I love this idea. Nudo allows you to adopt an olive tree on a hillside in Italy and reap the benefits (e.g. olive oil) that the tree produces for a year.
You get to browse the grove online and pick your own tree and then you can make arrangements (they say you are welcome anytime, just give them a call first) to go see it, water it, even hug it.
Below is the map of available olive tree groves and images of the trees within each grove.
They can also give you updates on how your tree is doing.
Once you've chosen and adopted a tree, the first thing you'll receive is an adoption certificate, to make you official, and your tree information booklet. Then over the course of the year you'll receive two more packages, one in the spring and one in the autumn, containing all the produce from your tree.
Above: Antonio at work, pruning your tree
Above: Tiberio, their organic inspector, makes sure your trees are pesticide-free
above: the local press
Above: your olives
Above: your oil
They call it "your tree" but in actuality, they collect your tree’s harvest with about 50 of its neighbors – to give us enough olives to press in one go.
Spring package:
This package contains your organically produced extra virgin olive oil. Each tree produces about 2 litres of oil a year and they guarantee a minimum of 1.5 litres. If your tree produces less than this, they'll supplement it with the finest oil from one of their other groves.
Autumn package:
This package contains more extra virgin olive oil, this time from their flavored range. For their lemon oil, they crush whole lemons along with the olives; for their chilli oil, they infuse the oil with fiery Sicilian chillies. You'll receive three different tins from the range.
For just $65 (+ postage & packaging) you’ll receive 3 packages over the year:
1. Spring package (all the extra virgin olive oil from your tree)
2. Autumn package (three flavoured extra virgin olive oils)
3. Personalized adoption certificate and booklet about your tree
Their oil has been described by the BBC as 'Italy's finest cold-pressed olive oil'. Their tins look at home in the very most la-di-dah of kitchens. They are carbon positive and all their oil comes from small scale artisanal groves, so buying from them helps ensure the life of farms that make the Italian countryside as pretty as a picture postcard.
Their address is
C.da Appezzana 29,
62020 Loro Piceno (MC),
Le Marche,
Italy
You can phone them at local rates on
+39 339 4422 495 (Italy Office)
020 7617 7235 (UK Skype)
718 473 0732 (USA Skype)
Adopt your tree here.
You can also shop online for Nudo products like those shown below here.
