A Day at the Farm

Olive tree and tour guide

Olive press

Things we learned about olives -  No olives are naturally black.  The so called ripe black olives have been soaked in a lye bath.  Ick!  No more black olives for me.
The best olive oil is Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  Also labelled as cold pressed, first pressed or fresh pressed.  All these terms mean that the olives were pressed mechanically with no added heat or chemicals.  This process produces the best olive oil.  Good for all your cooking needs except frying.  Olive oil should only be heated to 375 degrees F.  If it starts smoking the oil is too hot and it is ruined.  Start again.

The lower grade olive oils  are a mixture of virgin oil and oil extracted with heat and chemicals from the discarded pulp from the press.  This company calls the pulp "caca" and only uses it as compost.

Do you watch "Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe"?  An episode was filmed at this farm.  Mike Rowe called the discarded pulp "caca" and it stuck.

After our tour and olive education, we had homework.  Go sample the olives and oils.  They even have chocolate infused oil.  I bought some Tuscany style oil, almond mesquite olives and onion tapenade.  Yummy!  The farm has a store and restaurant with a lovely patio.  Great experience.

Our next stop was Schnepf Farms.  This is a going concern.  It is a family owned pick your own farm.  They have special events, festivals, school groups and even weddings on the property.  Crops include peaches, nectarines, plums, sunflowers and assorted vegetables.  A big fall event is the Pumpkin and Chile Fest. 

We had lunch here.  Salad with roasted chicken and rolls, hot from the oven.  The salad greens were so fresh as the vegetables were only picked this morning.  Man was it good.  For dessert there was homemade fruit pie.

The property includes a petting zoo, carnival rides, small RV park, concert area and a small museum in the original farm house.  We rode a hay wagon and a small train for our tour around the farm. 

We got lost going home and ended up taking a road through some small mountains.  Don't know how we ended up there.  We were heading in the right direction just a different route.  Note to self:  Turn on Lola (GPS) before leaving parking lot.

Pick Your Own Vegetable Garden

Peach Orchard

The peach trees are irrigated by flooding from the high end of the orchard.  The farm's well is over 2000 feet deep.  Flooding is contained by the dirt berms between the rows of trees.

The Whole Gang on the Hay Wagon

As I post these pictures it dawned on me that I'm doing the same kinds of trips as I did with the daycare kids.  Guess I'm never going to grow up.  lol