Category: environment

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environment ramblings travel your holiday

Decisions, the future, the now.

Right then, we have some big news for you. We have decided to take this winter off from running the chalet. Don’t worry, we are not going anywhere. To tell the truth, we are buzzing with excitement. Both are really looking forward to telling you what we’ve learned in the last few months and are going to learn in the months to come. But… first things first:

Our mission is to provide you with the best holiday experience ever, while ensuring everybody’s safety in our care. We simply didn’t find a way that wouldn’t compromise either. I would like to take a moment to explain the most important reasons behind our decision:

  1. Our service.

As part of due diligence we must take extra precautions like PPE, room fogging and UV sanitisation or sterilising duvets, which we are perfectly happy with. However, a ‘no hugs’ policy, ‘no guests allowed in the kitchen’ policy, having to remove all the soft furnishings, ‘unnecessary’ decorations, plants, toys and books (while perfectly understandable and necessary) wasn’t something we wanted to do. These are all important aspects of the holiday ambiance and what makes Mountain Utopia a home from home. We cannot fully comply with the regulations and provide our customers the experience our guests know and love at the same time. We don’t want to operate at a distance and in segregated manner. Mountain Utopia is and always will be personal. We want to be able to enjoy your company, not hiding in our kitchen behind screens!

  1. Health.

We all need to keep away from each other to stay safe at the moment. The personal relationship and close contact with our guests is essential to what we created at Mountain Utopia and a risk we cannot take. At the same time, I simply couldn’t tell a 6 year old boy, who’s been visiting us every year (even before he was born, in his mummy’s belly) that he cannot come and give me a hug.

  1. Travel insurance.

Insurance companies are not offering travelers adequate cancellation cover related to Covid19 for their holidays. They are shirking their responsibilities leaving us to underwrite the holidays ourselves. This could leave both us and our clients out of pocket, if any closures or travel restrictions were imposed making it impossible for the guests to attend their holiday.

Fear not, we are not done! By not operating this winter, we can mitigate those risks and ensure we can welcome you all at Mountain Utopia in the years to come. We just need to wait for a vaccine.

We are sad that we won’t be able to host you this ski season. We were really looking forward to seeing all your happy faces, filling your bellies with home cooked delights and your hearts with joy.

It is not a gap year for us, far from it! Although, we might enjoy a few more lay-ins. We are going back to school. Working on improving our cooking skills, growing organic food, foraging, making preserves, raising chickens, exercising our French language skills. We are just about to start an 8 week online pastry course. I am also developing new, eco-friendly cleaning and hygiene products. (I have just made myself a beautiful moisturising face wash. It is gentle, biodegradable plus it feels and smells divine. I am very proud of this one.)

The planet has shown some signs of recovery during the mass lock down and nature here in the mountains is thriving. It gave us inspiration and the time to reassess all our processes and supply chains. We aim to minimise the negative environmental impact and offer you highest quality, fair-trade and organic products. We will keep you posted on all of those, obviously.

We are not trying to diminish the suffering and struggle this pandemic has inflicted all over the world. We feel incredibly lucky to have avoided this illness ourselves so far and those members of our family, who have had it, have recovered. We are counting our blessings every day and while we wait for the vaccine we will do whatever is in our power to make the world a little kinder, safer and healthier place one day at a time.

Can you please let us know what changes you would like to see in the future of skiing holiday? Tell us what would make you feel more comfortable when staying with us and travelling in general. Don’t be shy, give us a call or drop us a line. We need all your good ideas plus we would love to hear from you!

We would like to send you our kindest wishes and hope you have a peaceful day. Massive virtual hugs to you all.

Tamara and Toby,

From Mountain Utopia with love.

Categories
environment food and recipes morzine ramblings

Time to grow.

a metal bowl with a delection of home grown vegetables

I don’t need to tell you how strange and challenging the recent months have been.  The Covid 19 pandemic has shaken the whole world and affected every individual on the planet. We are no exception.

As my health and the new antibody treatment requires me to keep shielding from risks of any infection (which in layman terms means: avoiding people) for the time being. As consequence neither of us is able to take any contract work this summer or go away volunteering, or use public transport, eat out, visit family, hang out with our friends… You get the idea. A kind of forced ‘staycation’. Not quite a house arrest, but still, it’s quite restrictive. In the grand scheme of things though, it’s not a biggie. We’re both well, our families have been spared from the new illness so far. We live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. We count our blessings every  single day.

Without diminishing the gravity of the situation and suffering that it has and still is causing around the globe, we decided to make a conscious effort at making it a time of growth. Both personally and professionally, we are using this opportunity to learn new skills and hone the ones we have already acquired. We’re learning new food preparation techniques, developing new eco friendly business processes and initiatives. Toby has become an prodigious road cyclist and a self taught carpenter, while I have discovered a strong passion for gardening. I would like to share a few thought about it with you, as i think everyone can benefit from a bit of growing.

Honestly, nothing beats the sense of accomplishment mixed with the feeling of humble gratefulness and spontaneous joy you get from growing your own food. I love the learning and attention it requires of us every day. Buzz of satisfaction from overcoming challenges, fighting bugs and illnesses with homemade organic treatments. The everyday garden lessons have been invaluable. Eating your first crops, from the plants you have grown from seed in the compost you have made has a profound philosophical value to us too. Making life a bit more sustainable, organic and circular every day gives us kicks, I won’t lie.

