Plant pots from cow pies - just in time for gardening season!

Perfectly renewable plant pots!

Now you can avoid buying and using peat or plastic trays or pots for your seed starting and transplants.  Brothers Matt and Ben Freund, second-generation dairy farmers in the northwest hills of Connecticut, have found a use for the vast quantities of manure that covered their fields: CowPots.

The Freunds have been leaders in developing technologies to help farmers produce milk in an environmentally sound manner.  since 1997, Freund's Farm is on of only a handful of farms across the United States to have continuously run a methane digester. 

Cow manure is heated by the methane gas collected from the digester, and liquid from the digested manure is applied to crops in a timely fashion to optimize nutrient uptake.  The Freunds then use the excess material and the energy created by the process in the production of CowPots. 

CowPots are designed to be planted in the ground and are 100% biodegradable.  The production process eliminates weed seeds as well as pathogens and offensive odors.  Tender young roots easily penetrate the sides and bottoms of the pots, allowing them to get air and grow unrestricted.  The manure attracts earthworms and is good for the garden overall.  And, unlike peat, which is mined from bog ecosystems, or plastic, which is derived from finite fossil fuel sources, cow manure is a very renewable resource.

"We wanted the cows to provide everything from the feed stock to the energy for the production of CowPots," declares Matt Freund.  "Our goal is to be totally sustainable."

CowPots are made in the U.S. and are currently available in two sizes - 3" pots (12-pack is $7.99) and 4" pots (12-pack is $8.99) shrink-wrapped or loose fit.  They are available at home and garden retailers across the country and online at www.liquidfence.com.