Summertime at Frog Hollow Farm is a season of abundance, but our customers aren’t the only ones who get to enjoy our fruit; it’s also when we’re feeding our compost piles some of their most important ingredients. With thousands of pounds of fruit passing through our packing shed, kitchen, and drying yard, there are always pits, skins, and damaged fruit that can’t be sold or used. Instead of letting these leftovers go to waste, we give them a second life in our compost!
As Farmer Al says, “Adding fruit to the compost pile is like adding sugar to a milkshake. But rather than just sweetening the compost, it makes it more active. Sugar is made of carbon, and carbon is what makes compost great!”
The Recipe for a Living Pile
A thriving compost pile depends on a balance of about 70% carbon to 30% nitrogen. The fruit residues from summer bring in that vital carbon, which fuels the microbial life that breaks everything down. Mixed with other farm byproducts—like the branches we prune into wood chips, horse bedding from a neighboring ranch, and even coffee grounds from Blue Bottle—our compost becomes a living ecosystem.
The microorganisms in the pile love sugar just as much as we do, and when they get it, they get busy. The pile heats up to 130–140°F, and with careful monitoring of temperature, moisture, and aeration, the organic matter transforms into a rich soil amendment teeming with beneficial fungi and bacteria.
Compost as the Ultimate Recycler
Our compost operation embodies the “three Rs”: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We reduce food waste by making sure nothing is wasted on the farm—even fruit that can’t be eaten still contributes to the orchard’s future harvests. We reuse natural byproducts like prunings, horse bedding, and coffee grounds, preventing them from becoming landfill waste. And we recycle all of it into a powerful source of fertility for our orchards.
Each year, we generate thousands of tons of compost. By fall, after the summer fruit season wraps up, we’ll spread up to 20 tons per acre across 280 acres. Applying compost just before the rainy season allows water to carry nutrients deep into the soil profile, feeding our trees through the seasons ahead.
From Soil to Fruit—and Back Again
Compost is more than fertilizer. It increases soil tilth and water-holding capacity, helping us through dry California summers. It also builds fungal networks, which form symbiotic relationships with the roots, making minerals in the soil accessible to the tree! The cycle is complete when those same trees, nourished by compost, grow the sweet, nutrient-dense fruit that feeds us all. In this way, every peach pit, plum skin, or apricot scrap continues its journey, fueling next season’s harvest as well as the health of our soil and planet.