How We Harvest Olive Oil by Hand in Tuscany
Every October, 100 trees. 2-3 days. All by hand.
Most olive oil starts with a machine. A mechanical harvester rolls through the grove, shakes the trees, and drops the olives onto the ground in minutes. It's efficient. It's also indiscriminate bruising fruit, stressing trees, and sacrificing quality for speed.
We don't do it that way.
At Safadi Farm in Capolona, Arezzo, we harvest every single olive by hand. All 100 trees. Every October. Here's exactly how it works.
Why October — and Why Timing Matters More Than You'd Think
The timing of an olive harvest is one of the most important decisions a producer makes all year. Harvest too late and the olives over-ripen, producing a flat, greasy oil with little complexity. Harvest too early and yields drop. We aim for October, when the olives have developed their full polyphenol content the natural antioxidants that give real extra virgin olive oil its characteristic peppery bite and make it one of the healthiest fats you can consume.
Once we decide the olives are ready, the clock is running. The faster they get from tree to mill, the better the oil.
Harvest Day: 7:30am
The day starts early. First order of business is the tractor loading the trailer with everything we need: nets, electric harvesting combs, hand rakes, baskets, gloves. And lunch. Lunch is non-negotiable.
We spread large nets on the ground beneath each tree to catch every olive that falls. Then the work begins running electric raking combs through the branches to vibrate the olives loose, hand raking what the combs miss, and hand picking whatever remains. It sounds simple. After the first few trees, you understand why most producers have switched to machines.
The grove sits in the middle of Capolona, a small farming town where nearly everyone grows either olives or grapes. During harvest season you see and hear it happening all around you neighboring groves full of people working the same trees the same way, the sounds carrying across the hills. In the background, it's hunting season, so there are occasional shots echoing from the hillsides. It sounds chaotic written down. In person, it has a rhythm to it that's hard to describe.
Lunch in the Field
At noon we stop. Not at a table, not inside in the field, wherever we happen to be. Espresso, tuna sandwiches, bread, cheese, fruit, cake. Sometimes a quiche or frittata if someone had the energy to make it the night before.
This half hour matters. Harvesting is physical work arms up in branches for hours, moving nets, hauling baskets. The break is real.
On the final day of harvest, lunch gets an upgrade, wine and Vin Santo which is the traditional Tuscan dessert wine, to mark the end of the season. It has become one of the small rituals we look forward to all year.
The People Make the Harvest
We don't harvest alone. Every year the former owner of the farm, often bringing friends from the area. This creates an interesting dynamic, most of them speak only Italian, and we are still very much learning the language. Somehow it works. Hand gestures, basic Italian, and a shared understanding of what needs to get done carries you a long way in an olive grove.
Over the years we've brought friends and family from the US to be part of it too. Our first harvest, family friends we've known for 27 years came out and worked the trees alongside us. Last year three of my mom's friends from middle school made the trip. Every single person who has come has said the same thing: they want to come back. There's something about a full day outside, working with your hands, surrounded by people and hills and the sounds of an entire town doing the same thing you're doing, that gets into you.
From Tree to Mill: The Race Against Time
By around 4pm we load the baskets of harvested olives onto the tractor and bring them up to the house. Before they go anywhere near a mill, every batch gets cleaned leaves, twigs, and debris removed by hand. This step is non-negotiable. Pressing with leaves mixed in affects the flavor of the oil.
Once cleaned, the olives go to the mill. We have two options, one about 30 minutes away and one just five minutes down the road. The goal is always to press the same day or as close to it as possible. The shorter the window between harvest and pressing, the higher the quality of the oil. This is one of the most important differences between what we produce and what you find on a supermarket shelf most commercial olive oil is pressed from olives that may sit for weeks before processing.
We're usually finishing between 5 and 6pm. It's a long day.
Why We Do It This Way
Hand harvesting is slower, more expensive, and harder on the body than any mechanical alternative. We do it because it produces better oil less bruising means less oxidation, which means more flavor and more polyphenols preserved in every bottle.
It also keeps us connected to the way this land has been farmed for centuries. The farmhouse on our property was built in the 1400s. The family we bought from had farmed this grove since 1882. Every October we're doing more or less what they did, in the same hills, with the same trees.
That continuity means something to us. We think you can taste it.
Safadi Farm | Capolona, Arezzo, Tuscany