September means we have about two more months until harvest time. We have LOTS of olives on the tree. Toward the end of October, we will be keeping one eye on the frost predictions and one eye on the balance of color in the olives. We want to make sure our harvest is completed before a killing frost, while having a mix of ripe fruit with color and green fruit to maximize both oil content and polyphenol levels. Now, at the beginning of September, we only have the green fruit and we don’t yet feel substantial oiliness when we open an olive.

Meanwhile we are looking forward to our Fall Big Valley Small Farms Tour on Saturday, September 9th from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. Banners will be up and we will be ready with oil to taste and stories to tell about this year in the orchard.