A Monroe couple is expressing their concern and care for the environment not only in their lifestyle but also as “green” entrepreneurs.
After several years operating their family .farm, Crista Carrell and Rick Huszagh began producing biodiesel fuel, which grew into Down to Earth Energy, followed by Smarter Starter charcoal lighter fluid, both products processed from vegetable oil that restaurants had used for frying.
“I feel that we all have a limited time on earth and should be good stewards, caring for the earth,” says Huszagh. “All we do has an environmental aspect.”
Carrell says that she grew up with an interest in natural resource conservation on her family farm, where her parents raised horses and cattle. When she and Huszagh, who is from Athens, married in 1995, they bought 78 acres of the property and started raising livestock and hay. They have two children, Hattie, 18, who is interested in filmmaking, and Eli, 16, a photography enthusiast.
The family sells Boer goats and hay from Mountain Creek Farm. In addition to selling pork at the Monroe Farmers Market, they plan to add vegetables and berries this year. Another passion is historic preservation, which led them to purchase three empty stores in Monroe’s downtown district and open The Wayfarer Hotel in 2007, the city’s first luxury boutique hotel.
“We were looking for ways to be more sustainable, came across information on biodiesel and started looking into it,” explains Carrell, a volunteer with the Walton County Soil and Water Conservation District and chairman of the Monroe Tree Board. They began making biodiesel as an alternative fuel for their farm equipment in 2003 and decided to turn it into a business, establishing Down to Earth Energy in 2008 with their business partners, the Johnson family. Huszagh, whose business background includes founding a software company, is chief executive.
The solar-powered headquarters and manufacturing facility for Down to Earth Energy and Smarter Starter is a reclaimed junkyard site outside of Monroe.
Both products – environmental and commercial successes – are based on used cooking oil, which is collected by tanker trucks from some 500 restaurants in Georgia and Tennessee. Restaurants typically use 60-to-100 gallons of cooking oil a month; the Monroe facility processes it in batches of 1,000 gallons.
For more information on Smarter Starter Fluid, visit their website:
