Outback Farm

• Come visit! If you're a student at WWU, this is your farm. The Outback is a part of campus and is always open to visitors - just make sure to close the gates when you pass through.
• Volunteer: We have work parties twice a week during academic quarters. For Fall 2024, come join Ava in the Forest Garden on Wednesdays from 12-2pm and Skye in the main farm on Thursdays from 3-5pm. You don't have to bring anything, just have fun and get your hands dirty!
•  Join the Community Gardens: The Outback hosts 61 garden plots that are used by students, campus groups, WWU faculty and staff, alumni and other members of our Bellingham community. If you’d like to explore growing your own garden, we have the tools, the know-how, and the support to help you succeed. Learn more, add your name to the waitlist, and download the required paperwork here.
• Participate in free workshops: Outback Coordinators plan and host several events each quarter that are free and open to all. Topics range from native plant foraging to permaculture design to eating well on a budget. Please see our calendar for upcoming events!

Farm Manager, Terri Kempton

Terri blends experience with organic and biodynamic farming together with conservation biology and permaculture design. She works half-time year round supporting students, overseeing farm logistics, and handling the administrative pieces of the Outback. Terri is also an instructor at the College of the Environment and Fairhaven College, teaching classes on food, ecogastronomy, farming, agroecology, and community building. Contact Terri at kemptot@wwu.edu or 360-650-6807 with any questions about the farm, potential projects, or for more information about student positions.

Outback Engagement Coordinator, Erin Hayhow

Erin (they/them) is a Fairhaven student studying community resilience and food sovereignty. They love to take naps under trees and to spend time with people outside. They are passionate about community organizing and mutual aid and love the way that the Outback Farm engages with the WWU student community and beyond. To get involved or for interviews, email as.outback.communication@wwu.edu.

Outback Operations Coordinator, Skye Schatz

Skye (They/She) is a Western student studying biology. They have a strong passion for food justice and believe that everyone deserves access to quality, flavorful, and culturally relevant foods. They bring a background working in non-profit, no-till agriculture and are thrilled for the opportunity to help contribute to all Western students having equitable access to food. Contact them at as.outback.operations@wwu.edu for general questions or to volunteer!

Outback Permaculture Coordinator, Ava Barretto

Ava (she/her) is a Fairhaven student studying sustainable agriculture and food systems. Some of her greatest passions include music, traveling, exploring the outdoors, and gardening. Ava advocates for environmentally responsible, equitable, and sustainable food systems, firmly believing that everyone should have access to affordable, nutritious, and delicious foods. She brings experience from growing up on a small farm and working as a volunteer assistant farm director at a non-profit animal sanctuary. You can reach her at as.outback.permaculture@wwu.edu

Outback Faculty Advisor, John Tuxill

John is an ethnobotanist by training and has carried out research on the maintenance of biodiversity in traditional agricultural systems. He is Associate Professor at Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies and teaches courses on Ethnobotany, Agroecology and Food Systems, Ecological Restoration, and Natural History. His classes make extensive use of the Outback as a learning space, and he also works with students on Independent Studies and other academic projects at the Outback.  Contact John at John.Tuxill@wwu.edu or 360-650-4435.

IN MEMORIAM - Outback Permaculture Coordinator, Elliot Scott 

Elliot was a Huxley student majoring in environmental studies and Chinese language. Using permaculture design principals, Elliot managed the food forest and natural habitat areas. Through shared knowledge and labor, he strove to represent all students' interests on the farm. 

Please visit the Elliot Scott Memorial Scholarship to donate.

In addition to volunteering, attending workshops, and joining the Community Garden, WWU students can take courses that use the Outback as a classroom. It’s also a popular site for individual and group ISPs. Courses have included the following:

FAIR 197e: Experiential Learning in the Outback

FAIR 206a: Science and Our Place on the Planet

FAIR 235A, B, and C: Experiential Farm Skills.

