MaryJane Butters

Mary-Jane Butters (born May 6, 1953) is an American organic farmer, author, environmental activist, food manufacturer, and the publisher of MaryJane Farm magazine.

[8] In 1974, Butters was one of the three women who became the first female wilderness rangers in the U.S.A, maintaining trails and cleaning sheepherder camps in the Uinta Mountains of northern Utah.

[7] There she met Emil Keck, a fire-control officer, and construction-crew chief who lived at the wilderness station year round, and who became her mentor and the namesake for her second child.

Butters bought and experimented with the beans, eventually developing a dried falafel mix that she began to market under the Paradise Farm label in 1990.

[22] The column provided concrete suggestions for green and organic living and was targeted at current and aspiring women farmers who wished to have good fields and crops.

[21] Butters has used her bed & breakfast to diversify her business and promote the agritourism industry[23] and “glamping" -- glamour camping -- a term now widely used in the media.

Butters’ brand and merchandising rely on the notions of “glamorous camping” and feminized outdoor activities in a marketing approach she has described as “the juxtaposition of rugged and really pretty, grit and glam, diesel and absolutely darling.”[24] In 1995, Butters founded a not-for-profit organization called Pay Dirt Farm School, designed to teach the business of organic farming to new farmers.

[25] Skills taught include chopping firewood, budgeting, composting, biofuel production, food preserving, and craft selling,[21] and the curriculum is customized to the students’ interests.

For a $100 fee and the cost of production, a household was given permission to collect produce and eggs from the greenhouses, fields, orchard, and chicken coop during daylight hours, seven days a week.

Butters’ goal in starting the country club, according to son-in-law Lucas Rae, was to give others a chance to live out their “farm fantasy” and educate families about the source of their food.

[13] The school and the half acre of land it occupies are owned by members of the Blaine Community Association, and the space is used during the summer for parties, weddings, dances, and Quaker services throughout May, June, July, and August.

[30] In 1997, MaryJane Butters and her husband, Nick Ogle, bought the organic flour business owned for 40 years by Joseph Barron in Oakes dale, Washington.

[32] Butters said the book was designed to be an uncomplicated manual for all things “farmgirl,” including making a wall tent, sewing a French seam, and staying in a lookout tower.

The book is divided into three major sections: "Outbound" … going out to the yard, engaging children in the outside world, making natural gifts, and creating family rituals, such as the simple act of having tea outside; "Outrigged" … weekend camping and picnics, enjoying fishing or hunting; and "Outstepping" ... backpacking, enjoying wild foods, being safe in the water and wild, and outdoor jobs.

She is now an organic farmer, a grandmother, and an activist, living on a farm in Northern Idaho … MaryJane's Outpost: Unleashing Your Inner Wild is her third book, and it's a dilly.

It lures readers outdoors with its Ralph Lauren styling (Ms. Butters' long blond braid and handsomely weathered face are complemented by an atmospheric tractor) and instructions on how to do all sorts of things, like make willow furniture and build an outdoor bed or bathtub … Ms. Butters has a way with words: Glamping, or glamour camping, one of her pet concepts, is about “the juxtaposition of rugged and really pretty, grit and glam, diesel and absolutely darling,” she writes."

[36] Butters also wrote forewords for Costco’s Household Almanac, Women of the Harvest: Inspiring Stories of Contemporary Farmers, and Traditional American Farming Techniques.

Butters became active in environmental issues in May 1986, when the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine dosed the Pacific Northwest with radioactive contamination.

[9] Butters called a public meeting to discuss an unsafe reactor similar to the one at Chernobyl at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in nearby eastern Washington.

[42] Andrus stated, “MaryJane Butters exemplifies the best of rural America—tireless commitment to stewardship of the land and community, a relentless entrepreneurial drive that recognizes no barriers, and boundless creativity and can-do spirit that inspires all who meet her and buy her products.”[43] Butters has served a term as chair of Idaho's Organic Advisory Council,[21] as well as chair of Moscow's Health and Environment Commission.

Readers were invited to vote for one of the 10 women to receive the magazine's Job Genius Award and a $20,000 donation to help her organization's continued efforts.

[9][49] Family members who work on the farm include MaryJane's daughter Megan and son-in-law Lucas, and Ogle's son Brian and daughter-in-law Ashley.