In the heart of the rugged Italian island of Sardinia, Giacomo Nieddu and his family have created a beautiful olive farm dedicated to respecting tradition while using modern practices to create the highest quality olive oil from their centuries-old olive trees. Giacomo began farming their land in 2017, recovering the abandoned olive grove – an arduous task. Their grove now totals 2500 healthy and productive olive trees.
All of the work in the grove is done by hand, from pruning to harvesting. The olives are taken to the mill within hours of harvesting, and the mill uses state-of-the art technology (an absolute requirement for producing high-quality EVOO) to transform the family’s olives into an astonishingly fresh and fruity olive oil.
The family also practices nomadic beekeeping, moving the hives to the locations of flowering plants to obtain honey from those particular flowers. In particular, they produce honey from asphodel flowers and from thistle, in addition to a traditional Sardinian “abbattu” or “abbamele” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbamele, a syrupy reduction made from crushed honeycomb that includes both honey and pollen – excellent for maintaining a strong immune system.
Recently, Giacomo also created a nonprofit that brings local school kids into the olive groves to teach the next generation about olive oil culture. We applaud Giacomo’s efforts to pass along his knowledge and passion to the next generation of artisan farmers.
Check out more photos of their farm here. Try their award winning EVOO, found here.