Pruning olive trees with Andrew Taylor at the Loopline Gove

More than 30 Wairarapa olive growers gathered in the warm sun at Kate and Mark Bunny's property at Loopline. Arranged by Andrew Priddle in the field day series for ONZ Wairarapa, this pruning session build on the two Andrew did last year in the Akrotiri Grove.

Taking several branches laden with ripe black olives, Andrew dramatically placed these on the ground; Koroneki, Barnea and Manzanilla. The trees around us were bereft of olives, with the Wairarapa harvest having been in early July. Where were these from? How come these branches still have olives. Its harvest time in the Hawkes Bay responded Andrew! This response underpined the keys of our session on pruning.

Prune for local conditions. Local being New Zealand rather than italian or spanish conditions. In New Zealand we have younger trees, better soils and therefore greater flower to fruit ratios. So pruning to enable the tree to hold these large amounts of fruit was essential.

Andrew took some time to teach us olive physiology as it relates to pruning. Prune to let the sun in and to stimulate growth of new branches in areas weak in canopy. In this grove Andrew was pruning to stimulate canopy growth and a tree structure to hold more fruit two seasons into the future. Right: Andrew deciding which is the central leader and which is the competition.

andrew worked with several principals: 3 large cuts per tree, 30% of the current canopy is taken. These cuts allow the sun into the inner part of the tree, and enable air circulation. Crucial in humid times after rain, when virus and fungi are in the air, wind circulation lessens the chances of these taking hold. Other pruning cuts are smaller and for tree hygeine (low branches remaining in the shade, and are likely to attract disease) or cutting low hanging branches for ease of grove management, e.g. mowing.

The inner structure of the remaining tree enables air circulation and diminishes fungal and other diseases. Dismissive of the 'bird can fly through the olive tree', Andrew proposed being able to identify who is on the other side of the tree was a more workable measure of density.

Using the branches he had had bought, Andrew showed how us to assess the internode length (the space between the leaves). Where the leaf meets the stem, the flower catkins emerge. Each catkin might have 8 flowers. In many countries, the ratio of flowers to fruit set is 2 - 3%. Andrew showed us the flower to fruit ratio on the branches he had bought. These were closer to 40%.

He indicated the short internode distance meant that the tree was stressed either by lack of water, disease or just too much fruit. This meant the stressed tree would not produce so much fruit in subsequent years which has implications for pruning and grove management.

I was fascinated by the manzanilla branch with lush black olives. I squeezed one, the inner fruit was moist and dark red. Bitter to taste but not too bitter. I was amazed the birds hadn't stolen these fruit and loved seeing the abundance on the branches. Right: The three cuts opening the tree to the north, to stimulate new growth and canopy mass.

Andrew linked several themes in his presentation to last years session in determining the number of olives per kilo, (1120 for koroneki, 240 for manzanilla), assessing the cost of harvesting trees when there is only a few kilos of fruit ($5 per tree and 10kg fruit means 50c kilo in getting fruit to the press, obviously less where there is more kilos of fruit per tree.

Andrew set to work. Begining on the north facing side of the tree ( where the wind and sun comes from in Wairarapa), he assessed little canopy or future canopy with the current tree structure. Thinking the trees would be harvested by shaker in the following season he looked for a central leader branch and a more open inner structure of the tree. Each cut was made to stimulate growth. He encouraged us to leave the 5 - 8 shoots which will grow in response to the cut. If these shoots are trimmed too early, the desirable shoots grow inwards and this renders them useless as structural branches later on.

To stimulate branches growing to the north, Andrew used his chainsaw to make cuts in the north facing trunks around hip height. These were painted immediately with Bacseal as were all the cuts he made. Spring pruning means moisture or disease can easily enter the cuts so sealing these immediately is essential.

Andrew identified January as the time of year to remove water shoots from the base of the tree. A dry January that is, so again no water carrying disease can enter the site where the shoots have been removed.

Over the next hour, Andrew pruned four trees; all different varieties and stages of development. The same principles were used with each tree. The session drew to a close at 4pm and we moved off to taste five different oils in the late afternoon sun.

