We're planting olive trees, about 50 of them, and you are welcome to join us on October 6, 2108. I'll call them "plants" for now, as they're quite small. But they'll grow nicely into the 12' x 15' rows that we've staked for them. With a little irrigation, scarce pruning and tender care we should have more than a few gallons of olive oil to spare.

We chose the Arbequina (Olea europaea "Arbequina") cultivar. Unlike Charbono (the rare grape varietal that we chose), Arbequina is quickly becoming the cultivar of choice for new plantings in California. Mild, buttery, and abundant in production, farmers in the West love it. Arbequina is also cold-tolerant, which is important for our occasionally cold Winters.

While olives trees have always been a part of our plan, we decided to get a jump on planting this Fall to space out what will be a very busy nine months on the property. With the expected delivery of 550+ grapevines in the Spring, planting the olives now seemed like a wise way to spread our work around.