Guardians of the grove
When Maggie Dalziel and Brooke Noonan moved from Auckland to Mango¯nui, falling in love with a grove of neglected olive trees was not part of the plan, reports Sionainn Mentor-King of Shepherdess magazine.
On the banks of the O¯ ruaiti River, just a few kilometres from Mango¯ nui, stand 500 Frantoio olive trees. Swathed in mist in the early morning, and gilded by the last light at the end of the day, this grove had stood for more than 15 years, alone and largely untended, weathering the seasons and waiting for the right people to come.
There is a watchful presence beneath the branches. A herbalgreen fragrance emanates from the trees as the sun’s warmth gives way to the cool of an autumn night. A deep sense of contentment seeps from the grove and mown avenues as they slope towards the river bend.
So it might come as a surprise to learn that this idyllic grove was what originally put Maggie Dalziel, 53, and Brooke Noonan, 52, off the property.
‘‘When we came across the grove, I initially dismissed it,’’ Noonan says. ‘‘We didn’t want olives, we wanted a bush setting, something really cool. We came up here just to see what it was like and rule it out, but when we walked down through the grove to the river – it was just spectacular. And that was it.’’
‘‘Literally,’’ Dalziel says. ‘‘We saw the property on the Friday, and we bought it on the Sunday.’’
The couple had decided to leave Auckland and find a bush block on which to build an offgrid house and their ecoglamping accommodation.
Taking on a mature, poorly maintained olive grove wasn’t something Dalziel – a native of Glasgow and manager of the welcome team at Auckland Zoo – and Noonan – an elephant handler from Hastings – had any experience in. Olives were a whole new world for them.
‘‘I was always into animals,’’ Noonan explains, when asked how she came to work with elephants.
‘‘I used to keep lizards, dogs, rabbits and praying mantises as a kid. I was interested in all that stuff. And I did a lot of work on farms through my family, spending school holidays on my aunt’s farm in Hawke’s Bay.
‘‘I just applied for a job at the zoo one day thinking, ‘Well, this’ll be interesting, but it doesn’t matter if I don’t get it’.’’
Although their work at the zoo intersected only occasionally, Noonan and Dalziel crossed paths at social gatherings, fell in love and married in 2007.
‘‘We’ve been together almost 20 years,’’ Dalziel says. ‘‘We could have been out for murder. But it’s been amazing. We’re progressive thinkers. If we sit too long doing nothing, we start getting on each other’s nerves. We always need something to do.’’
Dalziel, in typical Glaswegian style, is the gab – the people person, the greeter of guests, and she’s also a marriage celebrant to top it off.
‘‘But Brooke’s the engine room,’’ she says proudly of her wife. ‘‘She says she’s the one that makes me look good. And I don’t dispute it. She absolutely is.’’
The fact their new property was covered in 7-metre-tall olive trees wasn’t a setback for the couple – it was a new challenge.
In the spring of 2016, they sold up in Auckland, resigned from their jobs, bought a caravan and moved to the grove.
‘‘We spent a few months sitting at the property, letting go of our life to date and just thinking about it,’’ Dalziel says. ‘‘At first it was like, ‘Oh my God! What are we going to do with 500 olive trees?’ ’’
But the grove itself provided the answer. Originally, the property had been part of a farm, and the olives were planted when it was subdivided. It had then been largely left to its own devices.
‘‘Before we came here there were three separate owners,’’ says Dalziel. ‘‘They were all overseas or elsewhere in New Zealand. None of them lived here, so it never had company.
‘‘That was the thing we could see was missing – the trees really needed company. We feel like we’re the guardians of the grove. We’re the first people to actually plant a stake here and say, ‘Right, we’re now here with you’.
‘‘We spent a lot of time living in the caravan while the house was being built, pruning and learning about the trees, researching online and looking at what other people do,’’ Noonan says. ‘‘Then our focus went on building the glamping business, Riverside Escapes, but now it’s back on the grove. In the last two years, we’ve been really looking at the long-term health of the trees. We want our legacy to be a healthy, flourishing olive grove.’’
Because the trees hadn’t been maintained before Dalziel and Noonan took ownership, they currently produce a bumper harvest biannually and little to nothing in between.
‘‘The trees don’t cope with annual quality harvests in the current shape they’re in,’’ Dalziel explains. ‘‘But if we manage them and nurture them, eventually we’ll have the most beautiful trees producing incredible fruit every year. That’s the journey we’re on now.’’
Every step of the way has been a learning curve. ‘‘We were all set to do it by hand,’’ Noonan laughs, remembering their first harvest.
‘‘We were heading out to hire the handharvester, driving through the gate, and our neighbours had the guy with the tractor who shakes the trees. We stopped to say hey and take a look at what he was doing, and he said he’d come to check out our grove. He shook a few trees and off he went with the olives. A few weeks later, we got the oil back.’’
‘‘It’s a really smooth system now,’’ Dalziel agrees. ‘‘It’s just so much simpler and quicker than hand-harvesting, and it’s kinder to the trees because it’s just one big shake. It’s very efficient.’’
The fruit is then taken to Olivado in Waipapa for processing. ‘‘It’s like those oldfashioned wringers,’’ Dalziel says, ‘‘but on a massive scale. You see this gorgeous, lush, green liquid coming out. It gives you an appreciation of what really good-quality olive oil looks and tastes like. It’s incredible.’’
Initially, they sold their oil back to Olivado to cover costs, but these days Shaken Down Olive Oil is stocked in more than a dozen local retailers and wellknown grocers such as Farro Fresh in Auckland.
This year, Dalziel and Noonan are trying something new – they’ve done away with spraying to see if they can keep on top of the weeds by hand.
‘‘We’re not legally certified organic, but our methods are very much heading that way,’’ Dalziel says. ‘‘We’re avoiding nasty chemicals, and trying to work with nature rather than against it.’’
As well as producing highquality olive oil, the couple is experimenting with other products, including rosemaryinfused olive oil icecream and body bars made with locally sourced beeswax.
‘‘We always support local,’’ Noonan says. ‘‘We love being in Mango¯ nui. It’s an eclectic, mixed community that’s friendly and welcoming. There are really lovely people in the area who have been here for a lot longer than us and they have given us a lot of tips and helped us along.’’
The couple’s hard work is proof that love and company are just what olives need. This year is one of those bumper harvest years, and Dalziel estimates they will bring down 14 to 15 tonnes of olives, which will produce about 1500 litres of oil.
‘‘How many elephants is that?’’ she asks Noonan, putting the number of olives into perspective. ‘‘About three?’’
‘‘Three bull elephants,’’ Noonan confirms with a grin.
The autumn edition of Shepherdess magazine is out now. Visit shepherdess.co.nz for stockists or to subscribe.