‘La Familia’, the Olive Harvest of 2025

This year brought the best olive harvest we’ve had since arriving on the farm, both in quality as quantity. After a long period of drought, storms, and weather extremes, it felt like a gift to walk through the fields and see the trees filled with olives. The heavy rains of this year ended a three-year drought that had severely reduced our olive production. And although the spring hailstorm damaged many young branches and scared us deeply, the fruit itself remained untouched.

What made this year’s harvest truly special was sharing it with our family. They had blocked the dates months in advance and travelled all the way from The Netherlands—something they’ve done since the very first harvest. Their support from day 0 is something we will always cherish, without them we would not be here. Harvesting olives has become a tradition we treasure: days being together, filled with good food, laughter, hard work, and now children playing together between the trees. These small, grounding moments remind us why we have spent the past five years building not just a farm, but a safe and welcoming place.

This harvest we tried to bring together everything we’ve learned: working hard, yet also giving space for joy. Kara from Other Blues joined us for a natural wine tasting among the olive trees, and Michael from Creative Catering prepared a big paella made with our own vegetables. Between harvesting, we played with the children in the forest and olive fields. We truly believe this special energy lives in the olive oil that came from this experience.

The olives came from several different fields across the farm, each one carrying its own story. One field is Viggo’s food forest, planted just two years ago. The trees there are now taller than us, soil life has exploded, and we’ve already harvested lettuces, cabbage and broad beans. Soon, we hope to taste the first apples and pears.

(Below picture shows the nets hanging over the young food forest line inbetween 2 olive lines, adding complexity but increasing life and yield of other produce).

Two other fields have been managed over the years by cutting grasses by hand, creating mulch for the olive trees. Soil life and moisture retention have improved so much that we now see mushrooms and an increasing diversity of wild plants—a beautiful sign of recovery. During harvest we sowed a winter cover crop, added new support trees, and mulched with woodchips to further improve soil health and the vitality of the olive trees.

Every two days we drove the freshly picked olives to the local press to keep the quality as high as possible. The olive oil came back with an acidity below 0.3% (Extra Virgin is anything below 0.8%). This kind of quality is simply not found in supermarket ‘oils’. Most supermarket olive oil—unless clearly stated otherwise—is not from the first press but often the 3rd or 4th. With that, real nutrition from the soil is hardly present.

We are extremely happy to share this year’s olive oil with you—especially those who have been following and supporting us for years. This oil holds the story of our land, our family, our challenges, our community and our gratitude. By buying our olive oil, you support our work, your own health, and the future of small-scale agroecology. It also makes a thoughtful gift during the festive season, a way to share love and nourishment with others.

Our bottles come in 250ml & 500ml, and for those who want a deeper connection, you can also adopt an olive tree, which gives you 5 liters of olive oil from that tree’s abundance. You can find everything in the shop on our website.

We are grateful to share this harvest with you, and we hope the olive oil nourishes you as much as it nourished us while producing it!

Even though our last update was almost 2 years ago, we will soon share our summary of 2025 at the farm, stay tuned!

Carlo, Coralie, Paolo & Artur