Olea Olive Oil Farm

Happy weekend blog readers! This weekend is shaping up to be a great one. Not only do we have my father-in-law Simon in town visiting us, but we got to do three fun things I've never done before this weekend. Even though we are very familiar with the California central coast, we are still at the stage where we are able to discover new local things and have brand new experiences.

This first thing we got to do was see our first "Cycle Cross" competition, which Simon participated in today. It is basically a road-biking obstacle course that involves watching crazy (ahem...talented) bike riders going over sand dunes, through rough terrain, and over obstacles where you have to jump off and carry your bike. I had so much fun waving around a cow bell to cheer on Simon and the other riders.

In the afternoon, we went wine tasting at Turley Wine Cellars, which I'd never visited before and was awesome (drink the zinfandels). But the highlight of the day was our visit to a rustic olive oil ranch called Olea Farm. Not only was the olive oil super fresh and delicious, but we got to watch the oil being pressed firsthand in a fascinating moveable pressing truck that they had on site.

 

 

First, the olives (picked that week) are put through a machine that removes all of the leaves. Then they go onto a conveyer belt where they are washed. They then pass through what looks like a giant drill that mashes them all up and extracts the oil. Finally, any leftover water and sediment is removed and the remainder slowly drips into a giant drum of...you guessed it: fresh olive oil.

  

 Now, on to cook something new and exciting with my new bottle of olive oil!