The Round Barn
This awe-inspiring building is the farm’s centerpiece and winter home for the dairy herd from November to May. In early spring, when grazing and weather conditions are right, the Cows happily return to pasture. All the manure and straw bedding that has accumulated over the winter is mucked out and added to our compost; the barn is then thoroughly cleaned before the wood floor is laid in piece by piece. From late spring to early fall, the Round Barn is a place for the community to gather for talks, markets, workshops, and performances.
Notable details: The barn is 80’ in diameter, features 10 – 36’ tall yellow pine columns, and is capped off by a dome of star shaped skylights.
Main Building
An example of an exposed wooden frame with hand hewn beams.
The 2-story main building includes the Milking Barn, Creamery, Farm Store and Welcome Center, Medicinal Garden Workshop, hay lofts, and offices. It is largely made up of reclaimed material from an 1839 New Hampshire Farmhouse and features an exposed wooden frame, hand hewn beams, white plastered walls, recycled wood floors, and Clivus Multrum compost toilets.
Another aspect of the beauty Abby wanted to see at Churchtown was inclusion of compost toilets in place of conventional, flush toilets. The Clivus Multrum toilets at Churchtown receive all toilet ‘waste’ from staff and visitors and, in a process no different from our animal manure composting program, convert it into soil and plant nutrients. Clivus Multrum is Swedish for “sloped chamber”—which describes the fundamental design of the technology. Abby learned of it in the early 70’s and brought it from Sweden, creating in 1973 Clivus Multrum, Inc., to market and sell the technology in the US and beyond. The nutrient-rich end products from the Clivus systems at Churchtown are now part of a study to further demonstrate their healthful properties for soil and plants with the aim of wider use. A visit to any of the bathrooms at Churchtown will show how pleasingly Rick incorporated these toilets into his design. (Clivusmultrum.com)
The Greenhouse
The greenhouse is where all seedlings get their start and is in use year-round. It is also a controlled environment ideal for plants that need special focus and attention.
