Hi there

It is wonderful to remember back to a sunny, autumnal day in April when I got to visit the good folk at Dunford Grove.

This week they will be at the market selling their 2018 harvest EVO oil. What a treat!

Three years ago Jocelyn Robinson and Sandy Black moved on to their idyllic, lake front property in Lowburn. There were olives on the trees and hazelnuts on the ground and they knew nothing about either.

They called the previous owner for some advice as to when the olives were ready to pick and were told it was easy peasy.

Needless to say the learning curve was incredibly steep but when we visited recently everything looked very orderly and fully under control.

They have worked incredibly hard over the past three years pruning the trees to encourage a good shape and to let light into the middle. They work to biodynamic growing principles whereby they test for organic trace elements yearly, recycle all the wood from pruning into mulch and use no sprays at all.

Organic certification would be very costly however Jocelyn and Sandy use organic principles and stopped spraying the trees when they took over. The climate at Lowburn has no humidity, minimal rainfall and very cold winters which helps greatly with keeping the bug population at bay. Their fellow, northern, olive growers have to spray every 3 weeks and after rainfall to keep the trees healthy. However the yield on their southern grove is substantially less per tree than those up north or in Europe.

Olives NZ have provided great mentoring and knowledge sharing with this intrepid pair. Sandy is a practical, fix anything kind of guy and Jocelyn has always had a large vegetable garden and ran her own very successful hospitality business for many years. They have now both put their collective forces into learning everything they can about how to grow great olives and produce award winning olive oil.

They use a mechanical harvester to harvest the 1,000 olive trees they have. The hazelnuts, all 400 trees, have to be hand picked off the ground – a true labour of love!  Once the olives are harvested they are pressed within just a few hours. The oil is left to settle for a week and then racked off. All the varietals are kept separate until they are all sediment free and ready to blend. This will take several settling and racking iterations.

The blending is a complex job as Jocelyn and Sandy work towards achieving just the right flavour profile.

Three bottles of the new season’s oil are sent to Australia to be tested. This is a rigorous analysis involving a tasting panel and chemical analysis. The oil cannot be labelled extra virgin olive oil if it has a fault.

EVO oil will keep for two years from harvesting provided it is stored properly. 

Dunford Grove, alongside their award winning EVO oil, produce a range of flavoured oils, some pickled olives and a lovely olive oil soap made from what would otherwise be wasted oil. 

Their market stall is simple and effective offering tastings of oils and table olives. Here they sell their Extra Virgin Olive Oil, infused olive oils, table olives and soap, plus will happily refill clean, returned bottles with EVO oil.

Go get some newly harvested EVO oil this weekend. I know I will be!

See you Saturday

Kate

This Week in the kitchen

Mexican bean and kale soup

Produce from Ettrick Gardens

Peanut butter & banana fudge

Produce from

Pumpkin pancakes with spiced maple yoghurt

Produce from Rosedale Orchard

Lamb meatballs with spicy capsicum sauce

Produce from Blue Mountain Butchery Ettrick Gardens Rosedale Orchard

Apple and peanut butter smoothie

Produce from Rosedale Orchard

La Crepe

Jam Of The Day: Quince & Apricot  $5.50

Sweet Crepe: Pear & Feijoa Dream, Feijoa Jam, Poached  Pear & Organic Feijoa With Confectioner’s Custard 10.50 Or With Whipped Cream $10

Savoury Crepe: Organic Split Lentil, Brocoli & Butternut With Homemade Indian Curry (Vegan), Or Roasted Pumpkin & Onion With Or Without Feta (Vegan Or Vegetarian), Or Caribbean Braised Pork With Vegetable With Cheese Or Hummus And With Salad & Dressing Or Egg  $10

Dunford Grove

Well, thank you all.  Last weekend we sold out of our 2017 Extra Virgin Olive Oil, perfect timing as this seasons oil is good to go!

Come see Esther on Saturday and have a taste. This seasons oil is much more robust and pungent with a nice peppery  after taste, really exciting.  With the new seasons oil refills are back, just bring along one of our bottles (clean & dry) and we'll refill your EVOO for $5 less than a new bottled.

Did you know?

Our oil has the most fabulous green colour but when judging Extra Virgin Olive Oils colour doesn't matter!  So we use these cute little blue glasses (the IOC standard issue) to hide the colour.  The shape also helps with olfactory evaluation.  

Holy Cow

Winter has definitely hit now, and our milking cows are using up lots of energy keeping warm. That means our supply will continue to be limited over the next couple of months, until the spring flush.

This week at the market we have:
Milk 600ml
Yoghurt 500ml, 750ml & 1 litre
Cream 250ml
Mango Lassi 600ml
We have two 500ml jars of ghee remaining- once sold, there  will be no more ghee for a few months at least. 
Milk has been selling out between 10:30-11am over the past few weeks, so please come early to avoid disappointment.
We’re running very low on 500ml jars, so if you have any at home please bring them back for a deposit refund.
Mousey has been leading the charge out of the barn this week, here she is in all her glory!

Ettrick Gardens

New This Week

Red Brussel Sprouts

14 Varieties Of Apples & 5 Pear Varieties, Royal Gala, Aztec, Pacific Rose, Huaguan, Cox’s Orange & Golden Delicious, Pink Lady, Ballerat Cooking Apples, Eve, Braeburn, Granny Smith, & Red Delicious & Sturmer Apples. Please Note, We Do Not Export, So We Use Less Sprays.

Doyenne Du Comice, Winter Nelis, Beurre Bosc, Taylors Gold & Quince Pears

Agria, Red Fantasy,  Red Ruby, Heather, Highlander, Jelly & Anushka Potatoes, Yams & Brussel Sprouts, Fennel, Kale, Cavolo Nero, Silverbeet, Gold Beetroot, Daikon, Savoy Cabbage, Leeks, Pumpkin, & Beetroot, Coloured Carrots, Cauliflowers, Carrots, Pumpkin, Frost Sweetened Parsnips, Parsley, Bunched Carrots Broccoflower, And Celery, Jerusalem Artichokes, Gourmet Washed Potatoes.

Super Special’s This Week

Potatoes 5kg @ $6 (7 Varieties), Baby Gourmet Carrots 400gm $1.50 , Leeks $2 Each

Please Bring Your Reusable Shopping Bags. Thank You

“Love Our Planet”

Ettrick Gardens On Your Right At The Main Gate, Or Rapid 5104,  State Highway 8, Ettrick. Central Otago.  03 446 6863

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Waikouaiti Gardens

Waikouaiti Gardens would like to advise that this weekend will be our last market for this season and we would like to thank our customers for their continued support of our stall.

We will be returning to the market in August with fresh seedlings for your spring and summer gardens.

Hope you all have a safe and warm winter and we look forward to catching up soon.

Best wishes from the Hunters.

Ettrick Gardens

Onions, Carrots, Parsnips & Brussels Sprouts

Fresh from Central Otago

Ask on the day

Rosedale Orchard

Pumpkin

nothing more autumnal, comforting and delicious!

$2 each