MLF Soil Consulting provides full-service soil consultation to small farmers throughout Northern California.

healthy soil

Our Services

The goal of MLF Soil Consulting is to help you understand your soil needs so that you can get the most out of your crop. We are dedicated to the strict growing principals that embody organic farming. We begin with testing and analyzing your current soil biology and determine what can be done to establish a healthy functioning organic soil food web that is easy to maintain and will grow nutritionally rich crops.

We provide the following levels of soil biology consulting: Planning, Equipment Evaluation, Permitting: NOP, County Regulations, Microbiological Analysis of Compost, Temperature Logs, pH and Humidity Measurements, Thermophilic Composting as well as Worm-Vermicomposting. We also provide help with Healthy Soil Program Grants.

USCC Member, CAFF Member, Soil Food Web Advisors/
Soil Stewards

Our Team:

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Monique La Fleur, PhD

CO FOUNDER

Monique La Fleur in 2011 co-founded with Christophe Kreis MLF Soil Consulting, San Francisco, a company focused on helping farmers improve and maintain healthy soil biology by applying soil food web principles and biological testing. Monique grew up eating vegetables from her family garden and made weekly trips as a child to pickup milk from the local dairy farm. To this day most of her food is purchased at a local farmer’s market.

She trained as a microbiologist/immunologist working in basic research and then biotech for many years. Monique jumped at an opportunity to transfer her skills and to follow a path back to the soil that feeds us, back to soil health and regenerative agriculture. Thanks to the courses she took in 2011 with Dr Elaine Ingham of the Soil Foodweb Institute, she transitioned to a Soil Foodweb Advisor/Soil Steward.

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Christophe Kreis, PhD

CO FOUNDER
 

In 2004, while doing basic research in virology at UCSF, Christophe participated in “Gardening and Composting Educator Training” sponsored by the San Francisco Department of the Environment. This 4 month program occupied his weekends and gave him an excellent introduction to soils and composting in the Bay Area. Thanks to this program, he was introduced to the pioneering research (soil & compost microbiology) conducted by Dr. Elaine Ingham in Corvallis, Oregon. Subsequently, Monique and Christophe took two superb and intensive workshops under the guidance of Elaine Ingham, assisted by Matt Slaughter, director of Earthfort. This was the inspiration that led us to start MLF Soil/Compost Consulting in 2015.

 
 

Workshops & Volunteer Work

  • San Bruno Mountain Habitat Conservation Plan For Endangered Species. Prepared for San Mateo Co. and US Fish and Wild Life Service. 2000: C. Kreis, member of Thomas Reid Associates field crew

  • Gardening & Composting Educator Training Program. San Francisco Department of the Environment. Certificate 2005: C. Kreis

  • San Francisco Botanical Garden Society at Strybing Arboretum. Docent certificate 2009: M. La Fleur

  • San Francisco Botanical Garden Society at Strybing Arboretum. Docent certificate 2009: C. Kreis

  • SOIL FOODWEB ADVISOR. Dr. Elaine Ingham, President Soil Foodweb, Inc. 2011: M. La Fleur.

  • SOIL FOODWEB ADVISOR. Dr. Elaine Ingham. President Soil Foodweb, Inc. 2011: C. Kreis

  • Myco Restoration Workshop. Paul Stamets, Fungi Perfecti LLC. Certificate 2011: C. Kreis

  • Cultivation Workshop. Paul Stamets, Fungi Perfect LLC. Certificate 2011: M. La Fleur

  • COMPOST OPERATIONS TRAINING COURSE. US Composting Council. Riverside, CA. 2011: C. Kreis

  • Foundations of Compost Training Course. US Composting Council. Santa Clara, CA. 2011: M. La Fleur
    Vermicomposting. Workshop, The Worm Farm, Durham, CA. 2013: La Fleur & Kreis

  • SOIL STEWARD. Matt Slaughter, Director Earthfort LLC. 2015: M. La Fleur

  • SOIL STEWARD. Matt Slaughter, Director Earthfort LLC. 2015: C. Kreis