“It was a lifesaver!”

That’s how Susan Anderssen described the Butler Green Farms produce stand run by farmer Brian MacWhorter on Lovgreen Road. It’s where she shopped for produce during COVID-19.

Anderssen has some health issues and feeling safe during the pandemic was crucial for her. “Brian was really strict, only one customer in the greenhouse at a time, and you had to have on a mask. So we would come over at least once a week to get our produce.”

Her friend, Mary Anderson, who made a day trip from Seattle, said that during COVID MacWhorter was still stocking the greenhouse through the winter because he couldn’t go to Mexico to his vacation house. “So he grew the most amazing food. It was a lifesaver because you couldn’t get that kind of food.”

The CSA (community-supported agriculture) farm, which grows biodynamic produce, runs a flexible account model where members shop from the tables under the tent or from inside the greenhouse and log what they’ve selected onto a list to be accounted for later. It’s a simple process that people like.

As friends Ann Strickland, Anderson and Anderssen chatted under the tent, MacWhorter asked if they wanted any sweet corn. They all replied “yes,” and MacWhorter was off.

He hopped into his white truck filled with farming equipment and planting materials and made a quick drive to his corn patch at the Suyematsu Farm, where he quickly walked between the rows of corn and picked a few dozen ears.

Within 15 minutes, MacWhorter hustled back to the farm stand where the ladies enjoyed receiving their bounty from the producer who picked it just for them.

From farmer to neighbor, it’s a CSA thing.

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