We are a variety show of homesteaders, hustlers, therapists, anti-oppression activists, students, and families in south west Washington. We have 3 cats, 3 dogs, a small rabbitry, sheep, and a flock of chickens. We are committed to sharing this experience and our skills to promote sustainable relationships with land, animal, and humans through intentional stewardship and everyday farm life.
February-May: Lambing! Broiler chicken & duck raising & harvests. Piglets and fencing, fencing, fencing. Greenhouse starts and early transplants, repairing and trimming around garden fences, culling limbs and trees for firewood, cutting and tilling in covercrops, tilling and prepping gardens, prepping and planting our high tunnel greenhouse, weeding & thinning the strawberry field, laying irrigation, and planting, planting, planting! These are important months preparing for our Farm Stand Season and Meat CSA. This is the time to gain critical knowledge for start your own garden and raising critters for your freezer or market.
May-July: Sowing and transplanting, weeding and mulching, harvesting for and tending the Farm Stand. Meat CSA is going strong, so we have time to can & freeze early produce and fruit between re-planting and more weeding. We are breeding rabbits, starting turkey poults, moving lambs, goats, and pigs onto new pasture regularly, and moving forward on a variety of fun and involved projects. These days are long and usually not too hot!
July-September: Harvesting for weekly Farm Stand, packing CSA boxes, rotating crops and planting fall beds, weeding and irrigating like crazy, butchering rabbits, chickens, and ducks, caring for livestock, processing and canning produce, bucking and hauling firewood, trimming around fences and moving pigs and lambs onto new pastures regularly. This is a busy and fun time of the year; the days are long and HOT! Thankfully, we have the Skookumchuck River less than a mile away and often take a dip there during our lunch break to reset for the afternoon.
September-November: Cleaning up and mulching gardens, splitting and transplanting perennials, pruning fruit trees, harvesting for The Farm Stand, packing up irrigation and seasonal supplies, tuning up and sharpening tools and implements, cleaning and organizing the barn. It's time to harvest turkeys, pigs, lambs, goats. Planting and mulching late season and over-wintering beds, planting covercrops, splitting and stacking firewood, cleaning up the farm and and getting everything ready for the rainy season. There is still a lot to do, but we are moving slower and our work days are shorter now. Winter is coming!
The farm is one facet of our dynamic life at Coffee Creek. Other projects include establishing and maintaining proper drainage and rain catchment, building a treehouse and expanding plumbing and irrigation, creating habitat for wild pollinators, stoking & soaking in the wood-fired hot tub, trail-building in our forest, as well as general land maintenance and homestead forestry. Opportunities for helping and learning useful skills are plentiful!
We eat, cook, and preserve a wide variety of homegrown or locally, lovingly-raised foods, and are open to all types of lifestyles. Vegans and vegetarians are welcome, though you must understand that we raise animals for meat and we will slaughter on site.
There is an Amtrak station 3 miles from the farm, and a rural transit system is available at the end of our road. We are less than 5 miles from the interstate, and though our land is quiet and feels quite secluded, town is a flat, ten minute bike ride away. Centralia is a small town with a quaint downtown comprised of locally owned coffee roasters, a beautiful movement studio, vintage theaters, open mics, rollerskating, bowling, antiques, restaurants, and other shops and activities. This is a great area for hiking and biking, and we are just 30 minutes (driving) from Olympia. We can assist with some local transportation.
We love to share meals, sit around bonfires, host parties and potlucks with our friends and yours. We have personal spaces in the form of cabins and campers and such for each family unit. We have a communal kitchen bus and pantry for food preparation and storage, a composting humanure system, a beautiful bathhaus, and a wood fired hot tub next to our favorite bonfire site. We are living simply and providing for ourselves and our community through our own hard work and ingenuity- come see for yourself!