Going Green

[12to15steps]

We put a lot of thought into ecology and conservation as we built our farm. We want to run for a profit, obviously (or at least break even), but also want to be ecologically conscious, and do everything we could do reduce our fingerprint on our happy little planet. There was an article in Equestrian magazine (USEF's pub) a few months back about

Comments

[buymeaclue]

The barn I'm at is about 5 miles from a commuter rail stop...I keep thinking about maybe getting a bike and going subway + commuter rail + bike to get to the stable on weekends when the weather is decent instead of driving all the way down.

Wouldn't be terribly cheap or efficient, but...I keep thinking about it.

[heaterz0r]

It might almost be too much information, but if you look into the LEED certification for buildings (commercial or residential) it might help. While you may not qualify for LEED, it still might have some useful information. http://www.usgbc.org/ <---(US Green Building Council's website)

Have you thought bout Solar panels? (expensive I know)

Short of growing your own hay, it's hard trying to think of Green things to do for a barn. There was an article in a magazine not too long ago about a barn that passed LEED certification. I believe it was Architectural Digest. Try searching on their site for it. I know of small things for houses (like sealing places that leak air). I think the rain water system is really cool!! I'd love to hear how it goes. Good luck!

[windy_withers]

The park ranger I am smiles upon you! I've received your hair and am working on the bracelet. Should go out asap!

[joy0327]

Well, I don't have a whole lot of tips for running a green farm, but I think the idea is really awesome!

For your kitchen though, you can usually find cool "kitchen" compost crocks or containers designed for holding kitchen scraps but yet still blend in with "kitchen decor", like this. Granted, its probably more green to recycle the old bucket!

[thehomicidehoe]

I don't know about all the things we do,

I do know that to get our shavings we go and fill black bags, and we reuse the same black bags as much as we can,

also I walk to the yard everyday, but yeah we're not exactly the most eco-efficient yard, but we're small its hard to do the huge expensive things when we only have 12 horses overall and I think about 5 of them are livery,

Oh and a tip for your compost, put a bucket in your kitchen and everything that isn't cooked or meat just chuck it in! Then empty it into your muck heap, or if you wanna be really good, give all your veg peels to your horses! or any other animals you happen to have,

at our yard we have a goat that acts like our compost bin, and the dogs eat everything else!