When Life Gives You Olives…

These past two years we have been overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of wasps; mud daubers, red wasps, rice field wasps, paper wasps, meat bees, hornets, yellow jackets and those freakin’ black paper wasps with the yellow stripes. I’m sure that I’m forgetting one or two other types in my rant…

Recently, as we sat outside, looking at the orchard, enjoying our time, we were constantly harassed by a paper wasp that was building a nest in the siding of our house. Being thoroughly annoyed by this creature as it crashed into me, then into the house, then finally into a gap in the siding, I decided to closely observe the little creature.

The more I watched, the more I realized that wasps are the drunk drivers of the insect world. They bounce off of everything as they make a tortured and twisted “line” to where ever it is that they are going. It’s even worse when they’re building a nest, carrying a hunk of saliva and chewed up wood or mud. That extra gob of stuff really tips their navigation from haphazard to straight-up hazard.

Knowing that we didn’t have the motivation to eliminate the nest just yet, we tried to slow the nest building progress by jamming rosemary branches (it was nearby) into the hole.  That didn’t work. So, we jammed even more rosemary into the hole and it still didn’t work. It slowed them down a little, but they found their merry way through the tangle. Soon enough, the wasps would pop out of the hole, peek around a bit, then inelegantly fly off.

Fortunately, neither of us got stung that day, but I can’t tell you how many hit-and-runs there were…

Okay, so I admit that this post won’t generate much attention. But, I’m a farmer and get excited about weird things.

Yesterday, a friend of Sylverleaf brought over a float ball for the irrigation tank. She found the float ball while digging through and cleaning out an old shed. The “old” float ball had not worked properly for quite some time, maybe even a year… Because of the old float ball’s malfunction, every 2 hours while the irrigation system is running, one of us needed to trudge out to the irrigation tank and check to see that the water was not overflowing and not running too low. Sometimes, that “every 2 hours” would be throughout the night, making for a very poor night’s sleep. During this particular time of year, when irrigation is so important, it’s easy to see just how nice this new float ball is! We can now sleep soundly throughout the night.

So far, the new float ball has been working like a charm and keeping the tank at the perfect water level. Sometimes, the simplest of things can really make one’s life so much better. A HUGE THANKS to our “float ball fairy.”

Well, it’s that magical time of year right now. This morning, while doing the daily chores, I noticed that there was the faintest of smells wafting through the air. It took only a few moments time to search through the nearest olive tree and what did I find? The first olive blossoms have opened on the olive trees here at Sylverleaf. Thus, the cycle begins anew. Flowers to fruit to olive oil!

I’m searching for the words to describe the faint, sweet smell of an olive flower, but those words won’t come… An olive flower smells exactly like an olive flower. That’s the best that I can do.

We at Sylverleaf would like to wish everyone a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Let’s hope that 2009 is a whole lot better than 2008…

On the 15th and 16th of November, we completed our Arbequina harvest in Sutter county. These tiny olives pack an awesome and very unique flavor. To make them even better, they’re quite easy to harvest! The branches tend to hang down, so you just wrap your fingers around the branch (loosely) and pull towards your belly bucket. The olives rain down into the bucket (causing much delight).

Our crew was a little slow and the fruit was only in spots, here and there. The weather was gorgeous, albeit a little warm for this time of year. Once again, a t-shirt and shorts would have been appropriate apparel for the day.  So, now to the totals: 1075 pounds.

Our chicken population is now down to 3. These will be the last of their kind, since we don’t plan to let the hens sit any more eggs (If I’ve learned one thing though, it’s that hens are very crafty). The last one to be born was the lovely and very shy, Teresita Chiquita. Also in this picture (soon to be uploaded here) is the old girl, Brewster and the coolest rooster on Earth, Leroy. This rooster doesn’t take everything for himself. If he finds some lovely treat in the yard (like a grape or a worm), he’ll call the girls over and let them have it.

Clink.

Clink.

Clink.

Clink.

Fill 'Er Up

It’s the happy sound of our bottles being cleaned. I’m always happy to hear the sound because it means that our next bottling run is very near. To keep our inventory ready, we are bottling Estate 250s and 500s, more than 40 cases in this run.

Just a couple of years ago, there’s no way that I would have been happy to bottle that much oil. It just took too long and was one heckuva grind (12 hours). Now, the process is much easier and a relief from the heat (the bottling room is the ONLY room on the farm that is actually air conditioned!). I’m looking forward to it.

It’s been a busy few weeks around Sylverleaf. (I think that I say that often…)

We have been trying our level best to keep everything under control at this crazy time of year. It seems like there are 50 chores to do at every moment and I think that we are falling further and further behind… But, there is one thought and one distraction that can relieve the pain. First, the thought: The work will still be there tomorrow. Now, the more interesting thing is the distraction. And these distractions do happen quite often. They’re called visitors!

We have hosted quite a few visitors lately. Firstly, Beth’s mother came to Sylverleaf for a really nice (but short) visit. Next up, were the enterprising local pomegranate farmers at Lyon Pride Pomegranates. These folks are truly searching the world for the perfect pomegranate. Did you know that there are more than 100 varieties of this ancient fruit? That visit was followed by two of our most esteemed Orchard Crew members, Chris and Craig. I’m not sure, really, why Craig continues to come to our farm… Maybe it’s the punishment. Without his help, our bottling room walls would barely be up. Before these guests departed, we were treated to a visit from our favorite Portlandian, Blake and her friend Kristy. If you’d like to see some amazing jewelry, made by an equally amazing artist, check out magma. Buy something beautiful from Blake while you’re there too!

All of these people do force us to slow down a bit — only a bit. Their company is a welcome relief and they remind us that it isn’t only about the hard work…