Adopt an
Olive Tree
Adopt an olive tree from O Terroir dos Pardaos in the heart of beautiful Galicia, and by doing so you support the finca and provide an opportunity for the farm and the olive trees to live and to mature.
The olive trees were planted 2014, 8 years ago. Although they are still young they are growing strongly. At the moment the trees are more burried in the Galician jungle. With the adoption you help that the olive grove can be revitalised. The olive trees are situated on 14 terraces up the hill and there are around 1200 trees. At the moment the trees are burried in a jungle, so the whole terroir needs to be cleaned. Your adoption will make this possible.
The Adoption of an Olive Tree includes:
- The tree will get a plate with your name or the name you choose.
- You will receive a picture of your tree and a certificate of the adoption.
- As a thank you for your support you will get 2 bottles of 0.5 litres of high quality organic olive oil. (As the trees on the farm need to mature, during the first year your olive oil will come from a nearby certified farm.) The olive oil will be sent to you in January/February 2023.
- You can visit your olive tree at any time. Just let us know when you want to come.
- As a little extra thank you for your support you can stay on the farm during the year of adoption for one night and experience for yourself life here. You can see the work that is going on and get a glimps of the land and the beautiful landscape.
- We will add updates to how the work is progressing regularly on Facebook.
- Your adoption will not automatically renew. You can decide how long you will support the olive grove and have your own tree.
Why to adopt an Olive Tree
These are the goals
Step 1 – Step 1 – Step 1 :
- The first aim, with your support, is to clean the 14 hillside terraces. This work has already begun, therfore, professional workers will also be hired for some time to undertake this job.
- A woodchipper machine is needed, which helps to clean the whole terroir as well as to make BRF compost with the cutted material.
- It rains a lot in Galicia, so the ground is acid and needs more PH, therefore lime will be put on the ground.
- The trees will get a treatment with calcium and then mulching with the BRF compost.
- Afterwards the pruning of the trees can start. There are around 1200 small to medium trees which need to be taken care of.
- The olive trees also need water, at least until they are a little bit older. There is a water installation existing, but some of the hoses need to be fixed and the whole set up optimised.
Step 2 – Step 2 – Step 2 :
- To keep the wild pigs away a fence will be put in place around the 2,5 hectares of olive grove.
- On all the terraces stones from former walls can be found, these need to be collected, so they are not in the way.
- The olive trees which are not in good condition will be replanted. These will be authentic galician olive trees and some of the trees that are too close together will need moving.
- The terraces have to be cleaned reguarly so that they will not turn into a jungle again. To do this by hand on 14 terrasses and for 1200 trees requires a lot of helping hands.
More Insight
The mission is to cultivate the authentic Galician varieties of Brava and Mansa which have been grown here for 600 years and to produce high quality extra virgin olive oil. The special thing about Galician olive oil is that it is very rich in polyphynols, which give the oil an anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidation effect. If you think about olive oil Galicia probably does not come to mind, but the special climate in the Ribeiro region is perfect to cultivate grapes as well as olive trees.
At the moment we can find the following varieties in the olive grove: Arbequina, Picual, Frantoio and Hojiblanca. Arbequina was very popular during the time the trees were planted but it is a very intensive varity which does not fit into sustainable farming methods. These trees will be grafted, keept or replaced by the Galician varieties of Brave and Mansa. An olive grove always needs at least two varieties of trees. The olive grove of O Terroir dos Pardaos has different varieties including Picual from which you can produce one of the strongest olive oils, with a sour and spicy taste – perfect for olive oil lovers. So once the olive oil is produced, a Coupage will be made which means it can be mixed out of the different varieties to get its own special taste and the best pure egological and organic.
