Olive Grove Gardening on the Edge
The Olive Farm is Canada’s first and only commercial olive grove, where 3,000 olive trees sprawl across a 72-acre property under the watchful face of Mount Maxwell, surrounded by neighbouring vineyards, bathed in sun and fanned by the salty ocean breeze funneling up from Fulford Harbour.
Established in 2010 with a first harvest in 2016, this olive farm was a longtime dream for husband and wife duo George and Sheri Braun, who were struck with the idea after driving through the Spanish countryside during their first holiday together after becoming empty-nesters. “We ended up just driving around the hills in Spain and came across these magnificent olive groves, and started to hatch this idea then that when we finished all our work, we would buy an olive grove in Portugal or Spain.” When their kids got married and started having kids of their own, Sheri and George realized they didn’t want to live halfway across the world, so they started to explore whether an olive grove might be successful anywhere here in Canada.
Enter “Canada’s banana belt,” or the Southern Gulf Islands, so called for the moderate climate we enjoy here year-round. While Sheri has family ties to Salt Spring, she and George were originally settled in Alberta before making a move to the Okanagan, where they had a cherry orchard. They came to realize that while the Okanagan had prime olive tree weather in the summer, the trees would not survive the subzero winter temperatures in that region. The Brauns did have their eye on a Fulford Valley property, which was the island’s only organic vineyard at the time, but they were told without a doubt that it was not for sale, and it was never going to be for sale. Their search for the perfect property continued for four-and-a-half years, fruitlessly. And just when they were about to give up on their dream for an olive farm, they received a call from the Fulford property owner who told them it was going up for sale after all.
During their first year in 2010 they got to work breaking up the soil, which hadn’t been turned over for 80 years. The first trees went in the ground in 2012, with an initial harvest in 2016. Due to the long period it takes to establish an olive tree to the point of production, Sheri and George knew they had to take an all-or-nothing approach with their venture. Sheri explained that when their kids asked why they couldn’t just plant 10 trees first to see what would happen, “my husband said, ‘You can’t plant 10 trees and wait 10 years to see if it will work’ - you have to just go for it.” A decade later and the farm continues to grow, with several types of olive trees now on the farm (mostly Italian varietals like Leccino, Frantoio, Pendolino and Maurino), plus some new experimental high-density dwarf trees that will hopefully produce a high yield. “This is gardening on the edge, by far. We knew we may not be successful.”
The first 2016 harvest, with just 32 litres of that green Mediterranean gold produced, was followed up with a disappointing 2017 in which the entire crop was lost to frost. The 2018 harvest saw even less than 2016, while 2019 was back on an upward trend. A major prune was completed in 2019, so tensions were high as they waited to see how the trees would respond. And respond, they did - the trees grew 50% more olives than in 2019, but the weather was not on board in the end. A cool and wet spring (June-uary, as we call it) didn’t leave the olives enough time to ripen fully before harvest, resulting in very low oil yield. “This is part of forging a new industry,” explained Sheri as she reflected on the 2020 turnout. “It's not going to be easy or everyone would be doing it.”
While the first few years of their dream vocation hasn’t been incredibly fruitful in terms of olive oil output, The Olive Farm has been producing an incredible amount of interest. Follow along their brave and beautiful journey on their Instagram page. If you’d like to secure a bottle one day, sign up for their newsletter and hope that steady weather through the 2021 season results in a banner year for this innovative island venture.
Saltine: A Salt Spring Zine, January 9, 2021 (Images by Brette Little)