My Olives Plus Two Crates not Shown Crushing the fruit is the second phase of the harvest. Various wineries and olive mills provide this service, and for a small fee, you can turn your olives into the freshest olive oil available! You can also find olive mills that still use stones to grind the olives versus a crusher. After three days of collecting olives, we hauled them to the Mazzola Winery  and the olive crusher. Mazzola Winery & Crusher. The crusher, Mazzola, is a small

Lucas is ready for harvest. I never thought I'd be a small olive farmer. Since I can remember, I've dreamt of having a farm with animals, green pastures, and that classic old red barn. And I've lived on land most of my adult life—from 5 to 1400 acres—with big gardens and chickens but (never the big red barn.) I've been so fortunate to live in places with lots of room, expansive views, skies dripping with stars, and sunsets that take your breath away. And I was delighted when

Italy wasn't a travel destination for me. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful country, and I like the idea of traveling far and wide, but I'm a homebody. My travel dreams were limited to a few trips focused on nature and animals, such as whale-watching in Alaska and encounters with elephants in Asia or Africa. Or, I'd occasionally dream about a trip to Ireland, where my grandmother and ancestors lived. In reality, these were passing thoughts because I dreaded the idea of tra