When life gives you poop, make CowPots

EAST CANAAN — Flash back about a decade. Matthew and Theresa Freund were sitting at their farmhouse kitchen table. Hardworking dairy farmers with four children, they were determined to keep the generational Freund’s Farm going even as regulated milk pricing made it a losing proposition.

Theresa’s farm market was already hitting on the success it continues to be. Matthew and his brother, Ben — taking a cue from the ingenuity of their father and farm founder, Eugene — had built a boiler using the heat generated from decomposing manure. The system now heats their home, barns and greenhouses.

On that kitchen table a decade ago was a rather crude pot. In it, a marigold plant was thriving. The plant was larger than several counterparts, planted in store-bought peat pots. This particularly successful pot was made from composted and dried cow manure.

That first successful experiment was one their daughter, Emily, had come up with for a middle-school science fair project.

And it became the prototype for a product that would eventually become as popular a product as, well, Theresa’s homebaked pies.

From Poop Pots to CowPots

Eventually a storage barn was cleared out, to make way for the beginnings of production. Retired engineer Perry Gardner came in to help work it all out.

A “working title� was given to this new product. They were to be known as ... Poop Pots.

Later, driven by the sensitivities of marketing, they would be trademarked CowPots.

This month, a dedicated manufacturing plant at the East Canaan farm went into full automation, and the business venture is about to turn a profit.

Perhaps there is no greater success in creating not only a solution to a problem, but a plus on the other end.

For farmers, getting rid of manure is a big problem. Larger herds are necessary now, just to make ends meet. Farms here no longer have sufficient land to pasture their growing herds. They end up with a lot of manure in a small space. It has become a weighty problem with a name of its own: manure management.

Along Route 44 in East Canaan, farm fields are in the Blackberry River and Whiting River watershed. It is now illegal to spread manure when the ground is frozen. Farmers in the local cooperative have been running ahead of the problem and legislation to address it with solutions of their own.

But none of the ideas is quite as neat as the CowPots.

Like mad green scientists, Freund, Gardner and, now, Jonathan Russell (a graduate of the agricultural education programs at Housatonic Valley Regional High School and the University of Connecticut), are constantly tinkering with the evolving process. Housed in a new, dark-green steel structure with neat landscaping, on the other side of the river, the automated operation is meant to be unobtrusive.

There is not even a manure smell. It is so unique, they ask that no photos be taken of the assembly line.

A new Kawasaki robotic arm is part of a small but computerized assembly line. It was purchased by the latest in a series of grants supplied by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“This is the year,� Freund said. “Everyone says they wonder if CowPots are going to be a success. We’ve gotten ourselves down to a competitive price, and we’re working very hard to get it lower. Very soon it will be making money. The EPA and the USDA have had a lot of input, and see it as a model for what other farms can be doing to manage manure. It becomes a real asset when you’re not just controlling pollution, but making it into a value-added product.�

The value added is in the nutrient value of CowPots. Testing at the University of Connecticut shows a 6 percent greater yield for crops. The manure is dried in a proprietary process in the plant, and although the resulting and singular ingredient is odorless at production, some of the nutrient value remains.

Root growth is clearly enhanced when they touch the pot. Once in the ground, CowPots decompose quickly, feeding the growing plants.

In an adjacent greenhouse, row upon row of tomato seedlings are basking in the warmth and feeding their roots on the goodness found in CowPots.

“They’ll be producing tomatoes to sell in the market before you can even put plants in your garden,� Freund said. “Theresa has been working closely with us on many aspects of the project.�

CowPots have been endorsed on “The Today Show,â€�been featured on the “Dirty Jobsâ€�  cable program, won awards and earned Freund an interview on “The Larry King Show.â€� They are distributed nationally now and are offered for sale in about 30 catalogs. Of course, they can also be found at Freund’s Farm Market, and other local stores, such as C.A. Lindell Hardware, other True Value stores and the Agway chain.

The Wal-Mart rumors are true: they have been in negotiations. Other chains currently showing interest are Home Depot and Tractor Supply.

Freund is hesitant.

“I don’t want to spoil it for the mid-sized guys,� he said, referring to the draw the product has become, one that brings customers into smaller, locally owned shops.

Freund is nothing if not positive and determined. He also acknowledged that Gardner and Russell have had a significant role in keeping it going.

“Even when you know something can work, that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen,� Freund said.

It was Gardner who devised the first giant tumbler to efficiently dry the manure. He has the patience to constantly work on the “recipe,� which is simply, but vitally, having the right amount of moisture in the manure as it goes into the forming process. It makes all the difference — and the raw product is not consistent.

When the going gets tough, there is an endless supply of poop jokes to fall back on. On a recent visit, they were found to be having a somewhat “crappy� day (their new robotic arm was not functioning).

“Just when we think we’ve heard them all, someone comes in here with a new one,� Gardner said, adding that “crappy day� is not a new one.

Gardner sums up his involvement in a very downplayed way. He is a truly modest person, with an incredibly inventive mind.

“I’m just the guy who figures out what we need,� he said. “We can’t call a manufacturer and ask them for a particular part, or even for their advice about what we need because no one ever did this before. We have to know what we need and tell them how to make it.�

Back toward the beginning, Freund thought he could fast track the initial production by purchasing molding dies from a closed Jiffy pot plant. A test run showed they needed to give CowPots thicker walls to prevent collapsing. And so, they started from scratch.

It turned out last week that the air to the robot’s pneumatic system had turned off. The computerized assembly line was quickly up and running again. Pots were formed and put on large racks by the hundreds, headed for huge drying ovens.

The operation requires a large amount of electricity, and that is bothersome for the CowPots team. For now, there is no plan for an alternative energy source. Maybe there will be down the road, because a goal is to make this a truly sustainable operation in every sense.

The pots have been deemed organic by way of being sold by USDA certified organic distributors. While Freund’s Farm is not organic, they use state-of-the-art monitoring techniques to control and limit the use of pesticides and herbicides on their growing fields, including corn for feed.

“We compost and heat the heck out of the manure,� Freund said. “There is nothing left of anything non-organic by the time it becomes a pot. There’s no reason for it to not be considered organic.�

As Freund talks about the acceptance of CowPots, and the good they do all around, it becomes clear that, profits or not, they have already achieved success.

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