On family front, despite not being able to visit them in person, we are deepening our relationships with our grandmothers. The invaluable oracles of wisdom are sharing their sound old school methods of growing, storing and preparing food via daily video calls. They are sorceresses, I swear. If I can’t diagnose the problem or find the answer to a particularly baffling question on the internet; somehow there is always a book on the shelf they can reach and find the information I need.

There is a community aspect of it too. Exchanging bits of knowledge with other growers in the area and around the world over the channels of social media is refreshing and rewarding. Not forgetting the awesome feeling you get from sharing your crops with others. And that of course includes all of our winter guests, who will get to enjoy our delicious homemade preserves prepared from home grown and foraged fruit, vegetables and herbs. We are very excited about that part. We believe that sharing food, is sharing love. Simple as that.

Learning about the staggering complexity of all processes and variables involved growing food is a beautifully humbling experience. Discovering how different plants interact with each other: did you know that beans are not going to let beetroots grow near them? Or that marigolds will protect your cabbages from caterpillars? Exploring some of the simplest and most profound of truths, like that every tiny living thing will do its absolute best to stay alive, procreate and prosper; offers you an opportunity to look at life, however small and insignificant in a wholly different way. More connected, respectful and inspired by nature. It grounds you while giving you a sense of hope and belonging. Even in difficult times. So, if you haven’t yet: go out, start digging, get muddy and grow some food.  It’s good for your body and for your soul. I promise.

Categories
environment food and recipes morzine ramblings

The Supremes

tamara sitting in the garden with four white chickens

The pandemic has decided to change everybody’s plans for the near future. For us, living with my chronic lung illness, it meant we’re staying home for the summer. No travelling, no festivals, no volunteering at Refugee Community Kitchen or visiting grandmas. It was a shame, sure, but we decided to focus on positives and do the best we can with our forced “staycation”. And we did just that.

Homesteading was always something we wanted to do. Small scale cruelty free farming and growing our own healthy and environmentally friendly food is our long term ambition. Ecology is very important to us, but… We live in a rented accommodation and we travel often for work and pleasure, making it a back burner dream, waiting patiently for a convenient time in the future.

Since we realised that we’ll have to take the route of self isolation for a prolonged period of time, we though: why don’t we get chickens? We’ve done our reading, talked to friends who raise them, spoke to our landlady and decided to take the leap. We have ordered 4 Sussex pullets (immature hens) as they are the most docile, friendly, chatty and easy going breed and a good choice for both egg production and rearing for meat. The idea of having different breed hens sounded cool at the start, with different plumage and multicoloured eggs, but since we were total novices in the game, we decided to make it as easy and stress free (both for us and the girls) as possible.

Toby designed and built a super coop and sheltered run all out of scrap materials. We made ladders, dust bath, multiple perches and even a swing. We wanted them to fully enjoy their life with us.

We called the girls The Supremes and they really are just amazing. Now we have them chasing us around the garden, talking to us from the window sill while we work at our desks, laying eggs in designated nest boxes (not a small feat, just saying) and living a happy and healthy lives.

Was it easy?

Hell no! Within 2 days one of the girls got ill, had serious breathing difficulties that developed in matter of hours. We were worried sick. First we thought she was choking and given her a chicken version of Heimlich manoeuvre. Yes, seriously.

Brought her in, isolated her in a cage in our flat right away. Panicking, calling and emailing vets and chemists while googling what might be causing her symptoms. We were not prepared for this in any measure. As the national quarantine was in full swing, no vet would see her. We felt helpless and distraught at her suffering, we worried she might die. Long story short: after few sleepless nights and nerve-wracking days of force feeding her water with a pipette, giving her treatments for potential infections and parasites, and numerous inhalations (that’s right!) with my asthma meds, just to enable her to breathe, she started improving. It took 10 days for her to be reunited with the rest of the gang in the same shared area. And they were avoiding her for a few weeks, but all is good now.

Was it worth it?

Absolutely! We now get to enjoy the fresh eggs being laid for us every day. And one of the girls lays double yolkers! We also get to learn lots. Offer and receive the companionship. Laugh and marvel at their antics. There’s also Chicken TV. Toby, in his infinite wisdom designed the coop and run so we don’t have to go outside to let the hens out or to collect the eggs. We just need to lean out of the living room window. The girls have access to the outside window sill and provide excellent entertainment when they come to eat, or to lay an egg or chat. Yes, they do like talking. A lot.

Would you like to keep chickens?

Categories
environment food and recipes morzine

So fresh and so green.

We’re so excited, we have to share this with you.

We have just made friends with Sam, who is helping us make Mountain Utopia a little bit greener. Both literally and metaphorically. And it’s going to be lush.

Sam runs @bonjourlittlegreen and grows micro greens. Organically, locally and with whole lotta love.

Now we can offer you our greens and salads, that are GROWN to order, 20 minutes away from the chalet! All year, ultra fresh produce from his incredibly beautiful vertical farm. We get them delivered in grow boxes, which means we cut them just minutes before plating the food for our guest. You can’t get anything more fresh than that.

The quality of his herbs, salads and flowers is superior to anything you’ve ever tried. They are not only super nutritious but also super delicious. Not to mention that they make any dish look like a work of art.

Can’t wait to share them with you, and very excited to be able to cut the food miles and support another local business while we’re at it.

Happy days.