Four-decade owner, Jeff Stanford gives me a tour of the gorgeous Stanford Inn and Resort – all vegan – in Mendocino, CA. A dream get-away on The Plantbased Business Hour!
Specifically, we discuss
.1. The growing interest in vegan and eco-friendly travel
2. How he started the farm and resort in the 1980s.
3. The food, yoga, art, and wellness courses, and vegan menu.
4. The repercussions of living by example for the most impact.
Below is a short transcript and clip from our conversation at the Stanford farm.
Elysabeth: So, you think, “What difference could I make? Oh my gosh, I’m just one person” and you define for yourself your values and then you align your dollars with those values, and you will see a change. We talk about this on the show all the time.
Jeff Stanford: Right, there is only you. There’s only me. We’re the ones that make the change. It doesn’t matter who doesn’t or does make the change after that. We just do it, and my [desire] is that I want to perceive other people changing and to do that we, Joan and myself, have to be examples and lead by that way without preaching about it.
Elysabeth: I agree, and I’ll say that I’m always surprised when people say, “Oh, you know, people don’t want to try veganism,” or they really resist it or they complain about the plant-based milk. It is very much not in your face here. It’s a vegan menu and that’s it. I mean, there’s no other place where you would see it in this experience here at The Stanford Inn.
Jeff Stanford: Right. We want to exude joyfulness and then let people figure out maybe why it’s more interesting of a place than say one at another coastal resort area up in Salishan Lodge or something like that. The thing is, we want it to be real. I can name a hotel chain that’s getting to be major. They’re always pushing veganism and they’re always doing this on their newsletters that I get, but they don’t live it. You know, we built this thing to elite specifications before there was LEEDS, but we did it because we made a choice about the wood we’d use and about the paints and everything else. Everything was chosen that would cause the least harm to the environment [and animals.]
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