- By Erin Parker

My life was changed by a tomato. On a cool July morning at the Bain­ bridge Farmers Market, I watched a woman fondle a ripe heirloom tomato picked fresh that morning, ponder what she would make with it (maybe a sandwich or a caprese salad), remark on how lovely it was, weigh it and, finally, complain about the price. I wanted to defend the time and effort, the labor and love put into growing every toma­ to there, but a calm hand settled on my shoulder and a happy, low voice said to the woman, “It is a perfect tomato."

Farmer Brian MacWhorter sold the woman that tomato and a bag full of produce. She had no idea about farming and the work took to put that tomato into her hand. Most people don’t. MacWhorter has dedicated his life to changing that. “My mission is to educate and pre­ pare our next generation of success­ ful local farmers,” said MacWhort­ er. He developed the Butler Green Farm School, where over the last 20 years he has hosted more than 75 young farmers as interns on 10 acres of public and privately leased farmland on Bainbridge Island. Their passion and dedication as young stewards is helping guaran­ tee community access to delicious and healthy local food.

“He was always willing to make every moment like a teachable lesson,” said Zach Fulton, an in­ tern turned full-time farmer who worked with MacWhorter from 2017-23. “He wanted us to work hard, but he was also there to stop and show us what we were seeing and explain why things were the way they were.”

In an interview with John Garfun- kle, the former director of EduCul- ture, MacWhorter said, “Some of these kids who have just finished their undergraduate programs are no different from preschoolers. They’re out there with all these questions about what they’re go­ ing to do in life. And now it's even more critical because of their age - the pressure of trying to get their life together - with the pressure of college loans, their parents’ ex­ pectation. You go to class - you do the whole thing - but there’s real­ ly no one telling you what to do next or how to do it. You have all these things thrown at you through the years. These interns - 22, 24, 26 years old - they have no idea what to do next. You’re just taking all this stuff in just like you did in elementary school. The realization that I can impact them as much as I can impact the preschoolers is kind of mind boggling.”

MacWhorter embraced being an educator. Through a partnership with the EduCulture Program and WSU Extension’s Edible Educa­ tional Program (the first nationally accredited Edible Program for lo­ cal schools in the US) Butler Green Farm School will provide garden plots for Bainbridge Island students in kindergarten through 4th grade. The students will get their hands in the soil, plant seeds and care for the seedlings, and eventually eat carrots right from the field. The goal is to develop an early un­ derstanding of where good food comes from and develop healthy snacking habits early in life.

“He so clearly believes in the idea of feeding the community, and then growing food, that I think it’s like his passion,” said Renee Ziemann, Kitsap Fresh Board Co-President. Ziemann worked for MacWhorter from 2010-13. “The way he farms is so beautifully intuitive. I was in­ spired by his technical knowledge but he also made it seem possible to farm without having every de­ tail nailed down. He's got this big picture of what's gonna happen.”

MacWhorter’s big picture includes several small parcels of land spread across the island, includ­ ing about two acres on the histor­ ic Suyematsu Farm on Day Road. Founded in 1928, it is the oldest, most continuously farmed land in this region (with the exception of the period of Japanese-American exclusion during WWII) and is the last of the original family farms on Bainbridge. Akio Suyematsu was the eldest son of the original family and farmed the land since childhood. He died in 2012 at age 91 and is credited for guiding the farm into the 21st century. He was also a mentor to MacWhorter, who continues to pass those lessons on to the next generation of farmers.

“He was able to give me a really intimate look at what it takes to farm in these modern times," said Fulton. "He has the history of Akio Suyematsu so it was like he was leaning on the history of farming that he learned from Akio and then was able to modernize it and teach us." Through the years of work­ ing with interns and the desire to incorporate younger students into farm education, Butler Green Farm School developed an extensive curriculum to study biology in the living soil, as well as the chemi­ cal and physical properties of soil science. The curriculum is based on sound organic farming practices