FROG SONG ORGANICS

Regulars at Luma on Park, The Ravenous Pig or The Rusty Spoon restaurants have probably eaten produce from Frog Song Organics at some point.

“It’s so magical to see what people who are artists have done with your produce,” said Frog Song co-owner Amy Van Scoik. The farm in Hawthorne, about two hours northwest of Orlando, has infiltrated the kitchens of the best restaurants in the Orlandoarea since it opened in 2011.

Van Scoik and partner John Bitter set out to prove that it was possible to create a farm that was ecologically, financially and socially just.

Frog Song is a certified organic farm — free of synthetic chemical inputs such as pesticides, certain fertilizers and food additives. Seasonal workers are paid and receive free housing. Benefits for year-round employees include paid sick leave, vacation accrual and a health-care stipend.

People are used to cheap food, but they pay for it at the expense of the environment, workers and their own health, Van Scoik said. “We just want to be part of the solution.”

Van Scoik and Bitter’s future goals are as ambitious as their initial ones. They want to build an on-site commercial kitchen and meat-processing facility and raise employee wages.

“The people are really what keep it going,” Van Scoik said. “Plants grow themselves … but the people, they’re what really have tied it all together.”