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Sun,
stone, drought, silence and solitude: these are the five ingredients that, according to Italian folk traditions, create the
ideal habitat for the Olive Tree. This is the climate and environment found in abudance in South Texas. Near the
Mexican border where Vaquero's once roamed freely, a new breed of Texan has carved out a niche in the rough lands that at
first glance gives one the sense of sun,
stone, drought, silence and solitude... But underneath this land lies a great aquifer, an underground lake
three times the size of Connecticut.
When the big Texas ranch families discovered what is
now known as the Carrizo Wilcox Aquifer in the late 1800's, these modern Moses carved up their vast holdings and converted
it to farmland. They leased, sold and speculated to a vast hord of poor farmers from the east and south. Promoted
to heavily, these Anglo newcomers formed the basis of what was one of the greatest land migrations in Western United States
history. And they all came by train, in Pullman cars on tracks paid for and laid by the big ranchers to their Magic
Valley of South Texas, as they now called it. Overnight, little farming towns like Carrizo Springs, Asherton, Cotula
and La Pryor sprang up, forming the basis of what became known as the "Wintergarden" area of Texas, where fruit,
vegetables, and even some wine was harvested and shipped back to the big eastern cities of Chicago and New York via the very rail
lines they rode in on. But when the stock market crashed in 1929 and the Great Depression hit, almost all the farmers,
with no markets to sell their crops to and many overleveraged by the banks, lost everything.
Olive
trees have an almost titanic resistance, a vital force which renders them nearly immortal. Despite harsh winters and burning
summers, despite truncations, they continue to grow, proud and strong reaching towards the sky, bearing fruit that nourishes
and heals inspires and amazes. Temperate climactic conditions, characterized by warm dry summers and rainy winters, favor
plentiful harvests; stone, drought, silence, and solitude are the ideal habitat for the majestic olive tree. Italy and Spain
are now the most prolific producers of olive oil, although Greece is still very active. Olive trees were introduced
to the New World from Spain in the early 1500s, first arriving in Cuba. The early colonists included priests who established
missions and planted olive trees and grapes. Those olive trees planted in California around 1769 became known as mission
olive trees. Now, olive tress have taken a foot hold in the Wintergarden and Texas Hill Country, nurtured passionately
by Texas farmers who - driven to excel - are producing a uniquely Texan variety of world class, extra virgin Olive
Oil.
Following the bust of 1929
and the great Depression, the Wintergarden area of South Texas either went fallow, or reverted back to the big ranches from
whence the small farms originally came. The discovery of oil at Spindeltop in East Texas did not translate into a boom
in the Wintergarden, and the small farms that remained were consolidated into a few large agricultural producers, growing
spinach and cabbage. But nothing to write home about, not on the scale that the Wintergarden had seen in its glory days.
Even the ranches could not make money from what had been their mainstay, the cattle business. And so, this grand ole
gal of the south slipped back into obscurity. Until
a few years ago... when Texas Olive pioneers Jim Henry, Jack Daugherty and a few others discovered that liquid gold could
be gleaned from the land that was on the same geographic parallel as the Mediterranean. Olive Oil.
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