Buy Local Food In Kitsap

Butler Greens Farm

Farmers Brian MacWhorter and Amy Kuhl are currently growing certified organic produce and some other things such as eggs.

The farm store is located at 8449 Lovgreen RD on Bainbridge Island. The fields are scattered about in four location on Bainbridge Island and north Kitsap. The primary contact number is 360/620-5181. They can be reached by email at butlergreenfarms@comcast.net.

Brian McWhorter – Master Farmer and Teacher

Last modified on 2009-04-08 18:25:51 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

When other farmers in Kitsap County have a question about farming, there’s one name that pops up all the time and that’s Brian McWhorter of Butler Green Farms. He’s lived on a farm most of his life and has a basic knowledge of farming that few can surpass.

Brian McWhorter keeping careful watch

McWhorter has been farming on his own for 35 years, but he grew up on a farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  He served a brief stint in the Air Force in southern California following high school graduation, and then worked on a farm to support himself in Eugene, Oregon while achieving a Bachelor of Science degree in biology at the University of Oregon.

He was a part of the well-known early organic farming movement in Oregon that began in 1974  He became certified as an organic farmer and founded Butler Green as a coop in Eugene in 1977. At that time, he helped spearhead a  farmers market, which had  started springing up to give smaller farmers an affordable retail outlet where they could also do cooperative advertising instead of having individual stands on the road trying to compete with large farms who offered an almost circus-like atmosphere to attract customers.

After  moving  to Bainbridge Island in 1984, he, like many farmers,   worked at several different jobs to support his farm…sometimes holding down as many as three at once.  His jobs included the solar energy business and work as a chef but he’s been farming full-time since 1988.

“There’s one thing every farmer must have,” says McWhorter emphatically.  “And that’s a strong work ethic – a desire to work very hard, often from dawn to dusk in the growing and harvesting season.”

growing beauty and goodness-photo by Amy Kuhl

In 1993, McWhorter, wife Amy Kuhl and their two young daughters moved to the Vinland area of Poulsbo but he doesn’t farm there.

“Even the hardest working farmer needs a place of respite, to rest and get away from farming for a little while,” McWhorter says.

But McWhorter doesn’t have much time to rest these days.  He’s farming about 25 acres in eight different leased locations – one near Port Gamble and the others on Bainbridge.  In addition to crops he’s begun animal farming – layer hens, milk cows, and market pigs.

One of his most interesting farm areas is a plot of land off Lovell Road on Bainbridge that he shares with four other farmers.  Another is a four acre plot owned by the Nakata family of Town and Country Markets.

“The Nakata land had not been farmed since 1951 when I started farming it four years ago,” says McWhorter.

McWhorter is on the Board of the Bainbridge Farmers Market and this past Sunday, could be found checking over his crops to see what would be ready for the upcoming market opening.  Though it’s been a cold spring, McWhorter will be ready for the opening as he operates several greenhouses on his eight pieces of property.  In these green houses, row upon row of lettuces, spinach, onions and other crops glistened in the morning sun, ready for harvest.

McWhorter also sells his produce to Town and Country and Central Markets and sells to two excellent long-standing Seattle restaurants, Pink Door and Campanas.  He is planning to have full and half-share CSA’s available but is not sure yet how many will be available.

But like many people who are humble about having achieved excellence in their field, McWhorter credits much of his knowledge to mentors like long time Bainbridge farmer,  Aiko Suyematsu.  And he in turn feels it’s time for him to educate and mentor people, especially children, about where their food is coming from and how it’s grown.

He has been involved with educating students about farming at Poulsbo and Kingston Junior High Schools but he speaks with obvious pleasure about his latest project of turning an old house on the Lovell property into a class room where students from Island and Wilkes can walk there for classes as well as field instruction. He’s also building a green house next to the house that will be used by the students too.

“If kids grow and harvest their food the process will lead to them being interested in what they have on their plates,” says McWhorter. “And as you grow older, you feel an obligation to pass on your knowledge and help young people, apprentices, and interns to learn.”