Fruit Set
The flowering held. Every grove, every tree, blossomed and pollinated through April and into early May, and the first olives are now visible on the branches. Tiny, the size of a small bead, no pip inside them yet. Fragile in a way that has no equivalent later in the season. A heatwave over the next two weeks could dry them out and end the harvest before it begins.
Once they get past this stage, the trees can take almost anything the weather throws at them.
We are not quite there yet.
Fire Watch
The work in the groves has shifted. The families are mowing the dry grasses now, not for aesthetics but to prevent fires. Cyprus is in the middle of a serious foot and mouth disease outbreak. Sheep and goats are banned from grazing outside, which historically would have kept the dry grass down across rural Cyprus. Without them, fire risk climbs. Every grove needs to be cleared by hand and by machine before the summer truly arrives.
About the 2026 harvest
When the harvest is ready in October, the shop will open with a password. Existing customers from the 2025 harvest will receive their access first, one week before anyone else. After that, the waitlist will receive access in the order people joined.
The 2025 harvest sold out within weeks of opening. The 2026 harvest will be larger, but waitlist priority by sign-up date is the only way we can keep allocation fair.
Know someone who would value this?
Forward this page to them, or share the waitlist link directly:
https://www.highphenolic.com/waitlist
Each name added moves down a queue we cannot grow as fast as demand. So earlier matters.
