Adopt an olive

The other day a friend and I were discussing the topic of buying more of our food locally, supporting local farmers and finding ways to give back to the land when she told me about the possibility of adopting an olive tree. Living in Italy, we have  an unlimited availability of olive oil (among other locally produced foods) and easy access to buying relatively nearby and directly from the farmers. But why not take it one step further and adopt your very own olive tree and not only help to keep ancient farming traditions alive but to know exactly where your oil is coming from and even visit and hug your very own olive tree! 

Reading the novel that was recently recommended by Sali here, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, I am taking more steps toward eating solely organic and more importantly buying from local sources. This may be just one small step, but it is the start of many, in an effort to really understand where our food comes and how it arrives onto our plates.

There are  many different people that you can adopt an olive tree from and they vary in region and price to the quantity of oil that you receive from your trees harvest.

Nudo  was set up in 2005 by Jason Gibb and Cathy Rogers,  after they bought and restored an abandoned 21 acre olive grove in Italy's Le Marche.

The Nudo Olive tree programme allows people all over the world to adopt an Italian olive tree and receive its oil made from 100% natural, high quality, locally sourced ingredients. Nudo’s olive trees grow in lovingly tended groves in the east of Italy and in Sicily. Many of the olive groves conveniently have an agriturismo on site so you can stay there too!

Nudo also offer an adopt a tea garden program from the Nudo tea gardens situated in the Darjeeling region,which lies in the most north western corner of the state of Bengal, India.

Adopt an Olive Tree in Tuscany and come to harvest with us, Montestigliano who announced its “Adopt an Olive Tree” program during the 2013 harvest. You can purchase their own piece of Tuscan heaven, an olive tree located atop the estate’s sunny slopes. The olive grove targeted for adoption 
includes trees high on the windswept hills that once produced the finest oil on the estate, but that were heavily damaged in the freeze of 1985.

In 2009, during a visit to the family groves, three (TRE) cousins of the treolive family run olive tree groves discussed how we could avoid selling our oil to the large companies who often dilute olive oil with lesser-quality oils from around the world. "We know the pride we feel when we share our olive oil with others and tell its story – our story". 

I will let you know when my first bottle arrives!

xTracey