Hot Town ... Summer in the City .... and the country!

Preparing for our first Olive Oil Tasting Night today and tonight.

Villa Macala is a very peaceful place with buckwheat and guava and pom blooms.

Olives are hanging on trees and starting to have "pit hardening" on some varieties.

Zinfandel grapes are growing well and maybe we will have a harvest this year instead of feeding some animals like last year. They are getting a retaining wall and fencing around and over the vines soon this week and next.

The most rain this past winter we have had in many years and it has provided a heavy bloom. Fruit set has been average this year.

We did a heavy prune of all trees - so a bird can fly thru each tree like the Italian proverb suggests.

We have been cultivating and composting and clearing and cleaning orchards for insect control.

All in all it's a great year for Macala Orchards!