There are a couple downsides to living on a dairy farm. First of all, the neighbors are early risers – and they drive big trucks or tractors. So by 5:30am, you’re probably wide awake. Secondly, when the cows get out they might enjoy a tramp through your garden before they get wrangled back into the barn. And then there’s the classic dairy farm smell which is, well, not for everyone.
But there are a whole lot more perks to dairy farming living! Especially at Barstow’s Longview Farm!
For starters you have a terrific view and the freshest air. There’s always someone around to babysit. There’s a convenient farmstand located in your front yard for milk, eggs, meat, produce, cinnamon swirls (the essentials)! If there’s something screwy with your car, pluming, or electric there’s a pretty good chance there’s someone around who knows how to fix it. Your kitchen scraps can go into the compost pile instead of into the landfill. There’s a great big supply of wholesome nutritious milk.
Oh and there’s also free heat for your home!
That means no burning oil through the winter to keep your home toasty warm. And no oil bills either. But where does this heat come from?
Barstow’s Anaerobic Digester is a zero waste, closed-loop system that converts the energy potential in farm and food waste into electricity, fertilizer and heat. Biogas powers two engines totaling 800kW; annually producing more than 7,000 MWh of renewable energy. That’s enough green electricity to power 1,600 average Massachusetts homes.
A heat recovery unit on both engines is used to heat the digester itself, all the hot water in the barns, and to heat 8 homes in their entirety.
Insulated pipes bring heat generated by the engines into the homes of our neighbors through forced hot water. The heated water is a byproduct of green electricity production and less oil burned means we’ve further reduced our carbon hoof print in our neighborhood. When we turn up our thermostat in the winter, there’s no guilt!
We think living in the barn yard is a pretty cool place to live. Free heat just makes it even better!