Recalling my time as a produce stand manager

Last April, I attended a lady's program at Lazy Mountain Bible Church on Clark Wolverine Road (going out toward the Butte), and since I was not in a hurry, on the way back to Palmer I decided to stop at Bushes Bunches Produce Stand. They've been open for several years and even stayed open all winter the past three years, but I rarely get to that part of the Valley. I expected to find a lot of empty spaces knowing it was too early in the season for local produce, but figured they'd at least have leftover potatoes for sale. I was surprised to find the place chock full of Alaskan grown products!

There was a great inventory of honey, fermented sauerkraut flavors, kelp salsa, fresh eggs, frozen beef and chicken, etc. from around Alaska. I bought a few items, paid, and was almost to my car when I noticed a man using a cane slowly making his way to the entrance. When I realized it was Bruce Bush (of Peanut Potato fame), I turned around, and followed him back in, where he'd quickly found a place to sit near the cash register. I told him my name and commented about how impressed I was with the stand inventory. He gave credit to the family who manages it now. I kept my visit short.

As I headed home, I realized something was bothering me-I was shocked to see Bruce looking so much older and not in the best of health. I tried to remember what year I'd worked for him as his stand manager when it was located on the Parks Highway, near the intersection with the Glenn Highway. How old was he then? How old was I then? Where had all the years gone? I was so lost in thought, I didn't remember the drive home.

But I did remember that summer. In August 1995, I unexpectedly found myself manager of his stand. I had worked for two spring seasons for his mother at her plant nursery on Clark Wolverine Road. Earlier in the summer, I had worked as a temporary field hand when his family had to fly Outside for a wedding. When his stand manager had to leave early for college, Bruce called and asked if I would be willing to take the position. I had three days of on-the-job training, then boom, I was in charge.

The stand was a 30- by 40-foot building with a high ceiling and gable roof. The front had sliding barn doors, which were both pulled all the way back during open hours. Out the back door was an old Mat-Maid freezer (adapted to refrigeration) for cold storage, a place to cut and wash produce, two 30- by 54-foot greenhouses (full of tomatoes plants in individual pots and on a watering system), and several acres of vegetables. Out front to one side was an old 1960s flatbed truck with plywood sides on which tall butcher block paper advertising signs were displayed, and off to the other side was a glass-enclosed phone booth. A nearby espresso/gift shop helped attract customers. With hours of operation from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., one person came in at 9 a.m. to set up and stay until mid-afternoon and a second person worked from mid-afternoon to 8:30 pm. Weekends were especially busy. Beginning in September, the hours were shortened to noon to 7 p.m.

What a learning curve for me. I could hardly keep up with dealing with orders to and from an Anchorage wholesaler, several local farmers, and the general public; stocking shelves; creating the advertising signs; operating the watering system and the greenhouses' temperature control; running the cash register; answering the phone; and sometimes delivering cases of produce to Bruce at the Alaska State Fair, for his wholesale sales to the food booths.

When I came on the scene, it was the peak of the growing season for many items. Bruce grew parsley, green onions, radishes, turnips, four kinds of greens, zucchini, other squash, green beans, carrots, beets, two kinds of cabbage, cauliflower, four kinds of peas, three kinds of potatoes, and tomatoes. From other farmers we got green and purple beans, raspberries, strawberries, shelled peas, and four kinds of lettuce. I regularly ordered many other kinds of fruits and vegetables, including bananas, avocados, melons, corn on the cob, etc. from DiTomaso's and had to be on hand when these orders were delivered Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The orders had to be called in the night before each of the delivery days. After they dropped off our order, they would pick up cases of outgoing produce from the cold storage. When parsley was at its peak, DiTomaso's was buying 15 cases three times a week, which they would then sell to Anchorage restaurants.

Bruce's brother Bob was the cash register expert, even though he had had a stroke and could not speak. A typed note of explanation in a plastic sheet protector

provided communication with the customers. His right arm was in a sling and his right leg was stiff, so restocking the shelves was the responsibility of others. It was my job to close out the cash register at the end of each day and send the till drawer with all the money (along with any invoices, receipts, time cards, etc.) with Bob, who would drop it off at Bruce's house since they lived near each other. Bob brought the till drawer back each morning, worked for a few hours, left, and then returned about 4 p.m. and worked until the end of the day.

Sometimes a bus load of tourists would stop in to see the giant OS Cross cabbages planted in the "show" garden. They would ask all kinds of questions and want to view the greenhouses and the fields. Drinks from the glass double-doored cooler and 8-ounce jars of rhubarb jam were their most popular purchases. One particular Saturday afternoon the phone was ringing off the hook, there was a line of customers 10 deep, and I saw the Hett van pull in with 400 pounds of shelled peas in 10-pound bags (which meant I needed to get the shelled pea signs stapled out on the truck and make phone calls to the list of waiting customers ASAP) and at the same time, a field worker came in from picking parsley and wanted to know where more rubber bands were located. I didn't know who to help first.

This was also the summer of my three minutes of TV fame. My son, a newscaster for Valley News on Anchorage KYES-TV Channel 5, showed up unexpectedly at the stand one day with a cameraman to interview me. A few days later, a customer interrupted her shopping, walked over to me and smiled and said, "I saw the Bushes Bunches news spot on TV Sunday night, and I just wanted to stop in and see if you were for real!"

I worked long hours with no days off. A week in, when the college student working the morning shift also had to quit and it was down to just Bob and me, I told Bruce that I just couldn't continue with such long hours, and he let me hire a young man part-time...but shortly after that the season slowed down, and by the end of September it was all over. Bruce liked my work and (twice) asked me to be the manager for the entire 1996 season.

But I was not even tempted. Ever since a health issue in 1990, I've been careful to not "overdo." I'd filled in temporarily but knew I couldn't hold up to a whole summer at that pace. But having just acquired all that knowledge, I felt bad about refusing. When I went to his house to pick up my final paycheck, I handed him a seven-page document I'd written titled "Manager Responsibilities for Bushes Bunches Fruit and Vegetable Stand", which covered 27 topics in alphabetical order beginning with "advertising" and ending with "watering." I don't know if it was helpful to Bruce's next manager, but it certainly would have been helpful when I stepped in those shoes.

Bruce opened the Parks Highway stand location in 1988, but the beginnings go back to 1956, when his father bought farmland off Clark Wolverine Road. In 1999, because of widening the Parks Highway, the greenhouses were dismantled and the stand building moved to his property, where he reopened it in 2014. Bruce and I are both past our prime physically now, but Bushes Bunches Produce Stand is thriving seven days a week at 2355 North Old Glenn Highway, just out of Palmer.

Maraley McMichael is a lifelong Alaskan now residing in Palmer. Email her at maraleymcmichael@gmail.com.