This year I finally made good on my promise to help my friends Gemma, Paolo, and Viola at Villa Campestri Olive Oil Resort in Mugello. This is a place we often bring clients for Gemma’s wonderful olive oil tasting, for wonderous meals in their restaurant (including a dark warm chocolate cake made with olive oil that is not to be missed!!!), and for the serene and breath-taking views over the Mugello plain, not to mention their generous hospitality.
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The Joy of the Olive Harvest
Camaraderie in the open air
I look forward to the olive harvest in my beloved Tuscany every year! I will never forget my first harvest in the early 90’s. I began gingerly removing each olive, one at a time. This lasted about two minutes, until I observed my companions stripping olives from each branch with abandon. And then I just clocked into the rhythm and the oneness with the trees and the sky and the liberating movement. It became my autumnal therapy, and those years when I could not manage to get to the groves, I deeply felt the loss.
November is the time for the olive harvest in Tuscany. On the appointed first day of the harvest I presented myself dressed in multiple layers so I could adjust to the cool early mornings, the sun-filled midday, and the cooling afternoons as the sun disappears behind the hill. My teammates Luca and Bea were already at work, having spread the nets under several trees in the row of trees assigned to us. They had begun stripping olives quickly off the branches. Luca spent a great deal of his time on a ladder or climbing into the trees themselves to reach the top branches that were heavy with fruit. I stuck firmly to the ground and harvested the lower branches, the inside tangles of branches, and up as far as I could reach. Bea, with a little rake that looks like a plastic hand on a pole, reached up above me to strip the branches just beyond my reach. Other teams were working nearby, chattering, singing, generally light-hearted. It is the nature of the work, being outside in the clean air and far from the busy-ness of the modern-day world, that produces the free-spirited atmosphere and camaraderie.
We worked companionably, mostly in silence, occasionally bursting into song. The weather was perfect, sunny, with a light breeze. The olives ranged from still pretty green fruit reluctant to be harvested to dark mature olives that popped off the branches. The cases filled quickly, and we went from one tree to the next, stripping, then gathering the harvested olives, picking out the branches and excess leaves that came flying off the branches in the process, and pouring them into cases before moving on. The cleaning is necessary to do as the cases are filled so that when they are taken to the frantoio (where the olives harvested that day are immediately processed), they require a minimum amount of cleaning as they are fed down into the crusher.
We broke for our picnic lunches. I happily ate apples from a nearby tree that was overflowing with delicious fruit and combined them with pecorino and nuts. Bea generously shared her dark chocolate. Perfect to keep me going for the rest of the day!
As the sun disappeared behind the hill, it grew cooler, and the light began to fade. We finished off the last couple of trees in our line around 4:30 and, after pouring the olives into cases and repositioning the nets for the next day, I headed for the Oleoteca to see how I could help. I was happy to set myself to clean olives as they fed into the mill, removing as much of the remaining branches and leaves as possible to keep the filter unclogged.
Once in the mill, the olives are washed and crushed, creating a mash of pulp and pits that is gently mixed in a mixing machine. Afterward the pulp and the pits are separated from the olive oil through a process of centrifugation. The olive oil is then filtered and finally stored in large stainless steel containers. And if you are lucky, your extra efforts in the frantoio may be rewarded with a small can of wonderful olio nuovo, with its slightly biting taste that opens your senses and blossoms into your nostrils. (Gemma will be happy to teach you how to properly taste olive oil!!)
From their more than 2500 olive trees they produced this year at Campestri 2,100 kilos of wonderful extra-virgin olive oil. As Gemma said, while the yield (of extra virgin olive oil per ton of fruit) was less than optimal, the quality is exceptional!
My thanks to Gemma, Paolo and Viola -- to all of the Pasquali family! -- for letting me join in!.
I, unfortunately, was hampered by Covid from re-joining them at Campestri after the first week. I did manage to help friends in my hometown of Barberino di Mugello for a day. Their process is a little different as they only have a few hundred trees, do not have their own mill, and use a powered battering fork to get to the top of the trees. (No ladders!) As you can see, our overseer worked hard with us, luxuriating in the warm fall sun!
