Page 8 - BusinessWest January 9, 2023

Shannon Barstow does most of the baking at the dairy store and bakery, which opened in 2008.
scones, muffins, breads, and much more. The facility handles private functions, porch parties, and catering. Meanwhile, visitors can buy Barstow’s beef — everything from tenderloin steaks to ground beef — on site. There’s even a drive-thru for those who want or need to grab and go.
The facility draws visitors from around the corner, but also from across the state and beyond, said Barstow Manz, adding that it has become a real destination and a way to take the Bar- stow name and products well beyond Hadley.
“Most of our regulars are from Had- ley and South Hadley,” she explained. “But we have people who come to us
from Eastern Mass. because they love our beef, and from the Berkshires because they love our pies; we draw from all over.
“We opened this place to save the family farm, and it’s had so many other amazing qualities to it that we didn’t really expect,” she told BusinessWest. “It’s become this time capsule for all these family recipes — most of the stuff that’s in the dairy case is Grandma [Marjorie] Barstow’s recipes. And it’s also a neighborhood gathering space — it’s a space where people can work close to home and also be part of a family farm and a local economy on a small scale.”
Indeed, the dairy story and bakery now employs 15 people and has pro- vided many area young people with their first jobs.
The anaerobic-digestion system, launched at a cost of roughly $6 mil- lion, is not a supplier of jobs, but it is, as noted earlier, a supplier of electric- ity, heat, fertilizer — and also pride for a family that has, through its long his- tory, been innovative.
“We’re always trying to be mindful and committed to what’s going to be best for our herd, and also for our land, our workforce, our community, and our food system.”
The conversations about installing such a facility began around the same time the family was opening the dairy store and bakery, she said, adding that the system is another important step toward diversification.
Explaining how it works, she said the system takes the energy poten- tial (methane) out of cow manure
and food waste and converts it into enough electricity to power 1,600 homes. The food waste comes from local food producers, including Cabot/ Agri-Mark, Whole Foods, the Coca- Cola plant in Northampton, and local restaurants.
The food waste and cow manure, both treated and in liquid form, are put into the digester, which Barstow Manz equated to a large stomach, with the gas from the ‘digestion’ pro- cess rising to the top of the nine-story facility. That collected gas combusts in an engine and turns a generator, thus creating electricity.
Heat, one of the byproducts of this process, is used to heat that system, provide hot water in the barns, and heat the eight homes on the property, she went on.
“It’s pretty cool that the system has
Barstow’s >> Continued on page 49
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