Mountain Views News          Saturday, November 6, 2010

14

HOMES AND PROPERTY

 Mountain Views News Saturday, November 6, 2010 


Greg and Heba 
Wood didn’t set out 
to become farmers 
in the five acres 
they purchased in 
Bradbury seven years 
ago. When they 
closed on the property 
in 2003, bare dirt 
prevailed on the acreage instead of landscaping on 
the steeply sloped land, except for a row of sixty-
year old olive trees along the edge of the shared 
lane leading to the homesite.

Those olive trees had been “lollipopped” and 
kept relatively small. Indications were that the 
previous owners had not allowed the trees to fruit 
in at least fifteen years. The Woods decided to let 
the trees grow out over the next few years. When 
2007 came, a bumper crop of olives generated 
excitement and interest in harvesting the fruit.

Heba Wood grew up in Lebanon, using olive 
oil as the main cooking medium. Her mother 
always kept one of those large tin cans of Italian 
olive oil on hand, but that was really the extent 
of either Woods’ knowledge about olive oil, until 
that first year of bountiful olive fruit.

What was initially excitement turned to frustration 
when they learned that fruit flies had moved into 
the area during the previous decade. Olives are 
apparently a very hospitable host to fruit fly 
larvae. Without regular organic spraying of a 
compound named GF120, fruit fly larvae make 
the fruit unusable.

The following year, the Woods faithfully sprayed 
the organic compound that smells like molasses 
on the prescribed biweekly schedule in a three 
foot square area of each tree. The spray becomes a 
bait for the pesky fly which feeds on that bait and 
goes away to die, leaving the fruit to flourish.

The resulting crop was “terrific” according to 
Greg, and they decided to venture into making 
their own olive oil. “I don’t know what happened,” 
chuckles Greg, “but it seems those trees have been 
aspiring to greatness while under an oppressed 
regime.”

First step was to buy a press. Greg found a low 
tech, rather jury rigged press that incorporated 
mechanisms from other industries to prepare the 
olive oil. The low tech press used a household 
garbage disposal to grind the fruit, seeds and all, 
plus a car jack to perform the compression of the 
paste at a cost of a mere $2600. Yet… the purchase 
was appealing since the next step up was $28,000. 

The result, unfortunately, was overwhelmingly 
disappointing for their thirty trees. “If it had 
been one tree, perhaps we could have managed,” 
reflected Heba, “but not for the crop size we had.”

Quick research yielded a friendly cooperative mill 
in Ojai, named Regalo Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 
owned by a physician, Jeff Luttrell, who allows 
other growers to use his mill. The Woods hired 
pickers to help them and filled his pickup truck 
with 20 gallon containers of freshly picked olives. 
They were off to Ojai, under the time constraint 
that the best flavor is yielded from pressing within 
24 hours of picking.

They watched in fascination as the olives were 
dumped into a bin feeding a conveyor belt to a 
bath. Then it’s off to the grinder, seeds and all. 
The product is a brown paste looking like dark 
hummus. The paste is then centrifuged twice. The 
first time, the paste is separated from a liquid of 
oil and water. The second time, the oil is separated 
from the water, and voila! Their first olive oil 
poured out of the tap into five gallon containers.

Unexpectedly, the oil was incredibly clear and the 
mill staff exclaimed about its high quality, saying 
they had “a gold mine.” After just a few days, their 
oil was so clear, they bottled, sparged the air out 
of the bottle neck with carbon dioxide, corked, 
labeled then foil-capped their prized oil.

So elated were they, the Woods did it all over again 
the following week, repeating the whole process 
with the next week’s ripened olives. Surprisingly, 
the two batches tasted quite different; the first 
batch with a “subtle grassy note,” per Greg, and the 
second batch was mellower. They even sold some 
through Savor the Flavor (www.SavorTheFlavor.
net), a well known, boutique food shop on 
Kersting Court in Sierra Madre.

2009 brought disappointment, when the Woods’ 
olive trees bore almost no fruit at all, following 
a statewide trend that year. Come 2010, the 
excitement once again built as the trees were 
heavily laden with beautiful olives.

In October, the Woods, friends and hired pickers 
harvested a true bumper crop, at least twice as 
many olives as 2008. They made three trips to the 
Ojai press this year, labeling each pressing with its 
date, and finding three distinct tastes to the oils.

With a larger crop this year, the Woods' olive 
oil which they named "Olive Our Dreams", is 
available once again at Savor the Flavor. According 
to Madeline Romo there, all three press dates are 
currently still available, at $29.99 for 500ml. Call 
them for an update on availability at (626) 355-
5153.

“In the end,” say the Woods, “though it’s incredibly 
labor intensive and a costly process, it’s a labor of 
love.” The fruit of their loving labors! 

Olive Oil: The Fruits of Their Labors in Bradbury


Chris Bertrand

 
Federal foreclosure-prevention tactics have 
recently been expanded to encourage delinquent 
borrowers to avoid foreclosure by streamlining 
the short sale process. Cash incentives are also 
being offered to the homeowners, as well as to 
the lenders and the buyers.

 Perhaps the best feature of the new legislation 
requires the lenders to advise the sellers what 
their minimum acceptable price is before listing 
the home for sale. Then if the sellers secure an 
offer for the agreed price, the lender must accept 
it within 10 days.

 This speeds up the short sale process 
tremendously, since the lender is also required 
to consult with local real estate agents in order 
to determine a fair price. Of course, "fair" is a 
relative term here, because in a short sale, the 
bank is agreeing to sell the property for less than 
the total amount due on the mortgage.

 However, it is definitely in the lender's best 
interest to expedite a short sale instead of 
allowing the home to foreclose, because on 
average, the bank loses 50% on a foreclosure, but 
only 30% on a short sale.

 These new standardized procedures, called 
the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives 
Program (HAFA), is a new option for 
homeowners who have been unsuccessful under 
existing programs. If you're facing default, I 
strongly urge you to contact a real estate agent 
today to discuss the alternatives.

CALIFORNIA ECONOMIC AND REAL ESTATE SUMMIT 

 The real estate community and the public are invited to attend the Fifth Annual Economic and Real 
Estate Summit scheduled for Thursday, November 18 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon at the Masonic 
Center, 50 W. Duarte Road in Arcadia. The forecast will be presented by Robert Kleinhenz, Ph.D., 
Deputy Chief Economist for the California Association of REALTORS. A continental breakfast will 
be served beginning at 9:30 a.m. 

 Dr. Kleinhenz will discuss what lies ahead for the future real estate market. Will there be more 
changes in the market? What will happen to all the foreclosed properties? You will receive pertinent 
information regarding the current and future outlook of residential real estate and trends that could 
change that outlook. Come and hear about this and much more regarding residential properties. 

 The event is sponsored by the Arcadia Association of REALTORS Education Committee and is free 
for Arcadia Association REALTOR and Affiliate Members. All city officials receive complimentary 
registration. Registration for members of the public is $10 paid by check or credit card. Pre-
registration is required. Call (626) 446-2115 to reserve your place.