The 2024 Olive Harvest: A Good Year for Our Trees

This year's olive harvest was one of the best we've had in a long time. The winter rain was generous, spring wasn't too hot, and by the time picking started in early October, the trees across our members' land were loaded with fruit. A few of our older farmers said they hadn't seen a season like it in years.

The oil turned out just as good as the harvest looked. Because everyone gets their olives to the press within a few hours of picking, and because we're strict about sorting out anything damaged or overripe, most of this year's batches came in with very low acidity — genuinely extra virgin, not just technically. The oil from our higher groves in particular had that deep green color and peppery bite people ask for by name.

None of it would come together without everyone pitching in. Grandmothers, teenagers back from school for the season, cousins who drove in just to help — the whole thing runs on people showing up for each other, the way it always has here. Our women members handled most of the coordination this year: who presses when, whose tarps go where, who's watching the kids while the rest of us are up in the groves.

"Honestly, I don't remember a season this good," one of our members told us, laughing, after dropping off her family's olives at the press. Money from this year's harvest goes straight back to our members and into the shared equipment fund — we're still a way off from the second press we've been saving up for, but a season like this helps. Thank you to everyone who picked, sorted, and pressed this year. See you back in the groves next season.