Summer's End News from Lum Farm

Mandy Troxel

Aug 27

4 min read

How can August have 100 days in it and still fly by? The Lum Farm team has been working hard come hot sun, come lightening, come dust, come blackberries! This summer the crew seemed to work together in an especially sparkly way, and now the time has come to sadly bid adieu to a number of them as they head on to their next adventure.... but more on that later.

Amy, Autumn, Mo, Tessa, Rachel and Crystal show off their pickins'

Berry picking was on the docket this month - we had ice cream ready and waiting for its swirl! Rachel and Amy spent an afternoon at Orcas Island's fabulous Tekla Farm blueberry patch, under the robust encouragement of 4-year-old Tekla farmer Archer.

Then a whole pile of us headed out Blackberry picking, and picked over 40 pounds, with many more berries beckoning. Oh the bounty!

Rachel picks Blueberries at Tekla Farms, which makes for a gorgeous swirl!

Speaking of bountiful, by mid September we will have 200 new residents on the farm in the form of wee balls of feathery fluff. They won't be laying eggs for 5 months, so for now they are stationed up in our self-guided farm walk looking adorable.

And since we are on the topic of the oviparous, here's an egg update: we've managed to stay pretty on top of egg orders this summer, but still have moments when we are out of stock in self serve. Order online and give us a day or two to get those eggs out for you, and rest assured that self serve should be a little more reliable after Labor Day.

And a special note: If you've been enjoying our hand-painted egg cartons, an exhibit of portrait and landscape paintings by artist Peter Carlson is opening this Friday at the Orcas Center. Don't just take it from our egg cartons -- it's not to be missed!

Natalia gives a little welcome pe(e)p talk to one of our new arrivals.

FARMSTAND HOURS

through Labor Day Weekend:

Wednesday through Sunday

12 pm - 5 pm

Petting Farm Saturday and Sunday Labor Day weekend.

Self Serve porch 7 days a week

Starting September: Farmstand Hours

Thursday - Saturday 12-5pm

Gravenstein apples and cherry tomatoes at the ready!

Let's talk fruit! Remember last year's bumper crop? Looks like we've got another season to match. We've got Gravenstein apples, and Mirabelle, Greengage and Hungarian plums. Coming soon are the Italian Prune Plums and Interlaken Grapes. Bulk pricing is available -- just reach out.

Additionally, we've got our own produce and that of Rising Oak Farm gracing our self-serve porch. Tomatoes, squash, apples, garlic, potatoes, onions -- It's definitely ready and waiting! Note that you may not find our online produce listings up to date, so for best results just swing by (or email if you're looking for something specific)!

Random Farmstand Notes:

We have nearly the full compliment of pork sausage back in stock!
Fresh cheeses are all in stock, and blackberry bottom chevre is coming!
Blueberry ice cream is back, and Blackberry will be by next week!
Marsh mulch is back in stock!

Summer Staff Goodbyes

Clockwise, starting upper left: Greta, Lucy, Evelyn and Ruby

This year's Summer Farmhands have added a whole lot of sparkle to our pastures this season - we do believe lifelong friendships have been forged! With our heartfelt appreciation and farm family love, here's a quick update on who is heading where:

Greta is heading back to University of New Hampshire to continue their second year with an eye towards vet school in the future; Lucy will be a sophmore at Whitman College in Walla Walla, where they will spend as much time in the art building as possible; Eveyln heads back to Portland for her final year at Lewis and Clark college, looking ahead also to an animal-focused career; Ruby is picking up stakes and heading all the way to the Catskills in Upstate New York to spend time with her folks and make plans for further adventuring. Dan, who has been working in our dairy most weekends is also ending his summer tenure in the cheese room and heading towards more time at Orcas bakery.

Our piglet-to-farmhand ratio appears to be 2:1, demonstrated by Mo

We are immensely proud of all of these hard-working humans and wish them all the love and luck in the coming year. Our deep well of appreciation also extends to Mo, Nico, Rachel, Natalia, Jenna, Erika, Aiden, Crystal, Jenice, and Elysse for sticking around to make sure allllll the parts and pieces still get tended to!

And here is a goodbye we neither wanted or expected: This past week we lost our beloved shopdog Winnie to an unexpected illness. She was Mandy's quirky, sparkly, too smart for anyone’s own good pup, and we will miss her terribly. One of her favorite things (in addition to stealing food out of your cars) was to place herself between customers and the farmstand, blue eyes coyly directed upwards as if she knew that adoring her was actually why anyone comes to Lum Farm. Love up those furry friends who always seem to be within arms reach -- they are never here long enough.