About Us

In 1999, after returning home to San Francisco following six months in Spain, Jim proclaimed that he “needed olive oil in his life!” Jeane, who had just moved from Santa Cruz to San Francisco, was not convinced.

However, after spending a particularly glorious February day in Healdsburg in 2001, Jim and Jeane stumbled upon 10 + acres for sale on Westside Road. The land, located next to Madrona Manor, already had an old grove of olive trees. Fortunately for them the seller, Jeff Allen, had initially planned  to plant more trees and he was thrilled that they wanted to plant olive trees, not grapes. Better yet, Jeff and his wife, Anne- Marie Allen, are the principals of Allen Land Design – the very best at supplying olive trees and installing olive groves.

Jim and Jeane let Jeff choose the types of varietals to be planted, Anne-Marie showed them how to hand harvest, and the Allens introduced Jim and Jeane to Guillermo Barba, their orchard foreman, without whom they would be rudderless. By 2002 they had planted a 500 trees consisting of Koroneiki (Greek), Arbequina (Spanish), and Picholine (French) varietals. After installing water tanks and a drip system they were harvesting olives by the following fall.