Swallow houses installed around the orchards help keep insects at bay, all in an effort to keep the orchards healthy and the trees disease free.


Creating an organic olive tree orchard on the grounds of an old dairy farm has been nothing short of an adventure. Because of the nature of dairy farms, which take the nutrients from the grass and export them into the milk, the soil at McEvoy Ranch had been greatly depleted over the years. Through organic farming methods and a great deal of experimentation, we have brought the soil back to life, and now have a flourishing orchard covering over 80 acres of the 550-acre ranch.

Under the enlightened care of Tuscan agronomist and olive oil production consultant Maurizio Castelli, who flies in from Italy several times each year; Shari DeJoseph, Orchard Manager since 1993; and Jeffrey Creque, the ranch’s agricultural ecologist, the olive trees get more than their fair share of attention. The committed team carefully studies the orchards and decides which nutrients and amendments should be added back through “fertigation” (adding minerals and vitamins back through the irrigation system) and which can be built up by using beneficial ground cover, such as legumes and clover.

By using all organic methods, we not only ensure a good crop of olives and a better product for customers, but we protect the fragile local ecosystem for future generations.


Most people have heard of the dreaded fruit fly, enemy to the olive, made all the more challenging to combat for McEvoy Ranch given our organic status which prohibits the use of harsh chemicals or pesticides of any kind in defense.

However, few know that thanks to a band of rum-loving fruit flies in Barbados, where researchers discovered the little buggers passed out in vats of rum waste during the distillation process, the creation of GF-120 Naturalyte was born (produced by Dow AgroSciences), a product recognized by the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) for use in organic production and containing Spinosad, the active ingredient “derived naturally from a bacteria through fermentation.”