The first oil was from Loopline and was a blend, then two from Leafy Ridge, the fourth from Odell's Stone Valley and the fifth from Julie's Greytown gold. We smelled the aromas and did our best to identify the aroma's; herbs, fruit and vegetable noses of the oil, then tasted. We tasted for harmony and balance, and for flavours. We noticed the kick or peppery bite distinctive of some oils. The colours of the oils we tasted ranged from deep greens of the newly pressed oils to bright yellow of the one year old oils. We discussed storeage of oils, pressing times, and blends. A great afternoon of learning, discussions and getting to know one another as growers and producers in the Wairarapa region.

Spring frosts

The first weekend in September, the nights are cold, the first lime green shoots are on the tips of the willow trees, the tulips are up and the sky is blue. Just as the new growth of spring shows its delicate toes, jack frost visits with a vengeance, intent on killing all new life. This interplay of nature and weather makes for a stressfull dance. Will the new growth survive the harsh chill? This interplay of weather also stimulates sugars and saps within the feeds the leaves and then flowers and then fruit. And the extreme of temperatures, while death defying, adds to the flavour and sugars in the fruit.

On Friday night by 9.30pm it was -1, by midnight it was -4 and everything was covered in white. This is the time of buds bursting into leaves on the grape vines. A frost kills these. It is a tense time. The second budding is weaker. The frost system David installed, last year, automatically activates at 2 degrees, then the flippers keeps spraying the water over the vines until 9.30 in the morning, by which time the sun has melted the ice which forms around the water spray on the buds and stem of the vine. The layes of mist builds into ice. This layer of ice protects the bud rather than freezing the water inside the soft bud tissue.

If there is no cloud and wind on spring evenings, the stars are bright, and the frost is likely. Frost doesnt survive with wind. And if there are clouds, the air isnt cold enough to chill the earth.

In spring we like wind, and clouds. By 9.30am the temperature is 14 degrees, warm and every trace of frost gone. We phone Oldfields and have bark chips delivered to go around the base of the water tank by the barn. A job waiting from February last year. The chips are delivered within the hour and the job completed and it looks good.

Sunday food market in Wellington

These pics: about to sample warm from the pan white bait fritter; Ruth Pretty's, Olivo and the french baker with their wares



This was our first weekend in Wellington for two and a half years. A chance to see Roger's Hall's new play Four Flat Whites in Italy meant we would have Sunday exploring the city. The play was fun, poignancy and a reminder of how awful and how lucky we New Zealanders can be when we travel. Leaving teh apartment around 8.30am, Roger, Dianne, David and I walked hrough the waking city to Chaffers Marina. Chaffers park was covered with an ocean of vegetables, herbs, chestnut sellers, and throngs of shoppers. We headed to the fine food market which is now every Sunday morning in Wellington. We were greeted by a feast of colour, tastes, smells, people and enticements. Flowers from Blooms, Nalini and Colin Baruch with their sensational olive oils and olive cuisine from Lot 8, the French baker with his freshly baked breads from Greytown, the sausage makers, exotic cordials from Shott, and a massive range of fabulously presented morsels. Most intriging and exciting, the suppliers and chefs were there to talk about and sell their wares. I bought a tin of ten Spice from Martin Bosely who told me to sear the meat, sprinkle on the spice, then finish the meat off in the oven. This I will do. What a great chance to meet one of the NZ masters of food and have him coach me how to use this exotic spice. Ten spice is a mix of 5star anise, coriander, dried orange peel, cinamon, cloves, vanilla pod and already my mouth was watering. www.martin-bosely.com
Then to a spread of books from Bookfeast in Petone. A Maroccan cookbook with senuous colours, textures and presentation of Moroccan food immediately caught me eye. I could smell the flavours coming from the pages. I recalled I already own three Moroccan cookbooks, and decided to keep moving. Go to www.bookfeast.com to see what delights they have.

