2024 was not a good year for the olive trees.

A lethal combination of extreme weather and some nasty frosts just before harvest meant we were looking at some pretty barren trees. About a week before harvest we inspected the trees and made the difficult decision not to harvest.

Our trees were still too small to pick with a machine, so everything was still needing to be done by hand. And with so little fruit on the trees it just wasn’t worth it.

When we chatted to other grove owners around the country we discovered that many had the same issues. This year the trees just weren’t producing the same amount of fruit, and what fruit they did offer was small and yielded little oil.

It felt like pouring 12 months of work down the drain, but it was a comfort knowing that in 2025 we’d be looking at machine harvesting for the first time!

We also had plenty of 2023’s oil to sell, so we were able to keep our customers happy!

We’ve heard that olives like to give you a big effort one year and then take the next year off… but didn’t expect it to be this extreme.

Regardless, bring on 2025!