The Critical Importance of Local Lime

Lime offers a wide variety of mineral compositions depending on the geology of where it was mined. Originating from the remains of living things, limestone is a mixture of these remains plus whatever sediment was present at it formed.

Not all limestone is created equal, yet the material is abundant around the globe. In the USA, we are fortunate to have abundant resources of limestone that is appropriate for building.

HempStone prioritizes using the highest quality, most locally available limestone for building and plaster. We do this for several reasons: to support our local communities, to lower the embodied carbon of lime from transportation, and to build trusting relationships with our direct manufacturers to support, encourage, and challenge the most sustainable practices possible in the construction industry.

This past year, we experienced a tremendous loss of local lime when the Lee Lime plant was shut down after inspections of their kiln identified that it was damaged, and needed a significant reinvestment to continue. Unfortunately, the plant was instead decommissioned. We are heartbroken.

Moving forward, we continue to explore lime from regional sources. The absence of the Lee Plant is strongly felt here at HempStone.

We are thankful for the dedicated work of Burt and Julie at OldCastle to ensure that we had the lime we needed for our Spring 2020 hempcrete construction project here in Western Massachusetts. It's great to know that our impending Goshen, MA build will be built with local lime.

We'll miss you tremendously, Minutemen Lime!