here at Aspen House, we are part of that. Understanding the relationship between agri-business and giant supermarkets, and the damage that this has done to our food and our health, we have changed the way we shop.
Traceability is paramount, as are organic principles and first class husbandry, so we deal directly with producers, growers and ethical independent retailers. Thus we can vouch for all of the ingredients that we use in our cooking. Real food is all you will get at Aspen House.
real milk
In our exploration of the idea of ‘real food’, we have come to realise that all is not what it seems on the shelves of the supermarket. Take milk for instance. Along with that other main staple, bread, it has become the cause of digestive intolerance in an alarming number of people today. We have spent a great deal of time and effort discovering why.
To put it bluntly, milk (and flour) has become so industrialised that much of it is now a non-food and is potentially harmful. Milk is produced by animals that look like cows but are more like milk machines, fed an unnaturally intensive protein diet in order to extract as big a yield as possible from them. Their lives are short and stressful and the milk they produce is not good, whatever we might be told to the contrary.
The dairy ‘industry’ in this country is dominated by three giant dairy processing plcs. The five largest operators in the industry control more than two-thirds of all production. Because milk is ‘processed’ in huge centralised plants, it is essential that it is pasteurised. Loss of traceability and provenance requires this extra margin of safety. We are told that pasteurisation kills bacteria. It does. It kills all bacteria, good as well as bad. Thus any goodness in the milk disappears with pasteurisation.
Not only is milk pasteurised, but also most of the cream is removed to be sold separately (more profit for the company) and the remaining milk is homogenised to make this absence of cream less noticeable. What is left is a nondescript white liquid that has little nutritional value and is potentially harmful to our immune systems.
Buying organic milk goes some way towards minimising these negatives, but it is still pasteurised. Unpasteurised milk, however, is also organic but is so much more besides. To acquire certification to sell raw milk, a dairy farmer has to think differently from his yield-driven neighbours. Organic by definition, the milk will come from a small grass-fed herd reared traditionally. The milk will be sold directly from the farm, so traceability is guaranteed. It is high in essential nutrients and does all that milk is supposed to do. It is actually good for you, unlike the supermarket equivalent. And it also tastes like milk! What more could you ask for?
From a green point of view, producing milk in this way is obviously preferable. Non-intensive, sustainable, pure and nutritional – this is farmed food at its healthy best.
other green issues
Energy saving and waste management are high on our list of priorities. For instance, we use low energy light bulbs throughout the house, all the cisterns operate as low-flush and the baths all have a shower option. In your room you will find chemical-free, hand made soap. If you are staying for more than one night, we would not automatically change your sheets or towels. However, if you do want fresh linen, just ask.
We are also ‘in conversion’ to organic as regards the bedrooms, changing over to organic cotton bedlinen and eco-friendly paints, as each bedroom becomes due for redecoration.
As a guest house, we generate quite a bit of household waste, but we recycle as much as we possibly can. All our organic waste is composted for use in the garden. We are members of Herefordshire Nature Trust, and are guided by them in our endeavours to ensure that our garden is wildlife friendly.
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