Dianne and I had fried halumi, coated with breadcrumbs and coconut, and smothered in harissa.This is served in a tiny fine bamboo boat. Already I was enchanted. The taste - exquisite. I found David at the fine chocolate stall, Esque. He was captivated by their Manuka honey brittle seeped chocolate. Gorgeously presented in a see through burnt gold chiffon sack tied with moss green rope and paua shell tag, it was easy to dream of the treat moments when to have this, and our chocolate loving friends who would love this. www.finechocolote.co.nz and all your christmases will definately come at once. The French Baker from Greytown was there with an array of breads and pastries; the almond croisants and pain au chocolate remain my favourites of all time. You can see how happy I am. Pudding Lane was there with their fabulous pies. And all this by 9am Sunday morning. A chance to sit down with a coffee from Piazza on the waterfront, then Dianne and Roger headed off to Hawkes Bay and we were ready to walk over to Moore Wilsons and the great food heroes fair.

Part of the Wellington on a plate weekend, suppliers from La Bella Italia, Floriditas, cheeses, cafes and speciality providores were there to let Wellingtonians taste their fantastic offerings.

On our way we wandered through the Chaffers vege market, and picked up great bunches of corriander, plump bulbs of garlic, and a butterfly of fresh lamb from the Wai-Ora lamb farm www.wai-orafarmlamb.co.nz I'll be baking this will lemons, and finishing it off with the new 10 spices from Martin Bosely.

Stephen met us at the transformed carpark at Moore Wilsons. Hundres of people; talking, looking, eating. Ruth Pretty with books, condiments for sale and salmon frittata with salad greens to taste, Helen Meehan from Olivo had got up at 6am to bring her fabulous oils here. The apple and pear juice from Mela juices in Greytown was refreshing and sweet. I love anything with pears and this juice had a perfect balance, with the pear coming through. Stephen had fried ZanyZeus Halumi with lemon in french bread. I had a white bait fritter straight from the pan and on a slice of fresh white bread cooked by Adam Newell and his Zibbibo team. Caught in the Waikanae river, this fritter bought back memories of whitebaiting at the Rangitata River in my childhood. Dripping with lemon and butter, sweet, fragrant and light.....heaven.

John Conway was there with his Rosewood chopping boards and one had now found its way to our apartment. The chef from Rempah malaysian foods was making roti. Teasing out the pliable dough into gossimer like huge circles, then twisting the dough before grilling these on a hot plate. I bought a pack together with their famous curry sauce for a spring evening dinner. www.rempah.co.nz

Then we found Francois from La Cloche. Oh la la. A taste of french onion soup was full of flavour. This was morning tea time. La Cloche were serving snails with garlic butter, cassaulet, and succulent cakes, all with simple and tempting packaging. I am feeling we are actually in France and this is in our home city! How wonderful is that. Francois has lived in NZ for 13 years. How lucky are we. We discovered La Cloche is next door to where I have my car serviced! Flooded with memories of fantastic meals in France, already I am planning to breakfast there when I take my car in. www.lacloche.co.nz
There are many fabulous coffees roasted here in Wellington: L'Affare, Emporio Havanna, Supreme. If I am to choose, my absolute favourite is Supreme. They make the best coffee beans in Wellington. Justin, Supreme's master roaster was there making coffee. The Supreme stall had a great competition. With 36 tiny vials of different aromas, we had a chance to smell and guess. Like wine or olive oils, coffee is imbued with detectable aromas. I sniffed the first - light, and fragrant. I guess rose. Hmmm.. not even close....... cloves. Coffee will not be the same from here on as I now ponder what the smells are.

I came home with gluten free pizza bases from 58 Grourmet pizza bases. Amazingly this Pauatahanui company make these with rice flour, potato flour, soy flour and free range eggs and are a perfect size for pizza for one. They went into the freezer.

Wairarapa wines were well represened with Urlar wines, Escarpment, Alana Estate, and Paddy Borthwicks. I love pinot gris and gewertztraminers. Of all the pinot gris produced in New Zealand I think Urlars is close to perfect. And Paddy Borthwick was there with his wines. David loves his chardonnay. I wasn't quite up to tasting at this early hour ............others were. How fantastic and an absolute treat to meet and talk with these fabulous food and wine artisans on a sunday morning.

