+ OK. Here is a question. What happens to old hotel linen? I have been thinking about this a lot lately. Maybe I have spent a little too much time in hotels. When their sheets get too old or their towels loose their fluffiness and those blankets get pilled. Where does all that stuff go? All I can find is that they throw them in a dumpster. Then they pay to have them hauled away to the dump. Surely we can do better than that! Does anyone know anyone in the hotel industry we can ask and get a real answer. I am getting no joy so far. Surely they do not just throw them out!
Couldn’t we collect them and fold them up and give them to the homeless or the food pantrys or someone who can use them for rags. Or something? I would use old towels. All farms need towels. Can we think on this? I hate waste. Don’t you hate waste? Plus, and this is somewhat of a secret, I love rags. Any rags. Well washed faded fabrics. I love to fold them and stuff them in my drawers. I love milking rags and dishcloth rags and floor cloths. Many of my clothes could be called rags, but I love them.
I want to save the hotel towels and sheets and give them a second use. And I KNOW we can find a use for them. Dogs? Abandoned dog sheets? People need sheets too! There must be an answer.
I will call the campaign – Save the Rags. (Actually I think that may need some work. But you know where I am heading). Ideas?
Beatrix (Beatrix is such a big name – I think I will call her Beatrix Potter – it is gentler somehow) Beatrix Potter was out in the field yesterday morning with her bad tempered mother (not all mothers are nice you know). We had some rain and winds then it cleared for a while into a lovely wistful day and all the animals moved slowly out into the light. Whenever I could get my hands close to the calf, I patted her nose and gave her big strokes and chats. Though Elsie was onto me, she was a bit calmer yesterday.
Beatrix Potter gamboled about, drinking on and off, touching noses with Aunty Del – then led her mother by her nose back to the barn. Elsie may be tough as nails with me but with that baby she is all marshmallow.
I locked them both into the barn last night. For the meantime I would rather they stuck close to home at night.
Did you see the pussy willow in the header – we have a daffodil too.
Beatrix Potter. (I think I will call her Potter for short, see how these things evolve – though you have to say it with a New Zealand accent Potta’ ) – Potter slept all afternoon in a bed of straw by the barn. A sunny spot out of the wind is the perfect place for a baby animal. If I make a dry slightly elevated bed for an animal they always go and lie in it. Always. A soft dry bed in the sun is one of the most important requirements of an animal. We all seek sunshine. This is why I worry for children (and adults) who seldom get outside. It is against nature to live in artificial light in hard rigid chairs all the time. A little sun brightens our spirits, allows our rhythm to settle, empowers intelligence – gives us life- literally.
Now, of course you and I are hoping that Lady Astor will calve soon so I can try to graft her calf onto Elsie. I am not sure if Elsie the Wild will take another calf. But it is like being a sculptor. I have never studied sculpting so how do I know that I am not brilliant at it. I think this about tennis too. I have never actually tried to play tennis but I do sometimes wonder whether I may have been amazing if I had. In fact I think I might be a REALLY amazing tennis player. Deep down. On the Inside. Care for a match? So we will give Elsie the benefit of the doubt. She may well be a wonderful nurse cow. Though it will involve some very, very careful work.
Just like: we may be able to save all those hotel towels from oblivion.
And now for the bestest rubbish shot with hilarious content.
Do you remember Sesame Street? “One of these things is not like the other!”
From a different angle. Yes, it is one of Marmalade’s kittens sleeping with the goats. If you lay down with goats you will wake up with – well – Goats.
Good morning- Another interesting Marmalade baby fact – though I have not got it on film yet – Her boy kitten. (we call him The Boy Kitten – ok that is deep),he sleeps nights in the Hut with Tima and Tane: the kunekune pigs. And hangs out with them in the fields during the day. He has even been seen sitting on top of Tane in the sun. Tane standing very still as The Boy Kitten sits up on his wide haunches kneading Tane’s back with his feet. I will stalk them for that shot for you.
In the meantime – Have a lovely day
Your friend on the farm
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
84 responses to “Hotel Towels for Farms”
Well I start at the top ..so I tried the Dorchester…they get their linen from a supplier and any worn out stuff is disposed of by this other company, possibly to the employees or some is sold in a special shop, also some is donated to rescue centres and homeless charities…..I shall ask the Queen what she does with hers..I bet they get patched!
hmm.. maybe we need to check out those suppliers, i think that many of them do this.. the only used hotel linen I could find for sale was tracked back to a chinese company so I wonder if they buy a lot of it up too..
Do you sound like Professor Snape when you call, “Potta”?
I’d love to see the cat climbing on the kunekunes – I’m sure the farmy is part Sesame Street.
My ex girlfriend’s (from Michigan) family run a huge linen laundry business. I believe a lot of older towels, etc., get filtered out during the cleaning process, so it might be worth looking up local laundry companies who probably deal with multiple hotel businesses and restaurants 🙂
Yes I think you are onto something there – and i would be willing to guess that they reuse or sell them on.. I will find them.. c
We had a few in our home 😉
and yes i do sound like Snape! laugh..
You, Celie, are also an amazing person. And you post gorgeous pictures.
