A pork chop with a purpose

Ask most businesses about their purpose and you'll get a mission statement. Ask Jeff Langford and you get this, according to his wife Stacey on the farm's About page: “My purpose??? To grow a freaking good pork chop.”

Jeff and Stacey run Coghlan Cottage Farm, five acres on 256 Street a few minutes east of Fort Langley. They raise heritage breed Berkshire pork, grass-fed Lowline Angus beef and pastured eggs. There's no staff. “Yep, just us!” Stacey writes.

Their two kids pitch in too. All four of them work as a team to get the food onto your table.

Suits, stilettos and chicken poop

Stacey grew up near the ocean in Victoria and earned a BFA in Visual Art and English. Then she moved to Kitsilano. The farm's About page says she “had no idea she'd go from a suit and stilettos in a Robson Street office tower to gumboots and chicken poop, but here she is!”

Jeff came from the other direction. He's a country boy from rural Ontario who grew up raising beef on his family's farm, slinging hay bales and harvesting corn by hand. He's a carpenter by trade, and he built the farm store Stacey dreamed up.

Stacey still paints, and her paintings hang in the farm shop. She has also been a Certified Master Organic Gardener since 2008.

An old homestead, a young farm

The land has a long history. The farmhouse sits on the historic Henry Coghlan homestead, founded around 1892, and the farm says it's one of the oldest homes in Langley. The Langfords have been “slowly loving this old farmstead back to life since 2012.”

Why farm at all? Stacey keeps it simple: “We started farming because, well, we love to eat!” There's a bigger reason underneath. The couple saw years ago how broken the food system had become, and they set out to build what they call “a kinder, less insane food system, one happy piglet at a time.”

Not certified organic, on purpose

The farm isn't certified organic, and that's a choice. When the couple took their Organic Master Gardener training, they were shocked by how many scary substances certified organic farming permits. Their test is simpler. “When you purchase food from our farm, you are buying the same food we feed our kids.”

The Langfords also show up for their neighbours. Jeff helped build a neighbourhood farming co-op that lets elderly neighbours stay in their homes and keep their farm status while the land stays productive. Stacey has spoken at a standing-room-only town hall in Langley before the Agricultural Land Commission, in defence of farmland threatened by development.

Customers notice the care. “Friendly faces and fresh eggs,” one wrote on the farm's site.

Fridays and Saturdays only

The farm store opens two afternoons a week, Friday and Saturday. Meat, eggs and other fresh food are pickup only, while handmade soap and other non-perishables can ship. Stacey also teaches courses at the farm, from making soap from scratch to growing your first veggie garden. Backyard chicken keeping is on the list too, along with canning and preserving.

Sign up for the Fresh Sheet if you want first dibs. It lands in inboxes every Tuesday. Just stick to store hours when you visit. The farm says it plainly: “The farm is also our home.”

Photos: Coghlan Cottage Farm.