Olivegrower profile – 2021 AIOA Champion
Homeleigh Grove is on a 41-acre farm at Wallaroo, on the NSW/ACT border, in an area Peter describes as almost marginal for olive-growing.
Homeleigh Grove continues its awardwinning ride Homeleigh Grove owners Peter and Caroline O’Clery light-heartly blame ponies for their entry into olive growing, having planted their grove, the story goes, so their daughters couldn’t deposit more on the property. The decision certainly set them on a winning ride, with ongoing industry accolades culminating most recently in two Australian International Olive Awards (AIOA) Champion of Class trophies. The 2021 AIOA saw the Homeleigh Grove Family Harvest awarded Silver and the Best of ACT EVOO trophy, while the Homeleigh Grove Lemon Myrtle Infused won Gold and the trophy for Champion Flavoured and/or Infused Olive Oil. Awarded 90/100 points by the judges, the Lemon Myrtle Infused was among the top five flavoured oils of the competition. Homeleigh Grove’s Early Harvest EVOO also earned a Bronze medal, making it a clean medal sweep for all oils entered.
Background
The O’Clerys established the Homeleigh grove in 1999 on their 41-acre farm at Wallaroo on the NSW/ACT border. They’d lived on the property since 1984 and, with Peter in consultancy mode after a hectic career in the tourism industry and with a co-operative research centre, they were “looking for something additional to do”. They contemplated a few crop options and decided on olives. “We had the land and a licensed irrigation bore but still didn’t feel we had enough water to be doing something like grapes, so rather we went for olives,” Peter said. “The information available at the time was totally inaccurate - that
The good and the bad …
Very few jobs are completely enjoyable, even when they’re successful and satisfying. Life as an olive producer is no different, with tasks some enjoy but others dislike and just get on with. And then there are those tasks that nearly everyone struggles to feel positive about. We asked the O’Clerys what the pros and cons of life in olives are for them. “The best things is that it keeps us active. “The worst is pruning in the middle of winter. Pruning is probably the worst part of the whole exercise, because of when you have to do it.” It’s interesting - although not really surprising - how many of our profiled growers share that sentiment! they’re easy to plant, come on quickly, fruit prolifically, and so on and so on. It was quite persuasive. We now know that very little of it was actually correct - for any climate, let alone ours - but it seemed to make sense. “We planted the first 40 trees as a trial and then thought it really wasn’t worth sitting for a few years and seeing what happened to them, so we might as well get on and plant a few more. We ended up with about 2000. “Overall there are about 15 varieties but some are only a few trees 10 of this and five of that. Those are mostly table olive varietals. Our main varieties are Leccino, Corregiolo and Frantoio. “The principal varieties are Tuscan, chosen because the climatic Issue 124 • June 2022 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • 17