“A soft dry bed in the sun” is where I had my afternoon nap, on the swing hammock on the patio. I was too hot, and slept for too long, and now feel absolutely dreadful!
Beattie or Potter or Potty, whatever, is a beautiful animal. I hope Elsie can be persuaded to foster Miss A’s calf.
I have done housekeeping in small hotels back in the day. We would turn old towels into cleaning rags and the sheets were given to someone who ripped them up and made rag rugs with them.
I do not miss ironing all those pillow cases!!!!! Nice to see that the kittens are making new friends!
My first job in an old folks home was ironing.. and (secretly) I loved ironing.. though I never iron now.. it is those nice neat piles I think.. I also love old fashioned linen closets.. I don’t have one of those either now.. maybe I should build one! c
I love ironing and iron still…even my pillowcases and my husband’s boxers.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
https://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/sherlock-boomer
SPOT ON AS ALWAYS! I have been taking my old towels into the nursing home for folding sessions – better success with this kind of activity than anything structured. Odd socks will be next! I adore you, Ceci!
I still smile at you taking in your folding – bet they just love an ordinary job like that.. c
I love bib professor’s comment about seeing things age, and honoring them as signs of a good life. Yes, I like that a lot. Don’t have any idea what happens to hotel sheets. I am always scratching my head about where restaurants put all the uneaten food! And when I’m in the US, that’s quite a lot at our table…not used to the portion-size. The rag project is a good one. The cats sleeping with the goats and the pigs is funny. If you can catch that with your camera, than you really are a wonder woman. x
restaurants throw uneaten food in the dumpster, I know because it is a rule that they cannot give the left overs to me for my pigs.. I have taken to asking for half portions please, you have ni idea what consternation this causes! c
In Australia there is http://www.ozharvest.org/. OzHarvest is Australia’s leading food rescue charity. We collect quality surplus food, distribute it to people in need and divert food waste from landfill. I went a talk given by the founder Ronni Kahn, she’s amazing 🙂
Have you tried a smaller, local restaurant for scraps for the pigs. We live outside a very small town but I know of two of the restaurants that scrape all the food left of plates into big plastic trash cans which are picked up each evening and taken for pigs. The people who pick up the full bins leave an empty in it’s place and everyone is happy. Try a small, local place and explain that all they have to do is drag it to the back door.
I have a restaurant that puts kitchen scraps out for me, not from the tables we were getting too many tissues and plastic pots and forks and all kinds.. plus the health issues for pigs. but potato peelings etc are fine.. c
When we downsized we gave all surplus bed linen etc to the local vet
Excellent thinking! c
Hmmm, now I must visit with Uncle Google to see what happens to old towels and bed linens. I’ll bet he knows. He knows everything.
How funny that the kittens have adopted all other manner of farm animal, and not stayed together or with their mother.
I believe I have sent you a link to a forum that may be helpful to you with Lady A and Elsie. Maybe not. Here it is again, just in case you’re interested. http://familycow.proboards.com
Yes I have been reading them for years – even before I got daisy actually.. it is a great forum.. c
A lot of stuff gets auctioned off if it’s in good condition, and given away if it’s not. I actually have a couple of huge white damask ex-restaurant tablecloths which are marvellous for Christmas gatherings. Most of the stuff is such good quality that with gentler domestic use it lasts forever.
Anxiously awaiting shot of the Boy Kitten and his pig! Sounds great!
I love the photo of the goats and the cat sleeping together, animals are funny in the friendships they make! Made me laugh thinking of you saying potter in the manner of snape, and stuffing your drawers with rags! Ha ha. x
You asked a very good question here and I shall see what I can find out shortly. As a quilter, we saved all our tiny scraps that would normally go into the trash and put it in a bag until we had enough. Then we all got together and sewed circles of old unwanted fabric and stuffed them full of those tiny scraps to make beds for dogs and cats at the animal shelter. I still save my scraps for that purpose. There is too much waste going on and I certainly hope you can find a place for inexpensive (cheap or free) linens. By the time something leaves my house, it’s hanging by a thread. Animals always get on so much better than people. I loved seeing all the photos. Beatrix Potter is a grand name and one even I would like to live up to. She was an admirable woman.
I can’t believe how small those goats are now that I see them next to a kitten for comparison. They really are babies. I, too, cannot wait to see the kitten/kune kune shot. It doesn’t surprise me how well these kittens get along with the other small animals given that they were partially raised by the Boo Nanny. I’m sure anything in the vicinity of “dog-sized” seems quite normal to them as an extended part of their pride.
I know that The Salvation Army in Ontario takes rags or things you suspect might be useful only as rags. Animal rescues always need towels and bedding. Anything pure cotton or linen can be composted (I’ve done this with dishcloths and tea towels that are too stained or too thin to be useful for cleaning). I’ve also used grotty and falling apart rugs, covered with straw or chipped wood, to make garden paths and suppress weeds. In Japan there is a thing called wabi sabi which has to do with valuing old, well used and mended things.
I laughed out loud when I read about The Boy Kitten atop Tane, doing the cat “Happy Feet’ kneading !! And I sooo agree with you about ‘waste’ – and the fact that many people, esp. farmers, can use old sheets and towels. I remember using an old towel to dry off the twin goats, Oberon and Fairy, after they were born.