Your Neighborhood Farm
Happily located in the Valley of Heart’s Delight since 1945 and nurtured by five generations of the Cosentino family, the farm has been called “The Secret Garden” by the San Jose Mercury News.
We have fruit year-round and care for more than thirty types of peaches, including some old-fashioned varieties that are truly fabulous. We also grow a diverse array of apricots, plums, prunes, nectarines, apples, figs, bush berries, persimmons, grapes, and more.
Because of our warm days, cool nights, and the most fertile soil in California, the fruit grown here is mouthwatering. We pick our fruit fully ripe, much riper than commercial growers, giving our fruit the flavor it was meant to have.
Our farming practices are traditional and environmental.
Our Story
As the last working orchard in San Jose, we are truly an urban farm. The city of San Jose sprung up around us in what feels like the blink of an eye.
The farm was originally purchased in 1945 by Dominic Cosentino where he and his wife, Isabella, lived and raised four sons. Dominic came to San Jose via Youngstown, Ohio after hearing the climate was just like his motherland of Sicily. And to his delight, it was. Our warm days and cool nights were the perfect environment for growing just about anything, and as Dominic would say “this is the best dirt in the world.”
As a kid, Phil and his brothers hated working on the orchard, and did just about anything to get out of it. After serving in the Marines, and starting a successful grocery business, Phil had a change of heart when the land was due to be developed. He decided to buy his share of land from his brothers and run the orchard as a passion project.
In 1988, what was once a 10-acre orchard was shrunk to just over 2 acres after the installation of highway 85. So, Phil smartly decided to plant double the trees on the land he had remaining. Today this piece of heaven has nearly 600 fruit trees featuring dozens heirloom varieties which Phil became a collector, and protector, of.
In the last few years, the third and fourth generation of this family have become even more involved and are committed to ensuring the land that was lovingly cared for by Dominic and then Phil, not only survives but thrives.
