The Alentejo region is one of the sunniest corners of Portugal. Summer days are long and hot with temperatures of up to 45 degrees Celsius. Prolonged drought and heat discomfort people and animals. Not much goes on in this region in late summer but work must continue for the Berhard and Zehnder families on the Risca Grande farm.
Plants also have difficulties with the heat and part of the Risca Grande olive groves (especially the saplings and young plants) are irrigated by the farm's natural lake, filled by the winter rain. The trees then convert the power of the sun into assimilates which are incorporated into the growing fruit.
Fruit pests are always a challenge for the organic olive producer and at this time the olives are susceptible to punctures by the Olive Fly trying to lay its eggs in them. The Bernhard and Zehnder families hang self -made traps in the trees to counteract these flies, preventing them from degrading the quality of the olives.
In August and September the shoots that grow around the base of the olive tree trunks must also be manually removed to prevent them from sapping energy from the trees. All of this work goes on while the olive oil from the last harvest is still being bottled from the storage tanks and packed for customers around the world.
Soon the olives will begin to ripen and the processing equipment will be readied in anticipation of the new harvest to come in November and December.
