How to become a
Barwon Oil Baron
It is easier than you might think.
1. You pick your olives
Grab your friends, family and neighbours, get together to pick local olive trees. Pick no earlier than the 24 hours of dropping them off with us, to ensure freshness. Try to keep them dry as moisture can lead to them developing mould.
Watch the video on how to pick your olives with Vasilli’s Garden first if you’re new to the process.
2. You drop off your olives with us
Book a time & location to drop off your olives. We have a number off drop off locations through the Geelong region to choose from. By following us on Humanitix when you book your ticket, or in our Facebook group, you’ll be notified of our upcoming collection events.
3. We weigh your olives
Turn up at your designated location and time, with your boxes of olives – no heavier than 20kg/box (Please think health and safety). We will weigh them for you and provide you with a receipt. Your delivery will determine how much oil you will eventually receive. Each year the yield vary and the oil output will be divided by the percentage of olive contributions made.
4. We press your olives
We take your olives to our friends at Mt Moriac Olives and Geelong Region Olives, who press them into community oil for us all to share. This process takes around four weeks.
5. You pay and collect your oil from us
Payment can be made for for your oil in cash. No electronic payment or change will be available.
Once payment has been made, you will be provided with your oil. Be sure to bring your own containers on the day.
Supported over the years by
The freshness and quality of the olives is paramount. Learn how to quickly and effectively harvest and transport your olives and oil.
Picking the olives
Using a handheld fit-for-purpose-rake to assist pulling your olives off your trees is an invaluable timesaver. You may find these listed as forks, hands or rakes when searching for them online. If using something else when you start out, make sure to find something gentle on the fruit so as not to damage your olives. Olives bruise very easily and we will turn you away if we see less than perfect olives, so now is a good time to prepare for a successful harvest.
Boxes and crates
Please note: We do not accept olives stored in bags, cardboard boxes or polystyrene boxes as the olives start sweating very quickly, tainting the flavour of the olives which can ruin a full years harvest if not picked up. Prevention is the best cure.
If you plan to participate in the olive picking project, it may be economical to invest in equipment. This does not have to be expensive. The containers need ventilation on the sides and bottom to prevent olives sweating leading to mould. It will also need to be the right size to cater for your lifting abilities. We encourage you to use durable equipment, so that you are kitted out for generations.
Oil containers
Bring a suitable clean food grade container when picking up your oil. Dirty containers are likely to taint your oil, including containers which were previously used for oil if a bit of old oil is left in the container.
When you drop your olives off, you will be advised approximately how much oil you will be collecting, so please bring a suitable container, with a large opening, that will fit all of your oil.
If you plan to gift your oil, or store it in smaller containers, please decant your oil into your own smaller containers at home.
The following links can assist in searches for containers to suit a range of budgets and sizes.
Read Oil about it
To stay up to date with announcements join the Barwon Oil Barons online