Strutting their stuff, rural style

One man’s passion for dressing in bucolic wear has inspired a community event centered around strutting your stuff.

Clinton resident Patrick Moote, an Organic Farm School graduate, likes to joke that he got into farming for the clothes. While attending the school in 2021, he kept his Instagram followers updated on his outfit of the day, which he took to calling “farm fashion.”

“I would watch his videos and they would crack me up,” said Langley resident and friend Katrina Bentsen.

That summer, Bentsen and Moote combined forces to start the first ever Farm Fashion Show at the school.

“It was a grand experiment,” Bentsen said of the event, which attracted over 200 attendees.

This Friday, the duo are doing it again. The Farm Fashion Show returns to the Organic Farm School in style. Though the main event begins at 7 p.m., participants can show up as early as 5:30 p.m. for a potluck dinner, music and tour of the farm.

“What farm fashion is, it really is interpretative,” Moote said. “For me, it’s like a pair of overalls and a dirty shirt. That’s farm fashion to me. I do spend a ridiculous amount of time in the morning getting ready, even to go out and get dirty.”

Moote and Bentsen both grew up as theater kids on South Whidbey. Moote moved to LA at the age of 18 to become an actor and comedian. He starred in the 2013 documentary “UnHung Hero,” which aired on Netflix and explores the age-old question about whether size matters.

In 2018, a stage 3 colon cancer diagnosis changed his life.

“It did kind of change my perspective on things,” he said. “I’d been in an industry that felt pretty shallow most of the time.”

Since completing treatment, he moved home to Whidbey Island to be with family.

“My three months that I was gonna be here in 2020 turned into three years,” he said.

His appreciation for quality food grew, and he applied and was accepted to the Organic Farm School.

Though his days of acting in commercials are behind him for now, Moote hasn’t lost his performative streak. He referred to himself as a “content farmer.”

“I still have an agent down there,” he said of the City of Angels, “and she calls this my rebranding.”

At the first Farm Fashion Show, attendees expressed a desire to take a spin on the catwalk themselves. Bentsen drew inspiration from a wearable art show in Port Townsend; she showed up in a dress made of seed packets. Another model dressed up as Marie Antoinette and wore a dress made of chicken wire. People also went “full Whidbey” and crocheted their own clothes, Bentsen said. One memorable entrant showed up with an owl sculpture at the end of a 20-foot shovel.

“It’s such a creative outlet,” Bentsen said. “And I think the first time that we did this, because we had been so steeped in pandemic mode, I didn’t realize how hungry I was for creative expression.”

To participate in the Farm Fashion Show, email Bentsen at katrina.bentsen@gmail.com. RSVPs should also be made to Judy Feldman, the school’s executive director, at judy@organicfarmschool.org.

Moote plans to emcee the show this year, and promises plenty of jokes in store. His goal is to highlight local farmers. While they walk the runway, he’ll talk about where their farm is located, how to access their CSA program, when their farm stand is open and which farmers markets they attend. DJ Victor Ramos will also provide accompaniment.

“It’s been an interesting kind of journey to get here, but this is the stuff that I enjoy,” Moote said. “I do miss being on stage and doing those things.”

Betsy Harvey models a Marie Antoinette dress created by Val Johnson out of chicken wire, bird netting, chicken feathers and tarps. (Photos by Wendy Ashford)