FAIR 330e: Ethnobotany

FAIR 335p: Global Biodiversity Conservation: Science and Policy

FAIR 336B: Food Justice in the Outback

ESCI 361: Water Quality

WGSS 363: Feminist Food Justice

ENVS 397k: Ecological Design I

FAIR 436: Advanced Seminar in Agroecology

ENVS 411: Agroecology Planning and Practicum

FAIR 432Q / ESCI 470: Ecological Restoration

The Outback Farm and Fairhaven College acknowledge that we work, gather, and learn on the unceded ancestral homelands of the Coast Salish Peoples who have lived in this region from time immemorial. Please join us in deep respect and gratitude for our Indigenous neighbors, the Lummi Nation  and Nooksack Tribe, for their enduring care and protection of our shared lands and waterways.

n 1972, a group of students in the newly established Fairhaven College decided to go “back to the land” and started farming the five acres immediately “out back” of the College. They built a barn, brought in cows and pigs, and started growing produce. These students shared lodging in the historic Burns cabins from the 1920’s on the ridge above the farm (one of them still remains). Over the years, the Outback has also been home to sheep, goats, rabbits, chickens, and bees. Countless concerts, gatherings, and events have been held at the Amphitheater, built by students and Facilities in 2010. Every year 10-12 free workshops are held in the large Outdoor Classroom, built in 2013. More history can be found in the article “The Life and Times of the Outback Farm.”

• 1920s June and Farrar Burn homestead the land and build two cabins
• 1969 The Outback slated to become dorms and parking lots.
• 1972 Students initiate the Outback Pig Farm
• 1978 Student proposal to become the Outback Program is accepted but is later dropped by administration.
• 1980s Students begin experimental living in Outback. A barn is raised. Classes begin to utilize the Outback.
• 1990s New student energy initiates wetland designation and restoration. A greenhouse is constructed. Students bring in ducks, and establish annual Earth Day Events. First performance stage is built.
• 1996 First Earth Day celebration in Outback.
• 1999 Outback receives endorsement and academic protection from WWU.
• 2000 "Outback Cooperative Project".
• 2001 "Ecovillage Design" Course. Hundreds attend Earth Day. Food grown for homeless shelters through Fruitful Gatherings. Solar system installed.
• 2002 College of the Environment and Fairhaven College complete an academic proposal.
• 2003 Proposal to become an official Associated Students Program. Students begin designing new performance stage.
• 2004 Push continues for program status. Stage design complete.
• 2006 Outback becomes AS program and 1st salaried student coordinator hired; Community Garden restored for folks to have their own garden plots; Educational Garden started (originally 'Market Garden') and food grown for volunteers and Bellingham Food Bank
• 2007 CDC (Early Childhood Development Center) garden started; Received AS grant to fund greenhouse expansion and tool shed replacement, cedar signs, and raised beds for Community Garden. 
• 2008 students take down old dilapidated tool shed and sauna buildings and build new tool shed; students install cedar signs that Facilities made
• 2009 students complete Amphitheater framing; Students form Burns' Cabins Restoration Project.
• May 2010 Amphitheater is completed!
• Summer of 2013 completion of the Outdoor Classroom
• 2018 Farm Manager position created thanks to student leadership and SEJF grant funding
• Spring 2019 the new teaching apiary was started with two nucs and hives
• 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began, Outback staff (considered essential workers) continued to steward the farm but focused on providing food for students facing food insecurity. The team was instrumental in the establishment of weekly food distribution events and free farmers markets that ran until fall 2021. 
• In fall of 2020 a team from College of the Environment started researching mushroom cultivation, leading to the creation of a mushroom garden and inoculation of winecap stropharia, oyster mushrooms, and shiitakes. 
• In 2021 we started construction on a large cob oven by the Outdoor Classroom. This project will help evolve the Classroom as a gathering space and community hub, and is built in memory of Elliot Scott, a Permaculture Coordinator who passed in 2020. 
• Plans for 2022 include recontouring the vegetable rows in the Ed Beds and - thanks for a Whole Cities Foundation grant - replacing the chicken house, coop, and run. It's also the 50th Anniversary of the Outback Farm! Come celebrate with us May 21-22.