We not only sell our own fruit and pantry items but also products from select producers in CA. We're intentional about everything we carry in our shop and make sure the producers with whom we partner care as much about how they grow or make their products as we do. Get to know our partner farms in our new blog series!

It’s like we grew up together. Frog Hollow Farm and Burroughs Family Farm share a common language where we agree that healthy farming is a way to preserve our planet. We can look at each others’ orchards, overflowing with flowering ground cover, and say “Us too!” And we find a mutual and willing audience when talking about our regenerative practices that will leave the land better than how we found it. It just made sense to partner with them. And their delicious  Organic Almond Butter is a huge hit with our customers.

Both of our farms love educating our community about where their food comes from. This passion for sharing knowledge goes deep at Burroughs Family Farm, an operation run by the Burroughs family for five generations.

We spoke with Benina Montes of the Burroughs family—one of the Burroughs siblings who runs their collection of specialized farms. Their operation is unique in that way. Each connected farm is owned and operated by a Burroughs sibling. “Working together, we’ve established interconnected farms that thrive with the use of shared resources and increased farm biodiversity and ecosystems,” says Benina. Together, the farms produce and sell organic almonds, olive oil, milk, cheese, and grass-based eggs and meats.

What is now a thriving network of family-run farms once began as one small dairy farm in 1906 with Benina’s great grandfather, Benjamin Burroughs. Benina’s parents Ward and Rosie Burroughs expanded upon that tradition and passed on their farming knowledge to the next generations. Visit their  Instagram and you’ll see grandpa and grandson Ward with matching rancher outfits, the beautiful landscape where their livestock roam, or great quotes about what it means to be a regenerative farm.

One of the biggest pillars of the Burroughs Family Farms philosophy is living sustainably. That can mean so many things: from making choices as an individual consumer or a business owner to supporting local and state-wide initiatives that promote sustainability. Benina put it beautifully: “Living sustainably means doing what is possible for each individual to live in a way that minimizes their negative impact on the planet. For some people, that’s buying organic produce and grass-fed meat or using reusable items instead of disposable and single use items. At Burroughs Family Farms, we live sustainably by implementing regenerative, organic practices that minimize waste on our farm, recycle agricultural waste and by-products, and capture carbon in the atmosphere.”

The resulting products speak for themselves. The rich and creamy  Organic Almond Butter that we sell of theirs is 100% almonds. There’s nothing quite like it, especially combined with  Miss Bee Haven honey or one of our  conserves. 

Burroughs Family Farms Organic Almond Butter

It’s a unique thing in California to grow almonds organically. The Burroughs Family and Farmer Al are some of the only farmers who do it. And we’re lucky where we are to be able to grow like we do. Our farms both benefit from the moderate Mediterranean climate of California’s San Joaquin Valley, albeit quite a few miles apart from each other—with Frog Hollow just in reach of the foggy Bay Area climate and Burroughs Family Farms below the rolling hills of Yosemite National Park. The lands where we are boast soil with a rich, fertile history, which allows all of us to grow our respective nutrient-dense crops. There are ample benefits to farming the land organically: it’s safer for the bee populations and the resulting ground cover that comes with regenerative farming helps conserve water—two issues often brought up around growing almonds. And with organic, we think you can also taste the difference.

“Farming should be done in a manner that improves the land, rather than degrading it,” Benina shared. “The practices used by Burroughs Family Farm and Frog Hollow Farm demonstrate this ability to have a positive, environmental impact through agriculture: promoting biodiversity, building soil organic matter, increasing water retention, and sequestering carbon.” 

Farmer Al has enjoyed his conversations with the Burroughs family over the years, whether at farming conferences or visits to Frog Hollow. “I enjoyed meeting Al on a tour of our farm and sharing conversation,” said Benina. “It’s been a pleasure to work with a company that cares deeply about how food is grown.”

“They’re really nice people,” said Farmer Al. “We go back a long way with them. And their Almond Butter truly is the best in the world. I eat a couple spoonfuls every morning.”