Our 2023 harvest is just about wrapping up at our olive grove in Central California. After almost eight months of languid growth, it is always one of the most humbling experiences to walk into the mill now and smell those olives being freshly pressed into a fine oil. As eager as we are to to share this new harvest with you, it is imperative that we let the oil sit for four to six weeks so it can properly separate from the natural sediment before we begin decanting and bottling. Though we eagerly look ahead, we also can’t rush time. Now is all we have, so let’s settle deeper into the now.
This month in many parts of the US is the darkest of the year. And, perhaps, that’s why our great, great ancestors filled it with as much light as they could muster. Take an evening walk, and you will quickly see homes filled with candlelight, twinkling trees, and log fires made evident by the billowing smoke from their chimneys. Notice how—even subconsciously through the simple act of tradition—we still fight the darkness with the light. Historically, this month has been about gathering, feasting, and celebrating, reveling in the fact that, in a few weeks' time, the days will be getting incrementally lighter and brighter, and remarkably quickly, too. Before we know it, the season will pass, so once again, let’s just be here now.