Drawing an Olive Oil Sample

Well, here's our super scientific method of drawing a sample.

Just look at this beautiful 2013 oil.

Burst PVC Pipe

That doesn't look right.

Meet Kaya

Guardian of the Grove

Destroyer of Irrigation

She's a helper.

Olive Frost Damage Photographs

Hard hit Maurino. Notice foliage loss on this small tree.

Typical damage.

Notice discoloration of leaf tips. These are now dry and easily crumbled one week after injury.

This large bushy Maurino only suffered damage at the tips.
 

Splitting from freeze on some of the smaller branches

Olive Tree Frost Damage

Looking at the local weather station stats, we had a 7 day run of sub 30F nights with the lowest coming in at 21.3F

Of the three main types of olives we have planted -Maurino, Frantoio, and Leccino- the Maurino seems to have been hit the hardest.  It is the slowest growing tree in our grove and has the smallest leaves of the three.  The smaller the tree, maybe a 3 foot diameter, the more damage.  The larger, more full trees have damage  contained to the outer branches.

Frankly I was surprised that it was the Maurino most affected.  The cold tolerance of this tree is notable and I believe this tree is a selection for less warm and sunny climates such as Oregon.

This link to a report from Bill Krueger, the Glenn County Farm Advisor, details freeze damage from two notable cold weather events in 1990 and 2010.  Particularly worrying are defoliation photos from the 2010 event which had a low of 23F, two degrees warmer than this 2013 event.

The take home message from this report is;

• Plant hardy cultivars for your climate
• Reduce Nitrogen after July
• Avoid major pruning in the Fall
• Don't over water after harvest
• Water well in Spring to promote recovery
• Request no temperatures under 32F in your prayers

Frost Tolerance of Eight Cultivars by Barranco, Ruiz, and Gomez-del Campo
University of California, Lessons From a Record Breaking Freeze

California Cold Snap

    It just doesn't seem right that those words in the title should belong in the same sentence.  Well, after a week plus of night time temps dipping to the low teens twenties at the grove - that's Fahrenheit you those of you afflicted with the less precise scale of Celsius- , we've finally broken into more proper December weather with temps in the mid 60's.  Shout out to Chris in Maine...

    The trees seem to have taken a little bit of a beating but hopefully no losses with the smaller trees.    I'll post later some photos of frost damaged leaves.  The affected leaves have a brown coloration and the margins roll ventrally towards the midrib, or center vein.  No damage to the trunks seen yet.  The propogated trees from Summer I kept indoors at night so all are still thriving.

    Also, some larger olive trees at the 2500 foot elevation seem to have weathered the cold healthily as well.

Olive Curing

My daughter is trying her hand at curing some olives.  Here is a great resource we found from UC Davis, Olives, Safe Methods for Pickling

We are using the water curing methods, no lye.  Frankly lye scares me.  It's more popular uses are for the production of methamphetamine,  food curing, and  soap.  My grandmother-in-law was just telling me the other day about her adventures making laundry soap as a child.  After butchering large animals on the farm She would mix the tallow and lye in a large cauldron over an open fire reducing it to soap.  She advised the soap was not for contact with human skin.  I'm sticking with the water cure method.