If you are looking for a variety of certified organic olive oil produced locally in Yolo County, look no further than Capay Valley’s Grumpy Goats Farm.
Grumpy Goats Farm, playfully self-named after owners Pamela Marvel and her husband, Stuart Littell, is a small 20-acre farm in Capay. While the oil produced yearly is abundant, the locations where you can get it aren’t. Marvel mentioned that most sales are made online through their website, at farmers’ markets in Palo Alto and in bulk to small retailers.
“I think what makes us special is the variety of olives we grow,” Marvel said. “They are full of antioxidants and very healthy. Not only does the olive oil taste strong and robust, but it is good for your health. We don’t use the same variety that many other producers use.”
The farm grows several different types of olives that allow it to make several distinct olive oils: Picual, Coratina, Pendolino, Hojablanca, Nocellara del Belice.
“People can visit, but there is no tasting room or formal set-up,” Marvel explained. “People are welcome to give us a ring and come by. We can show them our fields and our process during the year.”
Despite limited exposure, the farm has reached an esteemed company as one of the top olive oil producers in the world.
According to Marvel, after years of accumulating medals and impressive showings during contests in Los Angeles, New York and the California State Fair, Grumpy Goats Farms reached No. 14 out of nearly 800 olive oils worldwide in the Olive Oil Times World Rankings.
Currently the farm is concentrating on irrigation, especially during the sweltering 100-degree days. In late August and September, they will begin harvesting their prized crop from the vast 3000-tree orchard.
“Olives are like citrus,” Marvel explained. “Sometimes you have a good year with a big crop, and the next year is lower as the trees recover from the year before. Last year was really good as we harvested over 1000 gallons. This year, we had some good rains that helped our productivity, so it looks like we’ll have another good year but not as good as last year.”
After each day during the harvesting process, a flatbed truck filled with bins will make a two-and-a-half-hour trek to a mill in Hopland, where they will be processed. Everything will be milled and stored away by midnight.
“We want our olives to be processed as soon as possible after they have been picked; otherwise, they start to deteriorate; you don’t want them sitting around in a bin in the hot sun. You want them to proceed the right way.”
Oil is then stored until the sentiment has settled, like wine. The good oil is siphoned out and stored in 55-gallon drums or stainless steel containers inside a temperature-controlled warehouse, waiting to be bottled, labeled and made ready to sell.
As in years past the farm uses organic farming and conservation techniques to ensure they remain organic, sustainable and animal-friendly.
Marvel mentioned that the farm contracts a company to come out and certify the farm as organic after reviewing the practices done. Animal-friendly amenities include a small fountain on the farm, a bat house, owl boxes and other birdhouses.
“The certifying bodies are encouraging us to add more conservation and organic processes to our farm, and we want to do the same,” Marvel said. “Animals, birds and bees are losing habitats by the acre so this is one very small way we can change that and contribute to keeping the habitat for our fellow beings. I have a book of 10/12 items that we do that we didn’t do before to improve our conservation processes,”
The soil on the farm also remains undisturbed and is never tiled.
They also happen to be surrounded by other organic farms.
For more information, visit their website at grumpygoatsfarm.com.
Dining and Cooking