Olivery News — harvest

Here I am picking green olives on the 31st March at the Olivery.  This is an Ouvo D'Piccione tree, its olives a variety known for their large green fruit.  This tree had 35kg of olives on it, a fantastic yield!  I immediately thought I know how to grow olives.... until the next two trees had zero olives, sigh... such is horticulture.  This precious crop will be sold through the Olivery tasting room and to local restaurants.  When its gone its gone!

It has been two months since we picked the first green olive, so it is nice to move on to the next phase in the process.  This is when we nurture the olives in their barrels and vats so that we get the best natural fermentation starting.  Salt and pH levels are monitored and adjusted as necessary, but really we are just guiding the olives to do their own thing for the next 6-8 months. Here is a video of the mechanical harvester emptying into a bin.  

 First olives in this season were from the Olivewood grove in Esk Valley. Olivewood grove is hand picked by Julie and Zane due to the sloping hills the grove is placed on.  The planting format was in the old style of thinking of placing manzanillo trees as pollinators among the rows of other olive varieties. This means Julie and Zane first have to find the Manzanillo trees (about 1 in 20) dotted around the grove before harvesting!