Santa Cruz Farmers Markets

Steven’s family has strong ties to the land in California’s Central Valley. In the 1920s, his grandfather, Frank, started a 20-acre vineyard. Henry, Steven’s father, purchased most of the current acreage of Kashiwase Farms in 1948, planted it with peaches and almonds, and built the farmhouse in which Steven’s mother currently resides. After studying pomology and entomology at UC Davis, Steven began farming in the 1970s and converted to organic agriculture in the 1990s. Steven and Lisa live in town with their two children, Sammy and Rachael.

Four Sisters is a five acre organic farm in the hills of Aromas, behind the Monterey Bay in central California. They grow cut flowers, kiwifruit, avocados, apples, herbs, and specialty vegetables, specializing in sorrel and other unusual greens.

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.