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In recent weeks, we have been lucky enough to have a new farmer on the farm. A Contra Costa native, Will Medford has farming in his blood. His father and grandfather are both farmers as well. He got his start working in the field on his Grandfather’s cherry farm in Stockton. Fresh out of high school and working hard in the hot sun, he didn’t yet realize that this would be the beginning of his life’s work.
After high school, he spent some time in community college taking a wide variety of courses to in search of his passions. He even spent some time working at a record label and playing bass in a punk band. His path led him back to farming when he decided to start a large veggie garden on 2 acres of fallow field on his father’s farm land. What started as an experiment grew into passion project that drew in a wide collection of friends to participate. Eventually, he decided to focus his efforts on farming and transferred to Cal Poly San Luis Obisbo where he studied horticulture and crop science.
While in school, we kept very busy. He worked in SLO’s hydroponic greenhouse, taught a class on cropping systems and also worked with Central Coast Grown, a nonprofit focused on building local, sustainable and fair food systems in San Luis Obispo County.
After graduating, he was thrilled to start working here at Frog Hollow. He described it as a dream come true. When I asked him what drew him here to Frog Hollow, he spoke about his fascination with organics. Organic farming puts the eater front and center in the equation. As obvious as this might seem, it’s fairly novel in the world of conventional farming where quantity is king. He also loves the challenge of organic farming – there’s always new problems to solve and questions to answer. He especially appreciates the culture of experimentation that is so present here at Frog Hollow. Since starting, he’s been focused on our budding veggie opera-
tion.
We have just over 2.25 acres under cultivation. Right now he’s growing a slew of winter veggies including broccoli, cauliflower, arugula, mustard greens, fava beans, baby salad greens, carrots, garlic and kale. On the day we talked he was getting ready to plant a ton of garlic. Soon to come will be various herbs and onions.
These veggies will primarily end up in our farm kitchen or served in the dishes of our Ferry Building Cafe. But, we have high hopes that eventually we’ll be able to offer winter veggies as an add on for the CSA.
We are so happy to welcome Will and his green thumb to the Frog Hollow family.
