For generations, my family is dedicated to produce high-quality olives and olive oil. Our olive orchard is located in Sellasia which is a small village at the mountainous area around Sparta (Greece). The micro-climate and the native vegetation provides the perfect conditions for producing premium quality olives and olive oil.
In our orchard we grow three main local olive varieties i.e. Kalamata, Koroneiki and Koutsourelia. We produce extra virgin olive oil from all three varieties and Kalamata olives are used also as table olives.
In our region water availability has already become a big problem. For that reason we have decided to produce our olives without irrigation. Because of this decision, in general, we harvest less quantities of olives but of better quality. Compared to olives produced in irrigated olive groves, our olives are firmer in texture and the produced olive oil is of lower acidity, which is an important quality indicator of olive oil.
Given the conditions in our olive grove we have made some management decisions that we think are the best suited for the quality of the product and the sustainability of the olive grove as a whole. Below we describe the main production activities that take place during the year.
Depending on the weather, the variety and the maturity of the olives we begin the harvesting in December and finish around the mid of January. Our olive orchard is located on hilly land which makes it impossible to use heavy machinery for harvesting. When the olives are mature enough and they are ready to be harvested we put nets under the trees and we use small portable devices that shake the branches of the tree until the olives fell on the nets. In this way we minimize the damage to the fruits. Longer branches that are difficult to harvest are cut and harvested by hand on the net. Harvesting is a laborious process that involves a group of four or five people. At the end of each day the fresh olives are transported in crates to the olive oil factory for producing olive oil or to the family’s processing facility to produce table olives. We cold press our olives and we bottle the olive oil as soon as possible after the harvest to maintain its aromas and taste. The olive oil that you receive from us is exactly the same that we use in our home.
By harvesting the olives we remove nutrients that are vital for the maintenance of the tree and the next harvest. If these nutrients are not compensated the soil of the grove is slowly mined and in the long run the soil quality is degraded. To minimize the amount of nutrients that must be imported we shred the pruned branches which decompose on the ground of the olive grove creating a layer of organic matter that promotes bacterial activity and improves utilization of the available nutrients by the trees. Moreover, we promote soil organic matter content by mulching the natural vegetation which comprise also from nitrogen binding legumes like lupins and vetch. To cover the nutrient deficit, after the harvesting, we add slow release fertilizers which are allowed in organic agriculture. These fertilizers (when they come in contact with water) release nutrients in slower pace, compared to standard fertilizers, which reduces the losses of nutrients to both air and ground water. An alternative source of nutrients in the region, that we also use when available, is sheep manure, which is quite scarce and difficult to depend on.
We consider pruning the most important production activity. It is also the most time consuming. The olive tree by nature has the tendency to produce year by year. This means that one year it produces a lot while the other year produces almost nothing. This is not desirable because in the productive year the olive carries a large number of smaller fruits with low content of olive oil. With pruning we aim to regulate the amount of fruits and vegetation in a way that we produce every year enough olives of better quality. In our non-irrigated orchard, pruning is also our way to prepare the tree for dealing with the dry Mediterranean summers.
To maintain humidity and improve the organic matter content of the soil we try to minimize the amount of biomass that leaves the olive grove. For that reason we only mow the natural vegetation once in Spring and we leave residues on the ground as mulch. The mulch acts as a natural cover of the soil and keep humidity for a longer period. Mulching also reduces water competition by weeds during summer when water is scarce. We do not till the soil (which is a common practice in conventional olive orchards) to minimize the erosion and the soil organic matter degradation. As mentioned before the cut branches and leaves from the pruning are shredded and are also left on the soil to decompose.
Because of the dry conditions, in general we have low risk of pest and disease infestations. For that reason we do not do that much... in land between the trees we maintain wild vegetation comprising of aromatic plants, flowers and bushes that are hosts of benefitial organisms contributing to control outbreaks of pests and diseases. We only try to control the infestation of the olive fruit fly during the summer period using traps (also allowed in organic farming). These traps are actually bottles with a small whole that are hanged from the trees. In the bottle we add a solution of water and Sulphur Nitrate which is a harmless salt used also as fertilizer. This solution attracts the fly which enters the bottle and then cannot find its way out.
