Happy New Year from the Harraseeket Inn! Winters can be snowy here in Maine, which is why this is the time of year when traveling by train makes so much sense for those lucky enough to have access to the rails. We provide free transportation to and from the Amtrak Downeaster station; no need to worry about those icy, snow covered roads during major winter storms.  Once you arrive at the inn, you can cozy up to one of our many fireplaces and let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.  There's nothing more romantic than being snowed in during a major blizzard, just as long as there's wood for the fireplace, plenty of good food and a bottle of great wine. We have it all right here, waiting for you. Check out our  special packages and plan your own cabin fever reliever.  The days are getting longer, but we still have a few months of winter left.  Come warm up by the fire and let us pamper you for a few days!

Trip Advisor is the "go-to" site for reading lodging reviews, and we thank you for your critiques and your compliments, both of which keep us striving to improve. In order to be considered a "Green Hotel" on Trip Advisor, we had to fill out an extensive survey of our environmentally friendly practices, and we thought you might like to see this list.  My mom, Nancy Gray, has always believed in sustainability.  Her favorite motto has always been, "No land, no farmers.  No farmers, no food."  She's been passionate about preserving farmland and open space, and was an active conservationist since before we kids were born.  The Harraseeket Inn owes its environmental practices to her diligent oversight. Though she's 87 now and suffering from dementia, we will do our best to uphold and honor her visions and values as we move into the future.  Here are the guidelines she set for us:

 

We Recycle Everything Possible

*1-7 plastic

*Cardboard and paper

*All glass

*All metal cans and foil

*Electronics and other technological products

*Linens, towels, old furniture

*We recycle all our used fryolator oil by converting it to biodiesel for use in our tractor and company vehicles.  

Environmentally Friendly Products

*We've replaced most of the plastic products used in the restaurants with biodegradable, eco-friendly products. Examples: Drinking straws, stir sticks, take-out containers and "to-go" coffee cups.

*We no longer sell or offer plastic bottled water due to the negative effects on environment and health. We only sell glass bottles. 

*We use paper products made from or containing recycled materials.

*All of our ware-washing chemicals are Green Seal Certified.

*We use Green Seal certified cleaning supplies in our housekeeping Department.

Sustainable seafood 

*We utilize fin fish and shellfish that are harvested/farmed using techniques that have a low impact on the physical environment and non-targeted species, and at a level that does not degrade the current populations. 

*We use line-caught haddock in place of trawler caught (trawling damages the sea floor and has a significant amount of by-catch).

Local, Organic, Natural

Our first priority in purchasing is locally produced goods. There are many reasons for this: supporting local farmers, preserving open space, keeping the money circle small etc. Organic is our second priority. We believe that organically grown is a healthier choice for our environment and our customers. Natural meats are simply a step away form organic. A cow or steer that is naturally raised is grass fed and given no antibiotics or growth hormones; an organic cow also is feed only certified organic feed.

                              Physical Plant

*The Inn is equipped with a sophisticated HVAC system that reclaims waste heat from the refrigerators, walk-in coolers, ice machines, and freezers and uses it to heat the guest rooms and public areas. It can also move heat from the sunny side of the building to cooler rooms on the shady side.

*We have replaced incandescent light bulbs with LED light bulbs and older T-12 fluorescent lights withT#8 or T-6 lights.

*When equipment is replaced, such as refrigerators or electric motors, we purchase "Energy Star" compliant equipment.

*We utilize a 40-gallon biodiesel reactor to make 40 gallons of biodiesel a week from used fry oil to operate our John Deere tractor, Mercedes station wagon, and Chevrolet pickup truck.  

*We heat our water with clean burning propane instead of oil.

*We use water saver toilets in all guest rooms and restrooms.

*We are a nonsmoking hotel.

*We offer you the choice of having your linens done daily or not. This saves a tremendous amount of energy and chemicals and has helped greatly to reduce our carbon footprint.   We thank all of you for your enthusiastic support of this program.

Offsite Composting

 *All food stock material from our kitchens and restaurants is transported by the kitchen steward daily to the bins out back, which are in turn collected by a company that composts it off site.

It really is wonderful to see "garbage" being turned into "black gold" and returned to the earth. 

  Grounds

We use no poisonous herbicides or harmful fertilizers in our gardens or on our lawns. Those dandelions you see springing into cheerful bloom on our freshly mowed lawns are completely natural. Let your children and pets play to their heart's content, as children and pets should.  We use pet friendly melting agents on our winter walkways for the same

reason. Our flower gardens are planted with Maine heirloom plants and native species. They are well adapted to our northern environment and have proven themselves over the centuries.  We grow many of the herbs used in our food preparations, which is why you will sometimes see our chefs out in the gardens with a basket and a pair of gardening shears.  You may be eating food they season with those same herbs in our Broad Arrow Tavern.  Freshest is best!

 

Well, that's our list, and it's a work in progress.  As technology improves, we hope to incorporate even more environmentally friendly practices into our day to day operations.  Maine is a great state and we want to help keep it that way.

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