Fall at the farm has been busy. First on the list was to get started on our five-year NRCS Conservation Plan activities. This year’s project grant meant planting native oaks in our fallow fields to increase the biodiversity and natural habitat on the farm. We were able to successfully germinate five black oak acorns into robust little plants. The rest of the two dozen oak saplings came from the East Bay Wilds Nursery in Oakland, CA.
As part of our ongoing grant activities we filled in our hedgerow with more sugar bush and coyote bush, so that we can achieve a more robust pollinator habitat along our western border.
As Fall moved quickly toward harvest, we hung yellow sticky traps in the trees to observe any sign of olive fruit fly infestation that if left unchecked, can ruin a whole crop. We managed to keep the flies under control fairly quickly. We were also on a constant look out for yellow jacket nests, trying to eliminate them from the orchard to keep us and the harvest crew safe from serious stings. The photo is of a nest dug up by an animal, perhaps a coyote or a racoon.
Of course part of the observation routine is to keep track of how ripe the olives are getting. We like to see a 60/40 mix of ripe and green fruit. We have to wait until we can taste the oil from the bottle to determine this year’s flavor balance and robustness.
And before we know it, it’s harvest time. We had a wonderful crew of extended family to take on the preparations needed to be ready by harvest day. Macrobins and smaller bins and picking baskets needed to be hosed out; the electric rakes had to be greased and charged; and the nets needed laying out in the orchard. By November 10th all was ready for the arrival of our harvest crew, experienced farm workers who have harvested our olives in past years. Two and a half days of intense work during which our sons drove 16 macro bins of olives to the Chacewater Olive Mill — all before the rains began. Two pickup trucks of oil barrels went off to the co-packer in Fairfield to finish the process.
