olive press « Moon over Martinborough

Race to beat the frost

July 25, 2010

Frantoio olives (click to enlarge)

Podcast available.

“They’re all still green,” Rick said.

We were standing in the middle of the olive grove on a cold morning in the middle of May. Nearly five hundred olive trees surrounded us, and there wasn’t a single ripe olive to be seen.

The frosts would be starting soon, but the grove simply wasn’t yet ready for harvesting. We didn’t know what to do.

Frost damage can completely destroy your crop, because it ruins the taste of your oil. We needed more time.

I looked around at all the green olives. “We have to delay the harvest. There’s no choice. We just have to hope the frost doesn’t get us.”

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20 Comments | Neighbors, New Zealand, Olives & olive oil, Podcasts | Tagged: city friends, gratitude, kind neighbors, olive grove, olive harvest, olive oil, olive press, satisfying work, Wairarapa Lifestyle Magazine | Permalink
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Picking up the oil

June 13, 2009

Washed olives going into the press

Rick and I drove up to the olive press and looked in through the ornate metal gate.

It was dark out, and the lights were still on inside. Diane of ‘Pressing Engagements’ was still pressing olives. She works furiously throughout May and June, then things go quiet for the olive presses of the Wairarapa valley.

We wanted to pick up our oil and get it home to taste it right away, in order to see if the frosts had damaged the taste. We’d gone to great lengths on harvest day to make sure we’d sorted out as much frost-damaged fruit as possible. But were our efforts enough?

Diane smiled when she saw us. “Your oil is beautiful,” she said immediately, and then waved us in through the gate.

Does she say that to all the boys?

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12 Comments | Food, Neighbors, New Zealand, Olives & olive oil | Tagged: frantoio, kind neighbors, leccino, olio nuovo, olive grove, olive harvest, olive oil, olive oil containers, olive press | Permalink
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Olive harvest on a misty day

June 6, 2009

Mist on the hills beyond the bottom paddock

The first of the city friends arrived on Friday night, driving over the Rimutaka Hill Road after work in the dark, ready to settle in for a three-day weekend full of food, friends, olives, and a lot of hard work.

There were big hello hugs all around and bags deposited in guest rooms.

We operate a B&B here, so the extra bedrooms come in handy at harvest time — and also throughout the year, when friends and family occupy the rooms between paying guests.

As they arrived, everyone was talking about the horrible weather that had been forecasted for the weekend.

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7 Comments | Neighbors, New Zealand, Olives & olive oil | Tagged: city friends, frantoio, gratitude, kind neighbors, leccino, nets, olive grove, olive harvest, olive oil, olive press, satisfying work | Permalink
Posted by Moon Over Martinborough