The Olive Feast

Every other year our 2 olive trees bear enough fruit to harvest and process. We have no idea what type of olive trees we have. There is one which produces large green olives which would eventually turn dark, and one that bears small black olives. RXC harvests the them by hand and now that the trees are stripped he will prune them down to a very short height.

Olives are bitter and not edible until cured. We have processed the olives using a variety of techniques from a chemical soak in caustic soda for several hours, to simply soaking the raw olives in water which has to be changed daily over a 5-6 week period. Once the bitterness is removed they can be preserved in brine or our favorite method which is to pack them in olive oil with herbes and spices and keep them in the refrigerator.

This year we are simply soaking the olives in water and are just ending week one. A flavor test today proved that the olives are still extremely bitter and will need much more time in water. Normally we get enough olives to last us about a year.

Fall Colors

This year's display of fall colors has been incredible. After a dry summer, a cool fall without a freeze, and no rain at all until last week the leaves stayed on the vines and the trees long enough to give us a glorious show. It is interesting to see the different colors the vines turn depending on the variety of grape. The sweeping vineyard landscapes are stunning as is the vivid yellow outside our front door this morning.