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Mountain Sol Farm was founded in 2018 by Peter Boches out of a vision to produce food locally and sustainably in Hawaii. The name reflects the farm location in Mountain View, Hawaii as well as Peter's childhood origins in the mountains of Boulder, Colorado. Peter completed his PhD thesis on tomato breeding at Oregon State University. Since then he has always had a fondness for solanaceous (nightshade) crops: tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and potatoes (to name a few). We are now selling seeds online! It has been a longtime goal to share the seeds that work for us here in the subtropical rainy climate of windward Hawaii Island.
Peter is a trained career scientist, and brings a science based approach to farm management, seed production, breeding, and food safety practices. In 2024, Jill Drouin began assisting with the operations of the business, bringing decades of experience in the restaurant industry and a passion for medicinal plants and natural farming. Through experimenting with what grows at this elevation and rocky forested soil, we have arrived at a mix of agroforestry, nursery crops, and raised bed/hydroponic vegetable production. All pest control for edible crops is using organically approved products. We are growing a diverse mix of fruit trees (citrus, avocados, exotic fruits) and bananas in the upper story. Understory shrubs and plants (mainly coffee and pineapple) and nitrogen fixing shade trees (ice cream beans) complement the fruit forest. Spice and fruit producing vines like black pepper, vanilla, and dragonfruit climb up the fruit and shade trees. All this has allowed us to pack in a lot of production into a small area with agriculturally poor soil, while maintaining pockets of native Ohia forest throughout the property. Our goal is to minimize external inputs as much as possible. The latest addition to the farm has been rotational grazing of poultry (laying hens and Muscovy ducks) for fertility and pest control. |