Frog Hollow Farm

   

Frog Hollow Farm is an organic farm in the delta region of San Francisco Bay, behind the Berkeley Hills, within sight of the Altamont wind farms. Frog Hollow grows the best organic peaches in the world. Frog Hollow's peaches can be found at the best restaurants in the Bay Area, and have been served at the White House. Al Courchesne, better known as "Farmer Al", and Becky Smith run Frog Hollow, and know that the success of this organic farm owes much to its workers. The workers take good care of the orchards, so Al appreciates their value to the farm. Some of the workers live on the farm in trailers near Highway 4, the main two-lane road between San Francisco and the Port of Stockton. Big trucks rumble past at all hours.Although this is standard accommodation for immigrant Mexican farm workers, Al wanted to build something better for the workers. When Al and Becky heard about straw-bale construction, they knew immediately they wanted to build with straw at Frog Hollow. They began working on a plan with Dan Smith & Associates, who called Skillful Means. A series of bale workshops was scheduled, and John Swearingen and Janet Johnston of Skillful Means began work on the foundation, alongside Al's crew of farm workers--even before permits were issued. The workers were skeptical about this house of straw, and thought Farmer Al might be a little mad, but they enjoyed working on the new cottage. The ground was staked out in a large flat area between the orchards and the highway. The new footprint (24' x 26') looked like a postage stamp in the middle of the field, but was actually larger than anyone's current home. The permit was granted the day before the workshop, and the slab was finished in the gray of the early evening. The slab and footings were poured together as an integral slab. The footings are 15" wide, standard for the area, and the slab contains rebar turned down into the footings. The bales sit over the footings and on the slab. Finishing touches were still being made when workshop participants arrived in the morning.	Photographs by Miguel Fairbanks Juan's trailer Juan and his family Raising the box beam....and setting the joists for the loft. Trusses unloaded and trusses up! Bale insulation for the roof Installing flashing paper and lath Thanks to all who helped to build the Cottage at Frog hollow! A Happy Plasterer Hungry for a peach? Frog Hollow Ships Anywhere!
After some orientation and instruction, bale raising began. As always, the walls appeared as if by magic, and the workshop crew went on to place the box beams and many of the floor joists before the weekend was over. The cottage has a steep roof with a loft, supported by site-built trusses. After the workshop, John and Janet laid out the trusses on the floor of the packing shed, and the workers built them on the ground and trucked them to the site. The trusses are especially deep to support bales for sound and thermal insulation. With a lot of hard work, the trusses were raised and plumbed in time for the next workshop.
The trusses were unloaded from the farm truck, lifted into place, plumbed and lined between workshops By now the cottage looked like something you could live in, and the skepticism of the workers was changing to a quiet appreciation. Every evening after work, the families would converge on the site and talk about the house, the straw and the future kitchen. The crew took great pride and care in their work, and wanted to understand each stage of the process. The second workshop began with fitting bales into the gable end and stuffing bales into the roof trusses. We used the farm's forklift to raise bales up to the loft floor. After that it was all kicking and stomping until the bales were in place. Some of the experienced carpenters in the workshop crew installed the outriggers to extend the roof to overhang the gable ends.
A Visit from the Men In Black That Saturday, we received a visit from some local fire officials. They said they'd had a phone call from a citizen concerned that someone was building a straw house. Initially skeptical, they left thinking about building their new firehouse out of straw. John and several workshop participants have experienced memory lapses since the visit.
The workshop turned next to lathing and waterproofing, one of the most important aspects of bale construction. During bale raising, a layer of building paper was placed between the first and second courses of bales, and around each post. Now the exposed wood of the box beam and the door and window openings were carefully flashed with building paper and bituthane, a sticky, self-sealing black membrane. Any voids or holes in the bales were packed tightly with straw. Stucco netting was stretched over the paper and bituthane and nailed to the bottom plates and window bucks. Expanded metal lath was used to shape the window openings. On Sunday, Scott Greer and his stucco crew came to teach the workshop about plaster and everybody pitched in. By evening the job was done!
John and Janet and the workers of Frog Hollow had just enough time to put on the roofing before the workers had to return to the orchard for the rest of the summer. The cottage was finished in winter.......