Case Study: Frog Hollow Farm

Frog Hollow Farm is a 280-Acre fruit farm located in Brentwood, CA. While doing their shopping at the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market, Kreis and La Fleur got into a conversation with Farmer Al about Dirt, a favorite topic for all three. Before long, they were in the car headed to Brentwood to consult with Frog Hollow Farm.

“Ten years ago we (at Frog Hollow Farm) started working with Christophe and Monique (owners of MLF Soil/Compost Consulting) to make on- farm compost using the approach developed by Dr. Elaine Ingham. Monique and Christophe had just completed workshops and training directed by Dr. Ingham (Soil Foodweb Institute) and Matt Slaughter (Earthfort LLC) in Corvallis, Oregon. This training combined with their PhDs in molecular biology (Christophe) and Monique (microbiology) make them the pre-eminent experts in compost management in the organic farming community in California. In the 10 years that we have been working with MLF Soil/Compost Consulting we are producing 3000-5000 tons of on-site compost per year. Every ton is applied to our orchards , about 15 tons per acre per year (2-3 applications per year). As we’ve increased our compost input, we’ve seen a decrease in other inputs such as the use of insecticides and fungicides. We have also seen significant improvements in disease and pest control as well as water retention. There have also been substantial financial savings since we no longer buy commercial compost.”

What we’ve accomplished:

1. Commercial compost has been completely replaced by on-farm compost. This has resulted in important financial savings. About 3000-4000 tons are produced a year and applied in the Frog Hollow Farm orchard.

2. A low-technology worm composting operation has been set-up that produces several tons of worm compost per year. This worm compost is mixed with “hot” compost (thermophilic) and applied in the orchard. This mixture has a higher biological quality.

3. All materials/residues that were sent in the past to the local dump are composted in a managed fashion. Materials from the local community are also used in the compost operation. Farm materials include: fruit residue, tree prunings, grass, leaves, fruit cardboard boxes, farm kitchen residues. Local community materials include: landscape trimmings, horse bedding, coffee grounds.

4. The biology (bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes) of each compost pile is analyzed microscopically before spreading so that each compost pile is tailored as much as possible to the fruit trees on the farm.

Read about MLF Soil Consulting at Frog Hollow Farm in Edible East Bay.