The Rural Voice, 2004-10, Page 26HOT IDEA
While ideas to turn corn into ethanol or soybeans into diesel fuel
mag be high-tech, one local farm family works to help you burn energy
from your corn field to heat your house
Photos and story by Bonnie Gropp
For farmers. the idea of heating
the house with the product of
their own farm has always been
attractive. Many still make the treck
to the bush to cut wood for a stove.
For others. without a bush or who
don't like the work of cutting
firewood and fueling a wood stove,
the idea of burning corn from their
own fields holds an attraction.
It did for the late Alex Gulutzen, a
Blyth -area farmer, and the result has
become a family business.
Contemplating the corn fires that
occur in silos, Gulutzen thought that
there had to be some way to capture
that. "My dad was one of those
people who was always thinking
there had to be alternative heat
sources, " said Charles Gulutzen.
"The idea of farmers growing their
own fuel was intriguing."
By 1990 a prototype was
developed and by 1991 Grain Stoves
Inc. was up and running.
When Alex Gulutzen passed away
last year, Charles quit his job to work
alongside mom Pauline, brother Bill
and sister Darlene Hymers. He said,
while the business had been "pretty
much a hobby for Dad, the hope now
is to get it going full-time."
While the interest for his father
may have been less career motivated,
the company certainly hadn't been
standing still for the past dozen
years. With two stoves currently on
the market, Gulutzens also tested a
furnace last winter, and they're
working on a boiler.
"I'd like to see quite a few models.
I believe the potential is out there,"
said Charles. Currently the busy
time for the company is August until
February. "Anything we sell after
that we call a bonus because it's the
end of the season."
Charles Gulutzen is working to turn
his father's idea into a successful
company.
22 THE RURAL VOICE