Inside there were cheeses to taste from La Bella Italia, tables laden with fresh sweet things from Floriditas, 1 litre tins of extra virgin olive oil from Geoff and Brigid Kennedy's grove in Martinborough, coffee and hot chocolate from l'Affare, large containers of dips and spreads from Genoesse; all this spread out invitingly for hundreds of Wellingtonians to enjoy the special delights of our wonderful city. Hundreds of people, yet room to move and a great mix of sampling, things to buy and to catch up with colleagues and friends. Great to see the marketing effort was matched by a fulsome response. Seeing so many producers from the Wairarapa, the Kapiti coast and Wellington this was agreat regional event.

Bottling the oil

Time to get the oil into bottles. We head over the Jane's, and set up our system. Carefully washed bottles heated in the oven. I have made labels Blackrockrd Olive oil 2009, painted on canvas. You can see these fab labels in the pic on the right.

The lime green liquid flows into the bottles. Occassionally, David missed the moment to turn the tap off, I recoil in dismay at losing any drops at all. We become more proficient and fill over 30 bottles! Half way through, we have a tast to make sure it is OK. You can see the look on Richards face, it is completely divine.

From olives to oil 2009

At right, Jane and I so proud of our lovely handpicked leccino olives ready to be made into oil.

Queens birthday weekend and David, Jane and I are doing our best to pick 200kg of olives in two days before the snow comes. At 9.30 we are up the ladders in Paul's olives. Our orange red nets are spread beneath the trees. In two hours we have filled our first yellow bin with lush dark red leccino olives. The first tree we chose was absolutely dripping with olives, and makes our job easier. The wind and the birds had been marauding and some trees have just a few, so we listen to where the birds are and head for that tree. Some trees we pick only a kilo or two, others 10kg. We are aiming for a mix of black, red and green, some say a third black , a third red and a third green. We go for more black and red than green.

Some trees we can strip the olives from the slender flexible branches, others, the olives are spread out so we need to pick each olive off individually. Around 4.30pm its is getting darker and colder, and our fingers ache from this meticulous work. We have four bins full. In the past two years, Jane and I have picked and try our hardest we havent been able to do more than 84kg with the two of us. We are hoping with David help we can make 200kg which is the smallest amount the Olive Press prefers. William comes to help after soccer and climbs into the trees, picking from inside the tree. Marty the cat comes too to see what is going on. Day two we are back at 9.30 with three more bins and two large buckets. We pick. It is slow work, finding which tree to pick. Some trees we just pick from the ladders, one or two trees, we pick just one side. The birds have had a field day and the winds of the past month have blown many of the olives to the ground.

By the end of the second day we have 7 full bins and two buckets. We load up the trailer with our olives and head for the press. We keep guessing how much oil we will get from this and how many kilos we have actually picked! I guess 160kg after over guessing the last two years and being disappointed. Bill at the Press weighs the olives. 202kg!! Yippee, we made it. And depending on the percentage of oil we will get between 20L and 30L of oil. Fantastic. Far Right. Will overseeing the oil making process.

This year, from the production board at the Press, it looks like the yield of olives brought in so far, is down to between 10 - 13%. Last year it was around 15 - 17%.

Next morning, Jane and I together with Henry and William head off to the Olive Press so we can see our olives go through the process of being crushed and the oil produced. Our olives are tipped into the vat, and taken up an escalator to be washed and the leaves separated off. They tumble down into the water to be sprayed and then they fall into another vat which takes them up to the crusher. The smell coming from the olive paste is fantastic. Bill checks the temperature to make sure its between 23 - 27 degrees which is needed to produce extra virgin olive oil. If the temperature goes above 27 degrees, it is not considered to be extra virgin. The oil comes pouring out and it is vivid green. It looks fabulous. Jane and I take a spoon and taste; creamy smooth with a hint of a peppery bite at the end. Delicious. We fill our 25L container, and there is still some. We'd bought an extra 20L plastic container just in case, and we need it! Overall we have 32.4 Litres for our three families. Fantastic. We head home for lunch and Jane makes fresh pasta which we have wiith our oil, ciabatta, pepper and parmesan. Perfect.

Stats: 202kg of leccino olives picked by hand by three people in two days, produces 35kg of oil, 32.4L of leccino extra virgin olive oil from the Blackrock Rd Estate. This was 15.9%. Pressed by Bill at the Olive Press. This will be bottled the second week of June.


