Olio, olio, olio, olio. Sempre olio

Today I was down the mill to watch the first olives of the season being pressed. The render rate (oil to weight of olives being pressed) was low at 12.2% but this is normal for the first pressing. The oil was cold pressed and unfiltered and then bottled/tinned up in preparation for the Olio Nuovo market in Trevi tomorrow. Just in time delivery eh!

Picking

I think picking olives is probably one of the best all over workout's you can give your body whilst being legal possible.

So if you want to get in shape then you are very welcome here at Casa Margherita to pick olives. As always conditions apply. There is no pay, no benefits, no unions, no boss - just the rake, a tree, olives and you.

Stretch, hold and relax. Feel those abb's.

Ah. The joys of picking.

Using muscle groups that have been dormant and rudely awaken. Feeling physically tired at the end of the day. Wobbling unsteadily atop a badly placed ladder. Your dog eating the olives that you are picking. Really needing to eat cause you're hungry rather than greedy.

Day 1. Picked 5 trees.  Good though as we have over 130 kilos in the bag.

An autumnal scene

An autumnal scene. There is a clump of chestnut trees at the top of the hill from Casa Margherita and is on one of our favourite morning walks.

This season's are not very good as it has been too hot late into October and we have also has very little rain. Not a good combination for chestnuts.

For vineyards owners it means a smaller harvest but better quality wine.

For olive tree owners - I will let you know as we start picking tomorrow.

Modern shepherding techniques

On the way back from Borgo Trevi today whilst using the back roads I came across a modern shepherd who was driving his sheep along the road from the relative comfort of his Fiat Panda.

You can just imagine his father saying "you youngsters have it easy, in my day....."

Private label

Today I was organising a courier for our first delivery of private label olive oil which will shortly be for sale in two restaurants in London. Hopefully they will go well.

Rachel is working hard on the publicity materials for the Trevi olive festival - Frantoi Aperti http://www.frantoiaperti.net/ - and I have been making final preparations for picking.

Exhibiting

Rachel is currently having an exhibition in Trevi during it's Ottobre Trevana festival in one of our favourite restaurants Taverna Del Sette.

This is one of the works showing called Perseid (a print) which I love and hope is not sold. It is inspired by the meteor shower we saw in the summer.

Ugo - a month on

We are very lucky as he is a superb dog. Has settled in so well and gets on with our other hound, Winnie, so it's a real pleasure to have them both here at Casa Margherita.

As you can imagine he has energy so his staff at Casa Margherita are doing two long walks every day. At the start this used to be to take the edge off him but now he is much more settled but it is a habit, albeit a good one for our "bella figura".

We have started his truffle hunting training with a small truffle in a sock which we throw and get him to bring back rather than eat it. This being the most important discipline.

Bending over

Here we see one of the Casa Margherite olives with it's branches bending over under the weight of the olives being carried on them. A fine sight for any grove owner.

This month there are three new olive oil (olio nuovo) markets in Trevi and many others locally so we will begin picking somewhere around the middle of the month so as to have oil for sale in these markets.