Wilhelm Y.
Yelp
At $4 plus per pound Frog Hollow's peaches are among the priciest peaches out there, but for my hard-earned dollars this is the peach that I prefer most for its amazing flavor, sweetness, juice content and balanced acidity. Dare I say these are the most perfect peaches I've ever had.
Frog Hollow Farm is not open to the public (http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/si783oAm44YXwJdkHWHHfQ?select=aqm3njcsK3Tgf57nFeThQw#Z1nxrtkxfDi3ea3Z0w9TWQ), so when the opportunity to visit the actual farm came up I jumped on it. Twice in fact in 2011 and again this past weekend in 2012. Now comes the task of formulating a review covering two very different farm tours at the exact same farm.
Farmer Al Courchesne is co-owner of the 143 acre farm now in its 37th year. Farmer Al didn't grow up on a farm though. He was born in Berkeley, grew up in El Cerrito, graduated at Cal (Yay!!) and relocated to Hawaii to take a teaching position for 10 years. He didn't strike an interest in farming until he was 30 while still in Hawaii. Two years later he found himself back in the Bay Area on a 13 acre parcel of land he had purchased in Brentwood where he planted his first peach orchard with the goal of creating the best peaches available. It was 13 years later that Al decided to alter his farming practice by going organic and renaming his farm Frog Hollow Farm. Now he's one of the most respected farmers around. For both tours he greeted us in front of the main building which currently houses their office, their commercial kitchen and an old packing assembly where he offered an introduction to his farm and their products.
Anybody who gardens or in this case farms will tell you the importance of bees in the ecosystem. In agriculture pollination is essential for the healthy reproduction of plants, and there is no greater pollinator than the bee. With that in mind a native bee garden was added into the farm in 2011. Consisting mostly of native, local plants the garden is thriving now and the bees seem to be quite happy. The garden is part of a 10 year study on bees by a Cal researcher who regularly collects and monitors the bees, but Al was quite honest in telling us he just likes the bees there because they help to pollinate his farm.
On both occasions we did a walking tour of the farm, and Al has talked to us about soil conditioning, composting, irrigation, pest management, tree life and about local land issues that have effected his farm. This past weekend he even shared secrets on what makes their fruit-filled peanut butter cookies so dang good! In addition to his award winning peaches, rumored by Al himself last year to be a favorite of our current President, we've stopped to talk about the quince, the pomegranates, the olives and the citrus. We got to see the dry farming area where overripe peaches and pluots are split and pitted to dry under the hot Brentwood sun then sold as preservative-free dried fruits.
Our tour of a year ago included lunch as well. We met Al's wife Becky who runs the commercial kitchen on the farm, and she wowed us with fresh sweet corn, heirloom tomatoes drizzled with Frog Hollow Farm's very own unfiltered olive oil, freshly baked empanadas and a fresh green salad which incorporated some delicious stone fruit. I haven't included links, but all of those lunch items plus many other photos have been posted in the photo section.
We concluded our 2011 tour with a round table discussion on the Slow Money movement, a movement to organize investors and donors to steer new sources of capital to small food enterprises, organic farms, and local food systems. Al shared with us some of his ideas in relation to his farm then reviewed a display of his products that his 2 young daughters had set up. He sold many of his products to us at substantial savings over the farmers market prices and even sold us full cases of 2 of his peach varieties and his heirloom tomatoes, something he rarely sells at the farmers markets.
Bay Area Green Tours was the source of my original tour. Of the two tours I've taken part in this was the better of the two, but then again I paid 4 times the fee that I paid to CUESA who organized the most recent tour. In this case I definitely got what I paid for. Sadly though, Bay Area Green Tours no longer offers public farm tours.
Frog Hollow Farm operates a café at the San Francisco Ferry Building where you can find a variety of their products and fresh baked pastries. They also participate at farmers markets in North & South Berkeley, San Francisco's Castro, Danville, Kensington and Santa Cruz. I often stop by to chat with Farmer Al and purchase some incredible fruit at the Saturday San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market run by CUESA. Be sure to check their website for updated information on this.