In our last 50th anniversary story, we looked at how Frog Hollow Farm began reaching beyond the Bay Area through relationships with retailers, distributors, restaurants, and eventually mail-order customers. But as those markets grew, something else had to grow alongside them: the farm itself.
More customers meant more demand for Frog Hollow fruit, which meant more trees, more varieties, and more acreage. What began as a small orchard in Brentwood gradually became the 280-acre farm we know today.
Growing More Fruit, For More of the Season
One of the ways Frog Hollow responded to growing demand was by expanding its selection of peach varieties. Rather than relying on a single window of peach season, the farm began planting earlier and later varieties to stretch the harvest.
“We began to realize that we needed earlier and late-season varieties because the demand for our fruit was such that we needed to expand production during the summer season,” Farmer Al recalls.
The farm expanded little by little, purchasing neighboring parcels over the years. In the mid-1980s, Frog Hollow was about 33 acres. By 2016, it had grown to approximately 280 acres. The profits from expanding into national markets helped make that growth possible. But growing the farm was never simply about growing more fruit. For Al, it was also about creating a farm that could support the people who made it possible.
Staying Connected Close to Home
Interestingly, while Frog Hollow was expanding its reach across the country, another way of connecting with customers was taking shape much closer to home: Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA.
The idea behind CSA is simple. A community supports a farm so that the farm can continue to operate, while members receive a regular share of what the farm produces. For Farmer Al, the appeal was the relationship itself. He loved the idea of having a group of loyal customers who cared about the farm and wanted to stay connected to it. Members could receive produce from Frog Hollow throughout the year while getting a closer look at what was growing in the orchard.
Starting a CSA program while the farm was expanding into other markets was not easy. There were plenty of logistics involved, from organizing weekly deliveries to keeping track of orders. But despite the challenges, Farmer Al felt the connection to local communities was worth it.
In many ways, the CSA program represented another side of Frog Hollow’s growth. The farm was reaching farther than ever, while also finding new ways to stay connected to the people closest to home.
Building a More Resilient Farm
Looking back, Farmer Al sees this diversification of markets and crops as an important part of Frog Hollow’s resilience. Having farmers markets, CSA, mail order, local wholesale, and national wholesale meant the farm was not dependent on a single way of reaching customers.
The same was true of the farm itself. Growing a wider range of crops helped create work across more seasons, which in turn helped Frog Hollow build a more stable workforce. Today, the farm provides housing for about 30% of its employees, supporting the year-round community that makes the farm possible. For Farmer Al, the people who work at Frog Hollow are central to its resilience. Everyone and everything has to work together, from the orchard crews to the people managing distribution, to the systems that keep the soil healthy.
That commitment to the soil became especially important during this period of growth. In the early 2000s, Frog Hollow began its relationship with compost master Christoph Kreis, a turning point that helped deepen the farm’s commitment to regenerative agriculture. Even as the farm expanded its acreage and markets, the goal was to keep rebuilding the soil and farming in a way that strengthened the land for the future.
Growing With Purpose
When Farmer Al looks back at the expansion of Frog Hollow, he doesn’t see a series of isolated decisions. The farm grew because the markets grew, the markets grew because the fruit was in demand, and the range of crops expanded to meet that demand. Each piece supported another.
Without the many markets Frog Hollow has developed over the years, the farm would not be growing as much fruit, cultivating as many varieties, or supporting as many employees as it does today. And without the people who have supported the farm along the way, none of that growth would have been possible.
“We are so grateful for all of the markets we have acquired over the years, and for the customers that allow us to keep doing what we’re doing,” Al says va.
At the heart of it all is something that has remained constant for 50 years: growing healthy, delicious fruit while caring for the land that makes it possible. Today, Frog Hollow is grateful to be able to do that work on a larger scale, feeding more people and continuing to build a more resilient farm and planet through regenerative agriculture.