The 2025 Harvest
This year’s harvest in Sabina felt like a gift: a mild spring, steady (without overwhelming) rain in the summer, a calm September, and a healthy harvest. We began the harvest early, on October 4th, and were the very first farmers at the olive mill this year! Harvesting olives early ensures they have a higher concentration of polyphenols and antioxidants.
Across Italy, many regions struggled this year with La Mosca, the olive fly formally known as the Bactrocera oleae. These pesky flies puncture the olives and then lay their eggs inside. As the larvae develop, they damage the olives' flesh and cause it to break down, making the olives unusable.
Thankfully, because we are a collective, our farmers across many groves stayed on watch together, sharing updates day by day and alerting one another the moment there were signs of danger from the olive fly. That vigilance helped us act quickly and keep our olives protected. One of the many benefits of working together as a collective!
To keep our olives safe, we use kaolin, a natural mineral powder (from stone, mixed with water) that we spray onto the leaves and fruit, creating a fine, protective coating. While it doesn’t kill the flies, it simply makes the tree an unwelcoming place for them to land and lay eggs, encouraging them to move on.
