Becky Nelson visited her cousin Pamela who is co-owner of Grumpy Goats Farm in California where they produce organic olive oil. They have 8000 olive trees on 17 acres northwest of Sacramento. Pamela was connected by phone during the meeting so she could answer our questions while Becky showed and narrated photos she took.
This farm in the Capay Valley gets around 12 inches of rain annually so irrigation hoses deliver water to each row of trees. They produce 1000 gallons of olive oil in a good year. There are several large growers in California in addition to small growers like Pamela and only about 1% of the olive oil used in the US is home grown.They contract with a “manager” who provides the workers to hand pick the olives. Strict guidelines cover worker rights which include number of hours worked each day, breaktimes, drinking water available and port a potties. The manager was responsible for all of these and workers were paid $20 per hour.
Like many fruits, the olives on one tree will be in various stages of ripening. They want a blend of 60% green olives and 40% ripe olives which will be black or purple.
The olives are picked and then driven to a mill for processing the same day to ensure optimum freshness. They produce extra virgin olive oil so the olives are sorted, washed and crushed without using any extra heat. Centrifuges separate the oil from the rest of the olive which is discarded.
Becky brought a bottle of each of four olive oils that this farm produces so we could taste them. How interesting since most of us just look for words like light, virgin and extra virgin!
60/40 blend of picked olives ready for washing
The bottle lists the specific variety in it and the Grumpy Goats Farm website says the oil can be purchased at the Driftless Market in Platteville.
