Our family’s olive oil tradition is a recent one. In 2014 my dad and uncle, tired of conventional supermarket olive oil, decided to plant their own olive trees to produce high quality olive oil for self-consumption. From the very beginning, we had a distinct idea that has become one of our core values, to promote and combine ecological and traditional techniques in our fields. We placed our olive trees six meters from each other to avoid the modern industrial and heavy mechanized super intensive crop styles. The reasoning behind this choice, was the desire to preserve the land and deflect the unnecessary exploitation of trees. We believe that respecting traditional methods has a direct impact on the quality of our oil and a determining effect on the conservation of our fields. In a similar way, we avoid the usage of chemical products, and we promote the spreading of other plants and insects that help maintaining a healthy and self-correcting ecosystem.
In the spring of 2021, we settled a new objective that will become part of our core mission, we called this mission ‘Project Canopea’. So far, the quality of our products as well as the condition of our trees has been of the utmost importance to us. Because of this, we realised that many farmers around us are retiring leaving their olive tree groves unattended due to the lack of young people interested in agriculture. To face this problem, we started to collaborate with local farmers, near or already in the age of retiring. We offer them our help to prune the trees and clean the fields of excessive foliage. This move will give these groves a second life instead of being cut down. This October, we will have the opportunity to use these olives to make a more mature olive oil for the first time.
The word “Canopea” directly translates to the English term “Canopy” which describes the top natural layer formed by the collection of individual tree crowns. This layer of branches and leaves constitutes an exclusive natural habitat zone which, in turn, provides shade and protection for younger species living underneath. We want to project this image to our olive trees, both young and old, and to portray our love towards nature and biodiversity.
Today, we are grateful for the actions we have taken and, together with the growth of our trees, we are finally able to share this splendid olive oil with all of you.