��������

Nestled between the Buchanan Towers’ dorms and Fairhaven College on Western Washington University’s campus is the Outback Farm. This 5-acre space celebrated its 50-year anniversary this weekend, attracting many alumni back to the farm to reminisce about its lengthy history and admire its many changes over the years.  

Jeff Hammarlund fondly remembers his time at Western, being part of the first full graduating class of Fairhaven College in 1972. Hammarlund’s version of the Outback was nothing but a large field, which students had just started using for farming since it had no other official use at the time.

“It was a different era,” Farm Manager Terri Kempton said. “There was no one complaining from the university, so students brought pigs and goats and started milking them.” 

Now, 50 years later, the Outback is a fully-operational farm and functioning wetland ecosystem, Kempton said. Since the start of the pandemic, the farm has focused much more on food insecurity and justice in Bellingham.