It is, wherever you are able to participate, a convivial effort, my very own brand of occupational therapy that I do my best not to miss every year.
All over Tuscany this year the yield is down but the quality of the oil is exceptional. Evviva olio nuovo!!! Hooray for the new olive oil!! And may next year’s harvest be unimpeded by pandemic or any other crisis that threatens one of Tuscany’s most important and iconic products!
If you are interested in participating in the olive harvest, please GET IN TOUCH!!! Although Campestri closes for the season before the harvest begins, I am sure we can figure something out!!! It’s what we do. Well.
What a year! Our busiest yet!!
We discovered that everyone was really ready to travel in 2022!!
Celebrating a 50th wedding anniversary
It's been a long two years of not going anywhere...time to get going!
Ringing out the old year, ringing in the new!
It is almost too strong to resist, this itching to go! We not only agree and encourage your dreaming of your next trip, but are here and ready to help you plan it! It's never too early to start planning. And while regulations will be shifting for some time to come, it is good to be and stay informed about what is possible and what not at the destination you have in mind. Are hotels and restaurants open? Museums? Workshops and other activities? Are guides available to deepen your understanding of what you are seeing? Can one move from one part of the country to another without encountering obstacles? What kind of protections can be built into your trip in case of cancellation or interruption? The situation in Europe is very slow to improve. While England is beginning to open up, the rest of us are behind in vaccine rollout and openings. In Italy, for example, at the moment in orange zones you can eat in a restaurant at lunchtime but only take out is available at dinner, and there is a 10pm curfew in place at least until the end of April. Pressure is building on the Italian government to open more quickly, but given the slow momentum of the vaccine rollout and the explosion of variants, it is questionable how safe further openings are.
Sharing artworks created by our clients from their journeys.
2021 is upon us! We longed for it, we waited for it, seemingly endlessly, and here it is! Uncertainties still abound, but new hope is in the air. Time to PLAN!!!! What new adventures would you like to undertake this year? Where would you like to travel…first? …second? Are you ready to think about traveling in the fall of 2021? Planning is a more active pursuit than dreaming. We all did that in 2020. It’s such a therapeutic activity. But planning, if you want to travel in 2021, is more essential than ever. Venues will open slowly, perhaps limited in capacity. Forethought, reservations, calculations, leaving room for improvisation and regrouping are imperative to be sure that your journey is as memorable as you envision. We’re here. We are eager to help you realize your dreams. It’s what we do. Well. Happy, healthy, joyous new year to all!!! We deserve to realize the hope it brings. And to venture forth on the promised adventures!!
December, 2020 Dear Friends, The year 2020 is not one many of us wish to remember in detail. We have struggled individually and collectively with many issues, some urgently life-threatening or emotionally devastating. So to adopt a cheery, devil-may-care attitude looking back over this unprecedented time seems utterly inappropriate. But we have individually and collectively accomplished things in this period that are worth remembering. Here at Cornucopia Journeys we launched our new web site last March — exquisite timing, to be sure! The new site includes a Journal that gives us time and space to reflect on journeys we have planned or taken or might take, experiences awaiting us, and reflections on moments and people that are worth remembering. So instead of highlighting the journeys people took in 2020 — and of course, there were none this year — we are offering this year’s Journal stories for your perusal, to visit or revisit as your time and inclination may allow. Just click on one below and enjoy. And please note, we are always looking for new topics that might interest you, so please let us know your suggestions for future posts. You know how to reach us! We look forward to "seeing" you in the new year and to helping some of you create new adventures. Remember, it's never too early to start planning! And it's never too late to ask for a helping hand. As we all begin to look forward to a future without Covid, we are eager to help you expand your horizons! It's what we do. Well. Our very best, from our hearts to your homes, Barbara & Anne
When most flatlanders (that is, non-native visitors) think of Vermont, they picture its spectacular fall foliage, its iconic maple syrup, and its ski resorts. All good cornerstones to the Vermont image and its economy. But there is way more to Vermont than its traditional icons.