Snow flurry at our front door, the day the oil was pressed, Sunday 31st May.

Early morning and hot air balloons

Our great companions Sandra and Ran are here from Dunedin. David and Ran moved the earth and the stones left over from the entrace way being made with the tractor, while Sandra and I were onto the bike and down to the river to pick blackberries. Already autumn, the berries are now mostly red as we had picked the lush black ones last week. There's no longer enough sun for the rest to ripen.

Saturday morning we were down at Henley lake as the sun was beginning to warm the sky, the morning mist drifting over the lake, the ducks were waking up, and people from masterton gathered. At 7.15am the first orange giant could be seen peeping over the trees, followed by a yellow striped one, then a blue one. The ducks rose as a body, squawking in protest, knowing what was coming. The balloons, glorious in the morning sun, glided over the lake, dipped down to be perfectly mirrored in the water. The baskets touched the surface and then up they went, up and up, and drifted further on. By 7.45 there were 12 balloons in the sky, gliding, dipping, touching, swooping. We learned of box wind, where at different levels of altitude, there are different wind drifts enabling the balloons to navigate their paths. One balloon dipped between two trees and we learned that the shady side of the tree harbours different drafts from the sunny side of the tree. Magically, this balloon, after nesting close to the ground for several minutes, rose again, to dip onto the lake and off to the south.

The swans and geese were the first to return to the lake, the ducks more reluctant. and still the balloons came. Many of us were standing in awe and delight with the beauty of this early morning spectacle. We were part of a large crowd, many wearing jackets and sun glasses and cameras and still waking up, taking in this wonderful scene together. Not a cloud in the sky, the warm blue held these delicate giants carefully and tipped them along their paths. As we drove back to the farm for breakfast, we followed balloons along the country roads, and watched them as they drifting down to be packed up and taken back to their base camp.

Nets up

Getting in before the birds is part of growing grapes and making wine. Glenys and Barry loaned us their net applicator, Rex came to help. 32 degrees so it was a warm day. There was a bit of mucking around and sorting things out before we got underway. We had enough nets to cover 9 rows.

David drove the tractor, I stood on the back of the tractor and fed the nets out and took photos, Rex and Barry stretched the nets and made sure the mid line of the nets was on top of the vines. While this took a couple of hours, this was the easy bit. The next step was to pin the nets to the ground. Every metre, the base of the net is gathered, twisted, and then pierced by a metal peg, by hand, and by David, Richard and me. Where the ground is stoney, and a metal peg hits a stone, its is impossible to hammer the peg in. So we used rubber pegs. That sounds easy, and it is once you have the rubber pegs. We didnt have them, so
while Richard and David continued to labour, I hopped into the car and drove to Martinborough, to Glenys' house, picked up 100 rubber pegs, and drove back to Masterton. Before doing this
we had a serious discussion whether to begin again, and draw wires around the length of each end post so we could tuck the nets under. And, nail netw stretchers along on the posts to keep the nets out. Being on the edge of feeling apoplectic, in response to the time and money this option would take, gave me an indication that I wasn't in favour of neither spending the money to do this, nor doing the work.

Once we discovered the rubber pegs worked and Glenys had some we could immediately have, the sun continued to shine, and we began talking with one another again. We have naviagatd our crises of confidence in the face of the seemingly impenetrable unforgiving earth which is nuturing our vines.

By the end of the weekend we had completed three rows. On the Monday, each of us had exruciatingly sore legs from kneeling and standing over 300 times. However the grapes were safe from marauding birds, starlings, and are beginning to turn dark purple. You can see how we pulled the nets out rather than having them hanging directly down. This is because Wairarapa birds are wiley; they fly into the nets and eat the fruit. If we pull them out in this way, they don't have a chance.

What we are beginning to discover is our fruit is ripening in vastly different rates. In the first four rows, the grapes are deep purple, in the next four, they are green. We are discovering we have a mix of varieties, and the overhead canopies of some of the rows just isnt letting the sun in long enough.

Last night we walked the vines, counting how many bottles of wine we might finally get from the first row. Hmmmm, around 36! perhaps a smaller vintage in our first year. I think the word boutique applies here.