BILL RICHMOND

2018 STARTUP ADK PARTICIPANT

Environmentalists clients’ curbside compost buckets. “Vermicast is like a fertilizer for anything that grows — any kind of plant, lawns, bushes, ornamental flowers and even indoor plants.”

ADIRONDACK WORM FARM WORKS TO EDUCATE ABOUT COMPOSTING AND VERMICAST, OFFERING FREE PRESENTATIONS TO INTERESTED GROUPS THROUGHOUT THE REGION. VISIT WWW.ADIRONDACKWORMFARM.COM TO LEARN MORE.

Adirondack Worm Farm schedules weekly or bi-weekly pickups of company-owned buckets with sturdy, twist-on covers. Upon pickup, customers receive a clean pail for the next cycle. At the farm, Richmond adds the compost to one of his piles and washes out the receptacles for the next round of pickups.

Richmond processes anything compostable, except oils and liquids. Unlike smaller backyard composting, Richmond’s piles are odorless, despite some being 10 to 15 feet wide and 10 to 12 feet high.

“We can take more than people can do in their own backyard,” Richmond explained. “The reason is that we use a hot composting process, with piles at least 131 degrees, which kills off any pathogens.” (Microbes do the work in hot composting, while the worms process livestock manure separately.)

He digs deep into the process and explains: Hot composting requires a certain ratio of greens (nitrogen found in food scraps) and browns (carbon from leaves, cardboard or wood chips); moisture; aeration (anaerobic piles start to emit an odor); and mass (a pile needs to be at least

3 cubic feet for the microbes to produce on a scale that creates that level of heat). “It’s not the ambient air temperature that makes a difference; it’s the microbial activity,” he said.

In 2018, after experimenting for a few years with composting and worms, Richmond decided to start the business, so he enrolled in SUNY Adirondack’s StartUp ADK.

Adirondack Worm Farm has processed 64 tons of food waste, and, in the past year alone, sold between 400 and 500 pounds of vermicast. That level of interest leads to considerations for the future.

“We continue to grow and I’m looking at how to manage the ongoing expansion without overextending myself,” said Richmond, who also works as a teaching assistant in a special education elementary classroom. “I tell every customer, ‘You have my email address and phone number; call, email or text.’ I’m always happy to help them. I don’t want to get so large as to lose the opportunity to have that connection with customers, but there is a lot of potential for growth.”

Fun Fact

The business has wormed out a niche. What started as a handful of customers purchasing compost services in 2019 has grown to the point www.adirondackharvest.com/user/farmersconecreamery

WHEN BILL RICHMOND TOOK SUNY ADIRONDACK’S STARTUP ADK COURSE IN 2018, COMMON ROOTS OWNER AND STARTUP ADK ALUM BERT WEBER WAS A GUEST SPEAKER IN CLASS. NOW, ADIRONDACK WORM FARM COUNTS THE BOOMING BREWERY AMONG ITS CLIENTS.“FOUR YEARS LATER, WE’RE COMPOSTING FOOD SCRAPS FROM COMMON ROOTS’ KITCHEN,” RICHMOND SAID.

Loving your work seems easy when it’s centered on some of your favorite things. Since Holly Rippon-Butler loves her hometown and ice cream, she started making the sweet treat with locally grown produce.

“I grew up on a dairy farm in Schuylerville, so I was thinking, ‘What can I do that might complement my parents’ business or be part of it?’,” she said. She started making ice cream in her own kitchen, using local ingredients to create classic flavors with a twist. In 2017, Rippon-Butler made it official and opened Farmers Cone Creamery, a small craft ice cream business based out of The Hub On The Hill, a shared commercial kitchen space and marketplace in Essex.

“We make hand-crafted ice cream with local milk, eggs and fruit,” Rippon-Butler said. “Ice cream brings joy, and I feel like I share that feeling.”

