Santa Cruz Farmers Markets

Five generations of the Casalegno Family have lived on this beautiful site in the hills of Soquel, and the farm has been family owned and in operation since 1916.

Hidden Fortress is a farm based coffee roaster. Coffee helps finance the start-up costs of a new farm which specializes in breakfast items like fruit, eggs, muffins, and of course, coffee! Owner Amelia Loftus started roasting coffee as a hobby in 2000 and has roasted all the coffee she drinks ever since. On a trip to Hawaii a few years ago she picked wild coffee beans and hand processed a small batch of coffee. This experience gave her a profound respect for the amount of labor and expertise required to produce excellent coffee. When looking for a way to reach self sufficiency as a farmer, coffee was the logical choice.

The roasting is done with obsessive attention to detail on a very small scale fluid air bed commercial roaster that roasts just 2 pounds at a time. The roaster uses propane and solar power from a mobile solar power generator mounted on the truck which also powers the coffee booth at the farmer's market. With such small batches the coffee is labor intensive to produce but it is also easy to keep inventory farm fresh.

Yeyen had a raw food restaurant in Santa Cruz, raw food changed her life in terms of energy level and overall health.