Tempo di OLIO!
Cari amici di Italian Anywhere,
Today I want to tell you about my OLIVE HARVEST and the OIL I’ve made—something that fills me with deep pride. From a small mailing list of about 200 people came a flood of unexpected messages, each asking for a litre or two. So, I decided to share this story.
In a month, my brother and I gathered nearly 800 kilos of olives, yielding 160 litres of pure, 100% organic extra virgin olive oil (cold press) —made just as our grandparents did.
We don’t use heavy shakers that harm the trees and spoil the fruit. Only a small electric comb, gentle and patient. That’s why our oil is called ANTICHI LEGAMI (Ancient Bonds) —a tribute to the old ways still alive in our hands.
When the nets are full, we load the olives and bring them to the FRANTOIO (the village mill) where the night hums with life: cars, tractors, and little vans arrive one after another until midnight. The air is thick with the scent of crushed olives, the machines roar like a heartbeat, and everyone waits their turn with pride, rivalry, and curiosity, guarding their harvest as if it were treasure.
No one dares to mix their olives. “Mine are better than yours!” echoes in the air.
Just two days ago, I brought in the last 200 kilos. My car was overflowing, and for the first time, I truly felt like a farmer; or better yet, ‘una produttrice di olio’ (a maker of oil). One of the few women in that restless crowd, I felt charged with energy, like the olives themselves were pulsing through me.
This year, the price of oil has doubled. More young people are returning to the fields, and more care is being given to picking green olives—those that yield a purer, less acidic oil, unlike the overripe harvests of the past. It’s really promising, considering that extra virgin olive oil is so healthy and there are so many abandoned olive trees!
There are still olives ripening on my trees, but I’ll admit it: I’m tired. It’s beautiful work—but hard work. Maybe next year we’ll harvest more, with new nets, new tools, and maybe new hands to share the joy.
Just imagine it: come to Calabria, stay with us for free, spend a few days among the olive trees, help with the harvest, and go home with your own fresh oil.
Or—if you can’t make it—you can adopt an olive tree and still get its oil delivered to you. Your own personal tree in the South of Italy… bragging rights included!
And if you just want to buy some oil, no problem—just let me know as soon as possible so I can sort out the shipping.
Grazie,
Anna
