Dear All,
We have just bottled the last of our extra virgin olive oil of the 2026 harvest: down to the last 100 bottles: if you would like some order now!!
For our standard 500ml bottle with built in pourer:
1 bottle $25
2 bottles $50
4 bottles $90
8 bottles $180
Each year we have our oil laboratory tested, a key figure of interest is its polyphenol content: This year it is 466 mg/kg. This is the highest level we have produced at Shalumar over the last 15 years: definitely what they describe as a ‘robust’ oil. It’s the polyphenols that are the key to its health benefits.
The grove continues to look good, no obvious disease present, trees very healthy.
There is good sub soil moisture, although the pastures have been noticeably drying out through August.
We will start some irrigating of the olive grove in the last weeks of August.
Flowering is around mid-October, so we need reasonable moisture levels in September/October. We hope for a good crop as theoretically it is an ‘on year’ for the trees, which tend to bi-annual cropping.
On the wider farm front: calving has commenced. We now have 12 calves on the ground, waiting on the last 4 births. Of the 12, 10 are now sporting bright yellow ear tags: this is an exciting process for me, the calves and the mums!
Anthony has taken more bird pictures: he sighted a Kestrel hunting in our nature area. We have 3 areas put aside for the wildlife: the main creek, what we call the folly dam and a new area again involving a small creek. The main creek strip has been fenced off for 20 years and is quite luxuriant. Prior to fencing the cattle degraded the creek edges quite thoroughly.
Our new boundary fence is now completed and a thing of beauty. I am reminded of the reverie in the Colorbond TV advert when I stop by to admire it.
There is much talk of El Nino: the drying off of the pasture may be the start: who knows. Certainly the long term forecast for eastern NSW is slightly drier than normal.
So we take each week as it comes, and wait to see what unfolds.
Alan
0419255949