If it’s autumn, it must be olive time – well that is providing there are olives of course. Organic olive growing is quite unpredictable, and in some years, for no apparent reason, farms in whole regions will bear virtually no fruit. But for us this is a quite a good year, and both our mature trees and our teenage trees are sporting a good number of green and black berries.
Currently our mature trees are Leccinos, from which we make our European style oil. Then there are the 4 year old Frantoios, also for oil, and the dual purpose Missions. Finally, our two year saplings, Kalamatas and Noccelar del Belices will hopefully bear their first olives next year.
We won’t know how much oil we get out until the olives have been pressed, (at the Olive Boutique in Riebeek Kasteel), but we anticipate around 50 litres, which means 25 litres for our own use, and 25 litres for sale. And with our first yield of Missions this year, we will be pickling olives too - just for fun and for our own use. The pics show everyone out picking in the glorious sunshine.
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