About us - Homeleigh Grove Olives

Homeleigh Grove Olives is situated on the ACT/NSW border close to the Barton Highway at Hall, within sight of Black Mountain Tower.

Planting commenced with about 125 trees in 1999 and has continued with some new plantings each year. The Grove now comprises close to 2,000 trees.

The Grove was the site for the Australian Olive Expo’s demonstration “Farm Walk” in October 2007 and 2008 when 200 growers came to see demonstrations of the latest harvesting and grove management equipment.

Why olives?

Olives tend to do well in the same regions as wines. Initially we looked at a wide range of products, but narrowed it down to olives on the basis that the industry was effectively in its infancy in Australia in the mid-1990s and about 95% of olives and olives oils consumed in Australia was imported.

On the basis that our soils, topography, water supply etc seemed suitable we decided to give olives a try.

Looking back at all the predictions and published information at the time, like so much promotional material, it was totally over optimistic in terms of how soon the trees would fruit commercially, volumes per tree and the price of olives. While production has been clearly decimated by the drought, the structure of the industry has not followed the European tradition of producers being able to sell their fruit to processors.

The other implication in the early promotional material was that ‘olives are easy’….we have not found out what it is easier than….. There are no teams of pickers for the small groves, though there is an increasing array of mechanical harvesters which will pick olives for oil. But while there is still experimentation with mechanically harvesting table olives, nothing yet beats hand picking. The differences between early expectations and reality would not come as a surprise to anyone involved in the boutique wine industry.

The grove

Most trees are for oil production, but about 150 trees were specifically planted for table fruit. These include Manzanilla, Azapa, Seveillano, Koroneiki, Benito and Verdale and more recently Bouroni, Hardy’s Mammonth, Volos and Kalamata. The table olives must be carefully hand picked to avoid bruising.

A lonely Manzanilla olive tree which was planted about 1990 was mowed while quite small. In spite of this treatment, this tree today yields 20 to 35kgs fruit each year. So once we move on from the drought the harvest from 2,000 irrigated trees could be significant and challenging!

Our labels

Our two Oil labels are “Homeleigh Grove” named after the property – which dates back to early Federation when it was a homestead block for a much larger property spanning the State/Territory border’ resumed after the establishment of the National Capital.

The second label is “Lowanna’s Paddock”. Lowanna was a pony who lived most of her very active 35 year life at Homeleigh and was a well known character at Pony Club and local shows. She retired to the paddock in which we first planted olives and for many years ‘looked after’ the young trees. Lowanna was spicy in character and so is the oil named in her honour.

The Drought

The continuing drought in our region has significantly affected all producers in the area and while we have irrigation, its effect is to supplement rainfall, not replace it. Overall the effect is ‘less fruit’ and ‘smaller fruit’.

Annual Harvest

Harvest time in this region is generally late April to early June. Picking is assisted by Yamastik 12v electric harvesters manufactured for the olive industry in Crete. We also use large catching frames and nets to collect the fruit and keep the olives off the ground. Fruit is processed for oil with our own small processor and with much larger processors at Cowra and Menangle.

In 2009 we commenced the use of a large self-propelled mechanical harvester for a large proportion of the oil crop.

We pick all table fruit by hand and this fruit is de-bittered in the traditional way with brine. It is a long process taking over a year for some fruit.

No nasties

We only use organically recognised fertilisers or pesticides in the Grove. We have also commenced seeking ‘organic’ certification.

Our Award winning products

Bottles

Even with such a young grove, the annual harvest has already reached nearly 10 tons, of which 1 ton has been pickled as table olives.

The grove has now produced some great oils and table olives. Both are of medal winning quality, the oils achieving medals and trophies every year. See our recent awards click here.

In 2008 we became signatories to the Code of Practice for the Australian Olive Industry and are now entitled to use the AEV logo for our qualifying oils.

Peter and Caroline O'Clery