ABOUT LUM FARM
Lum Farm LLC is located on the historic SJC Land Bank Coffelt Farm Preserve and incorporates neighboring pastures. We've been located on Coffelt Preserve since 2019, and in 2022 received the 10-year lease through the Land Bank. We work together with the county and landowners to improve pastures and forestland through sustainable grazing practices. We raise a diverse assortment of cattle, pastured lamb, goat, pork and poultry, all harvested on site and USDA certified.
Our goat dairy produces a variety of goat cheese, including feta, chevre, tomme and gouda. We are currently the only WSDA Certified Dairy in Washington state that offers goat's milk ice cream.
In the farm stand you’ll find meats, cheese and eggs, seasonal fruits and vegetables, sheepskins and goatskins, wool products and more. Nearly all products have been grown, tended and harvested on our farm. We are honored to be featured at many island restaurants, and proud to be able to make regular contributions to the Orcas Island Food Bank.
COFFELT FARM PRESERVE
To help ensure a future of local agriculture, the Land Bank purchased Coffelt Farm on Orcas Island. The 185 acres spans Crow Valley, encompassing an expanse of scenic open-space, habitat resources, and productive agricultural land. In 1995, Vern and Sidney Coffelt worked with the Land Bank to place a conservation easement on their farm to limit development and protect special features of the land. The easement was an important step, but it did not ensure that future landowners would continue to farm the property. After 60 years of working the land, and with a conviction that it must be made available to future generations of farmers, the Coffelts sold the bulk of the farm to the Land Bank in 2008. Ten acres remain privately owned under the conservation easement. The terms of the easement allow for one residential dwelling and protect farm fields and views.
(From the SJC Land Bank website: sjclandbank.org)
Lum Farm began as a family farm: Eric, Amy and daughters Martha and Rachel. As the farm has grown, so has the farm family, which now includes a handful of hard-working island residents.
Eric Lum grew up on Orcas Island and has worked in island agriculture most of his life. He is the farm’s mechanic, manages the fields with an expertise in sustainable and regenerative soil practices, and has made quite a name for Lum Farm compost. Eric can be seen on his tractor all around the island baling hay in the summer months.
Amy’s truest calling on the farm is caretaking the animals. She has a background in animal health, is our resident sheep shearer and is usually one of the first people island residents call when they need some animal advice. Amy is also a fiber artist, partnering with two other island woman as part of Bossy's Feltworks.
Amy and Eric have always had a heart for community outreach and are farm consultants and mentors for new farmers on the island. They were both involved in leadership with 4H as their kids were growing, and have lead farm-focused programs with local schools and organizations. Eric has been on the Island Grown Farmers Cooperative board and helps coordinate the mobile slaughter unit.
We love our extended farm family! Full-timers are: Kyle Jepson, mower, builder of coops and installer of freezers; dairy queen and chore warrior Crystal Mossman; singing goatherd, farmstand manager and marketing maven Mandy Troxel. During the summer months, we have a fabulous handful of super-teens who work their hearts out, milking, slinging hay, washing eggs, harvesting, moving fences and generally taking on whatever needs be done. Ah, youth!
Amy and Eric offer on-site homesteading consultations. Click HERE for more info.
OUR FARM FAMILY
Lum Farm's mission is to raise happy, healthy animals through regenerative farming practices that improve our land and nourish our community with high-quality food, forage and education.
