Spring 2025 Update
Spring sunshine in the Manna Hill Estate grove
Spring has arrived at Manna Hill Estate and the warmer, longer days makes it more pleasant to be outside and starting the next major activity which is pruning. And although much of the East Coast of Australia seems to have had a very wet winter, unfortunately for us in SW Victoria the winter was relatively dry with below average rainfall so we don’t have good, deep soil moisture heading into Spring. As a result, the olive trees are looking a little raggedly and, at least at this stage, we haven’t had that burst of Spring growth. We are ever hopeful that we will have a wet Spring ahead of the all-important flowering period – which for us is typically late November / early December.
Casks are now available for sale
Our certified biodynamic-organic, regenerative, extra virgin olive oil (cold pressed of course!) has now settled and we are now filling into casks. Note that we let our oil settle rather than using filters as we believe that filtering takes out some of the natural flavonoids and goodness associated with the oil. Our casks (2L, 4L and 10L) are available for sale on our website though there will be limited quantities this year due to the relatively poor harvest.
We’ve changed our certifier
After over 20 years we have changed our biodynamic-organic certifying body. Unfortunately, our previous certifier (NASAA) went into administration at the end of June and we (as well as many others similarly certified with NASAA) were forced to find another certifier. We have chosen to go with Southern Cross Certified – so you will see their logo popping up on our labels, invoices etc going forward as our current stock of labels is exhausted (or June 30th 2026 – whichever comes first!). Note that we are still being certified to the same standard and our farming practices haven’t changed. We are genuinely committed to farming biodynamically – organically and don’t use any herbicides, insecticides or synthetic fertilizers. We continue to use compost extracts including BD500 as well as vermicast extracts, cover crops, mulching, biochar and seaweed extracts/ferments to enhance soil microbial life. And, in line with our regenerative certification with AGW (which remains unchanged), we remain committed to restoring landscape function, increasing biodiversity above and below the ground, and increasing soil organic carbon.