OYSTER BAY FARM AND THE COMMUNITY FARM LAND TRUST

Oyster Bay Farm overlooks Burns Cove near the bottom of Totten Inlet in Thurston County, Washington.

It’s been there since the 1890’s when a pioneer farmer named Countryman started a stump farm dairy after loggers had moved on. It has been continuously farmed ever since. Through a succession of owners the dairy became a chicken farm (similar to Betty McDonald’s “The Egg and I”, a memoir of chicken farming on the Olympic Peninsula in the ‘20’s), a holly farm, an Angus Cattle ranch, and even a nutria farm supplying fur for the jackets of fighter pilots during WWII.

In 1990 the farm was purchased by Kathleen O’Shaunessy and Pat Labine (now a resident of Panorama). Under their ownership it was developed into a grass-based, diversified livestock operation, raising direct to consumer lamb, eggs, beef, pastured poultry, and pork.

In 2015 the owners decided to retire and sell the farm. Nate Lewis and Melissa Barker, both former caretakers, expressed an interest in purchasing it. By that time, most of the market value of the 40 acre waterfront farm – close to town, in a desirable school district, etc. – was in its development potential as upscale five-acre home lots. That was a future the owners and most of the community did not want to contemplate. So the Community Farm Land Trust (CFLT) was approached to see if a purchase of the farm’s development rights might be possible.  By holding a restrictive agricultural easement CFLT could guarantee the farmland would not be developed and would remain in farming. In addition, with the development rights removed, the market value of the farm would become within reach of the young couple.

The Land Trust was interested in the easement proposal and applied to the county’s Conservation Futures Fund (CFF) for the money to buy the development rights of Oyster Bay Farm. The county agreed that the historic farm was a special place deserving of preservation, and granted the funding.

With CFF funding in hand, the Land Trust purchased the development rights to Oyster Bay Farm from the owners and “retired” the rights. Next, in a private sale, Pat and Kathleen turned over to Nate and Melissa the deed to the farm with all of its remaining rights.

Simultaneously, as owner of the development rights, the Land Trust negotiated an easement agreement with its new owners. The legally binding document specified the land must remain in farming and detailed the acceptable agricultural and forestry practices. It permitted CFLT to conduct yearly Stewardship Monitoring visits and gave the Land Trust the right of first refusal on any future sale of the farm.

Now in 2022 Oyster Bay Farm is thriving under its new owners, and it has never looked better. Nate and Melissa describe their farming on the farm’s Facebook page:

“At Oyster Bay Farm, we provide high quality, locally raised and processed pasture based eggs, and meat. We are the next generation of farmers stewarding the historic Oyster Bay Farm located on Totten Inlet in Olympia, WA. We view Organic certification as a minimum, and we farm with a focus on animal welfare, biological diversity, on-farm fertility, food security, and food safety. Our farm’s pasture based products support our family, nourish our community, and enhance our environment.”

The Panorama Green Team has scheduled a field trip to Oyster Bay Farm on Friday, July 8, 2022 from 9 a.m. to noon. See our Events page for details.