We are keen to run Knockaloe Beg in as environmentally friendly way as possible.  When we built the house we insulated it way beyond the required standards.  We have put in fantastic Danish windows and all our heating is run from a ground source heat pump.  This gives us masses of hot water and fuels are underfloor heating.  As supplementary heat we have a lovely wood burning stove in the sitting room and I cook on a wood buring Esse range.  If I burn the bread its just because its quite hard to keep a wood burner at the right temperature!

We recycle as much as possible of our rubbish with vegetable waste going to compost and food waste going to the chickens.  We burn alot of our paper lighting the stoves and recycle the rest and recycle all our glass, tin and plastic.  

In order to use less packaging we have jugs of milk, tins of homemade biscuits and jars of tea and coffee and provide spring water in reuseable bottles.

We use as much local produce as possible to cut down on food miles and make as many of our own preserves and fruit salads as we can.  We use eggs from the farm and our own milk from 1/2 mile away. 

We wash all our own laundry and dry it, when possible, outside and if not on pullies above the wood burners - we don't have a tumble dryer. We use environmentally friendly washing powder and cleaning products which are all bought in bulk.

We would welcome any suggestions to improve our level of environmental awareness.