Rippon-Butler’s day job is working for National Young Farmers Coalition, a grassroots network working to change federal policy on land access for farmers. She makes ice cream seasonally on weekends out of The Hub On The Hill with an employee who lives in Essex. Farmers Cone Creamery flavors and homemade waffle bowls are available at The Hub, special events, popups and weddings.

Farmers Cone sells a few thousand pints a year. “We’re really small,” Rippon-Butler said.

HOLLY RIPPON-BUTLER

2022 PARTICIPANT IN STARTUP ADK

Ice Cream Makers

FARMERS CONE CREAMERY ICE CREAM IS SEASONALLY AVAILABLE AT THE HUB ON THE HILL’S SELF-SERVE MARKET FROM 9 A.M. TO 8 P.M. DAILY AT 545 MIDDLE ROAD IN ESSEX.

CHECK FARMERS CONE’S INSTAGRAM PAGE @FARMERSCONECREAMERY FOR AVAILABILITY.

Part of what keeps the business small is a commitment to its values. “There’s a kind of philosophy that ice cream should be a local product,” Rippon-Butler said. “There are a lot of big models to show you can get into distributing widely, but we’re more concerned with how we can provide a quality product to our local community.”

Among the hundreds of flavors Rippon-Butler created are recurring seasonal favorites such as Roasted Strawberry, with berries from a local farm; Wild Maine Blueberry, with berries from a friend’s farm in Maine; and Chocolate Peppermint made with mint grown by a local friend.

“The way we think about flavors are maybe approachable and familiar, but elevated by the ingredients and how we put them together,” she said. “We have mint chocolate and cookie dough and strawberry and things you’ve mostly heard of, but we’re using fresh berries, we’re making the cookie dough with locally grown flour.”

Part of the decision to take the class was a desire to expand.

“We’re interested in seeing if this business can grow to be more of a full-time income, or something we can think about other products or doing more events,” she said. “We’re having conversations, but we are finding the right way to do that right now.”

In the meantime, Rippon-Butler is happy experimenting with flavors and creating delicious products. “Ice cream that is done right is good for you,” she said. “There is protein and healthy fat from dairy and fruit, or nuts. There’s a lot in there that’s nutritious and I think it also must be said the effect of being joyful when you’re eating. Ice cream reduces stress.”

You can join a mailing list by emailing holly@farmersconecreamery.com. Learn more about Farmers Cone and its ice cream by following the business on Instagram @farmersconecreamery

Fun Fact

On Instagram @countryhomelandscapes

Many of us look forward to spring, when flowers in our yards bloom, trees bud and grass grows. But Corliss Preston is excited to see other people’s landscapes.

“Establishing a native prairie takes a couple of years to mature and come to its full glory,” explained Preston, co-owner of Country Home Landscapes, which installed a full lot of native prairie last year for a man retiring to Queensbury from Arizona. “He wanted to go all native and that was one of our first all-native yards.”

Some of Country Home Landscapes’ projects take a few seasons to reach full effect, but many are more immediate. Preston and her partner, Sam

2022 PARTICIPANT IN STARTUP ADK

LEARN MORE AT WWW.COUNTRYHOMELANDSCAPES.COM

Keenan, create unique landscapes for clients throughout the region. Clients’ needs vary, Preston said, but in the past included projects as simple as developing a seed mix to plant native wildflowers and as intensive as overhauling an entire lakeside property to reduce runoff.

“I take pride that each landscape is unique to my clients,” Preston said. “Our company was born to celebrate this area. I love the Adirondacks and upstate New York’s natural landscape and I want to highlight those features.”

Preston grew up in Los Angeles, studied horticulture in Oregon, then worked in the field in Washington and California. Along the way, she met Keenan, who grew up in Queensbury. The couple moved to this area in 2019 and started what would blossom into Country Home Landscapes.

“We both had come from horticultural backgrounds and found jobs that just weren’t satisfying,” she said. “We wanted to start something different, something that allows our employees and us to have a creative process and to do something impactful.”

What started as a part-time business supported by outside jobs became Preston and Keenan’s full-time focus