2023 Santa Inés Mission Mills Olive Harvest |

By Michael H. Imwalle

On Saturday November 18, 2023 a dedicated group of Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation (SBTHP) staff, volunteers, and Lupe Peña’s crew of olive pickers harvested twenty bins of olives from the Santa Inés Mission Mills State Property. The following day, Lupe’s crew picked another fourteen bins for a total of 34 bins or 8.42 tons of olives. Lupe hauled the olives five miles to the olive mill at the base of Figueroa Mountain. The mill was formerly operated by Figueroa Farms. The new owners operate the mill as SY Olive Mill, LLC. They crushed our olives on November 20^th. The oil was stored in four 50-gallon barrels until it could be bottled and labeled.

SBTHP member David Stone and SBTHP staff Jordan Hitchens and Sarah Fenenga hard at work during the harvest. Photo by Michael H. Imwalle.

On December 20^th Mills Agricultural and Maintenance Supervisor Leeann Haslouer picked up two 50-gallon barrels of olive oil and delivered them to the Olive Oil Source in Santa Maria where it was bottled and labeled. On December 29^th Leeann and Tom Walton picked up the last two barrels of oil from SY Olive Mill and delivered them to El Presidio de Santa Bárbara State Historic Park.

A portion of the harvest. Photo by Leeann Haslouer.

The two barrels delivered to the Olive Oil Source produced a total of 75 cases of Olio Nuovo, the first pressing of the season’s harvest. Labeled bottles were delivered to the gift shop at El Presidio SHP on January 12th.

Prolonged drought and heat in Europe have led to a severe decline in the production of olive oil by Spain, Italy, and Greece this year. Luckily, there is no shortage of olive oil in Santa Barbara! The oil is currently available for sale in the gift shop at El Presidio SHP and at the Casa Cassara Winery and Vineyard Tasting Room in Solvang, California.