Organic Farm records

The Organic Farm on The Evergreen State College campus was originally conceived in 1971 by students in the Experimental Design course and formerly instituted in 1972. The 5-acre area includes a farmhouse designed and built in 1971 by Evergreen students as well as fields, orchards, greenhouses, a composting facility, and various other outbuildings. The first harvest took place in summer of 1972. In 1973, Evergreen undertook a three-year evaluation, statement of philosophy, and a policy statement and began planning for future activities. 1973 also saw the beginning of a remodel of the farmhouse to address safety concerns. The solar greenhouse was completed in 1979 and the new farmhouse opened in 1980. The current Farmhouse has space for a full-time caretaker who lives on the premises and allocates a 40-student classroom space that is also used for banquets and festivals.

The first Harvest Fest was held in 1980 with over 800 people showing up to help celebrate. In 1981, Evergreen hired Pat Labine as its first permanent farm faculty member. In 1982, the tree removal process began which required many different meetings from DTFs and stakeholders at Evergreen. It drew public interest and comment from the Evergreen community, including articles in the CPJ. It wasn’t until 1985 that the tree clearing was approved and took place.

Student-led Organic Farm projects have included the construction of the Farmhouse, the design for the Sustainable Agriculture Lab, orchard expansion, the compilation of the Organic Farm history, the installation of a Food Forest. Places like the herb garden are maintained by the Herb Medicine Club.

Currently, the Organic Farm is a USDA-certified organic farm that also acts as a learning laboratory for Evergreen students in the Practices of Organic Farming (POF) program. It produces vegetables, fruit, eggs, chickens, flowers, herbs, and plant starts which it sells at its farm stand. The Organic Farm has also housed beehives.