Wishing you were here with us!



It's all ready for pickin' mandarins, oranges..


and olives+olives+olives ....







...on the magic day of november 5th the day that Obama was elected! with a big smile we gave a start to the harvest, with the help of Amazing Bernadette, aka Olivia...all the way from Colorado...



Romoletto and Tashi were very helpful too with the picking..





Mamma kitty and Romoletto rest after the hard work





Time to gather the olives and take them to our first milling

.




Here the olives arrive at the mill, and go down in the chute, up the conveyer belt, get washed and the finally grinded
and, to make it easier to understand how it all works, here's a short clip from inside the mill with our first oil...



We ended up picking 3,750 kilos of olives, about 7850 lbs, with 580 liter of super extravirgin olive oil totally organic, about an average yield of 15.5 % per 100 kilos...not bad for first timers !








Construction is STILL going on, slower and slower...





but we managed to have great friends visiting around a real kitchen table..



Tashi also enjoys visits..

a And

after, nice stroll in the village

And also upstairs the rooms are nearly done, it begins to look like a home...




in the corridor, towards the office



and toward manish's room



this is Manish's room



and Franny's, with Tashi's bed as well under the table..


As soon as the olive harvest ended we were hit by the worst StormS in 40 years, house flooded and lots of vacuuming water from under the house. we didn't take photos cause at the moment we missed a good sense of humor about...however the rain has stopped and we are fine. a new kitten was brought in by the storm, so the family grows..



Many wishes to all of you, dearest friends, for a very Merry Christmas/Melekalikimaka and a very Prosperous New Year!!!!!

A rich summer in olive country

summer is almost over and we're catching up with all of you, we miss you all!



travelling through America and crossing 2 oceans the container from Maui showed up in town! with great anticipation people are looking at the big truck...wondering



fueled by a certain dose of curiosity and some kindness a good bunch showed up to help



but opening the dam door was not an easy task, several people tried..


try again!





they all helped to unload "unreal" heavy stuff, wondering why would we bring it all the way...however next day Manish went to help to put up the podium for the summer festivity of the Madonna degli Angeli, a very "manly" thing to do here



The fire works went on for hours and even early in the morning. Poor Tashi ran in the bed for shelter from the explosions of sounds





so we decided to take some days off and go to the sea. Family and dogs all out in the boat



Manish couldn't be happier, finally someone to play with, with lovely Emilia



Back home, to the market for some good prosciutto and cheese...



...and some new tools...




this is how the kitchen looked 2 weeks ago, we dont know how we did it, but now it looks so cozy in just 5 days. we worked at it from early am till late night, needed to be ready for the 1st guest!! Renu is coming!



Renu arrived and we went all over the places, this is the Tarot Garden, the best garden I have seen in centuries!!!





and then the classic visit to Rome...secretly i prefer the olives trees and the Tarot Garden, but Rome is a must see soooooo...



we're doing all the foot work in preparation for our guests, we expect the 1st guests in october and more are booking flights! we'll need help for the olive season coming up in december, any takers?