When Life Gives You Olives…

We have been experiencing the most amazing spring and summer around the farm. No other year can compare to this year with regards to temperature, rainfall, wildflowers and wildlife. It’s simply amazing.

That being said, this is the time of year when we need to buckle down and work, work, work, work, work. The orchard is now disced and ready for leveling. We were forced to wait a little longer than normal this year to allow the hen turkeys to sit their nests and hatch out the cute little poults. For some reason, there are very few poults this year. Instead of the usual 8-12 poults, we’re only seeing 1 or 2.

The irrigation system is well on its way to being setup for the year after some surprising problems. We discovered a completely shattered pump head on our main irrigation pump. The freezing weather this past winter cracked the pump head and all of the seals. We’ll power everything up in the next week, then the bulk of the orchard chores will be done. …until pruning time anyway.

The fruit is also now set on the trees after a pretty good flowering. Unless there is some freak weather, we should have a pretty good crop this year. Finally. Keep your fingers crossed!

Waking up to a very smoky morning, again. The fire up in Dobbins has grown to over 3,200 acres and won’t be fully contained for days. Here’s to all the firefighter’s hard work and to their safety. Being a Fire Chief’s daughter, I have ultimate respect for the job. But being a firefighter in Cape Cod, MA. is a whole lot different than dealing with the terrain of the Yuba County foothills. My thoughts go out to those evacuated from their homes, the young and old dealing with the heavy smoke and all the poor innocent animals involved with this fire. My fingers are crossed that Mother Nature keeps the wind at bay…

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.”

Summer has definitely arrived in Loma Rica. The constant and rhythmic “ch-ch-ch-ch-ch” sound of the sprinklers as they disperse water around the yard and the throughout the orchard is the most obvious (and comforting) sign. Beyond the reach of the sprinklers is the dry, golden color of the native oat grasses and the vibrant blue sky. The days are HOT and nights are pleasant and cool. This is the time of year when we can look at our olive trees and predict what size of harvest we’ll have in the fall.

The flower set was good on most trees, but I can see that by not doing the usual maintenance pruning last summer, I encouraged an alternate bearing cycle. The trees that were loaded with olives last year had nary a flower this year. That means that I’ll become even more friendly with the chainsaw and pruners this year… That being said, the fruit set looks like an average year; not too good, not too bad.

Here it is, the 2nd of February and we’re having 65 degree days…  Typically, we would be in the 40s with some rain and wind. This La Nina weather is nice and all, but really, we need some rain. We have seen less than 8 inches of rain this season and I now wonder what our production will be next year. (No cold weather = no flowers on the trees) Beyond that, even if we do get a good fruit set this year on the trees, we won’t have the water to irrigate. (No water = NO WATER) A double-edged sword, for sure.

Perhaps, 2009 will be the year that everyone in this great state of CA finds out that water is not a limitless commodity. We’ll see.

Although this post has very little to do with olive oil, it does concern farmers and food.

As I sat on a plane to Hong Kong, I came across a few articles in the Wall Street Journal that really got me thinking.  One article was the story of a man who is talking his neighbors into planting gardens of vegetables in place of their lawns. I think that the idea is outstanding on a number of levels.  First, these people are getting produce in return for letting go of their lawns.  Second, the amount of water and fertilizer needed for the lawn is greatly reduced. Third (I could go on), it really builds a connection in people with the food that they consume.

But, there is a problem.  Some of the neighbors dislike the idea very strongly and are now suing this urban farmer. They contend that he is reducing their property values by getting people to convert their perfectly trimmed lawns to “ugly” gardens.  Wow. The “bad” neighbors are taking their complaint to the courts, so we’ll see how it turns out.

There are times when one can have hope in the human race and there are times when one simply cannot…

We think that we have wrapped up most of our harvest. The 2009 picking was a small one… The weather in springtime is simply not cooperating. Just as the olive flowers were opening in May, we got a nasty storm that rolled through with lots of rain and wind. That is a recipe for disaster on its own, but then the weather turned to be very hot just 5 days later. Basically, what flowers survived the rain and wind were dried out by the heat and fell to the ground.

That being said, the flavors of the oils are wonderful. It should be quite a bit of fun to blend them all and launch our first certified organic extra virgin olive oil!

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.