Santa Cruz Farmers Markets

Brokaw Nursery is one of California's largest suppliers of subtropical orchard trees. They are also an industry leader in innovating new varieties of fruits and rootstocks though the nursery still constitutes the bulk of the business.

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.

Garden Variety Cheese is a small farmstead business specializing in artisanal sheep cheeses - fresh and aged. Based in Northern Monterey County, the sheep and some members of a very small staff, live and graze on Monkeyflower Ranch - a 40 acre property of fields and fencing. Owner Rebecca King and her team began commercial milking and cheese production in March of 2009 and are in ever increasing demand for their flavorful, small batch goods.