IT'S ALL ABOUT THE OLIVES

At Casa Mimosa the work done in the olive grove reflects in the olives and the quality of our oil. We only have 98 trees that we look after ourselves. The year starts in February when we give all of the trees their organic fertiliser in the hope that we will get some rain to start the feeding process. Soon after that we start to prune the trees, which is only possible in dry weather as moisture can cause a lot of damage to the trees, this can take several months for us, we're not as quick as our neighbours. In May the flowers start to form and tiny olive start to appear soon after. We carry out a second prune in September to make the harvest easier and to get more light and air to the beautiful green olives. In October the olives start to go black. We harvest the olives in late October to the beginning of November when we have a good mix of green and black olives, both are needed to achieve the delicious peppery taste of fresh extra virgin olive oil.

PRUNING IN SPRING

When we start pruning in spring the trees are very full, we cut all of the branches from the top of the trees to promote growth of the olives on the lower branches which are easier to harvest and to keep the trees at a manageable height. We also thin all of the lower branches, the saying is that the swallows should be able to fly between the branches freely.

HARVEST

If you're lucky enough some friends will come to help you harvest. It's hard work so they might only come once or decide to sit down on the job!

The olives are taken to the local press to be weighed and cold pressed. The fresh olive oil is green and cloudy and quite a delicacy here in Umbria but after a couple of months the oil clears to a beautiful green/yellow depending on the olives.

THE EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL

After months of loving care the oil is finally bottled and ready for sale. We only bottle a few at a time so the oil stays fresher in the steel containers.

We are a small producer so quantities are limited to around 100 litres per year, when you buy from us you can be guaranteed that all of the olives are grown on our own property where we do not use any chemicals.