La Grande Oliva (GrandOliva)

25/03/2023

Favorite wines 🤗

22/03/2023

Over ten years of , and lots to achieve. We need to set up a startup/nonprofit.

We'd like to launch programs to truly promote the Nocellara del Belice olive and its production sites and other genuine, heirloom products and cuisines, and do it well, including collaborations with:

♡ schools to educate the young local inhabitants about their star product;

♡ tourism specialization courses in culinary and hotel training schools, to encourage freshly formed professionals to support and spread the use of Nocellara del Belice olives and olive oil in their upcoming work environment;

♡ cooking & baking workshops on how and when to use freshpressed or riper olive oils from several olive varieties and several production styles;

♡ the local Consorzio di tutela della Nocellara del Belice DOP and Consorzio di filiera dell'olio Valle del Belice DOP, in order to contribute to their meager efforts;

♡ public administrations, to better defend the Nocellara's market from fraud and the rise of copycat products by educating and raising awareness about the Nocellara del Belice's top quality.

A detailed support program for La Grande Oliva encompassing memberships, donations and volunteer work is in the works.

A fundraising plan is also being studied to establish regular training programs in local schools curricula.

We'd also like to issue an annual northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere guide to freshpressed olive oils.

In the meantime, we welcome contributions of any sort and in particular:
- labor (remote is fine),
- merchandising graphics for print (stickers, aprons, hats, t-shirts, notepads, postcards, pens, cups, pins...),
- intellectual (marketing, copywriting, p.r., press relations...),
- legal (help with trademark/brand registration and protection; help with strategizing our collective anti-Nocellara-fraud plan and implementing the costly venture),
- RECIPE TESTING,
- and more...

Contact: [email protected] 🫒

11/03/2023

30/10/2022

If unfiltered oil is better than filtered, there is a new technique studied at Bologna University (Italy) called gas clarification and the best in terms of shelf-life properties of freshly produced extra virgin olive oil seems to be using Argon.

More & source:

La tecnica di filtrazione dell'extra vergine di oliva è ferma da molti anni, prevedendo l'utilizzo di filtropresse con cartoni filtranti di cellulosa per eliminare residui solidi e acquosi nell'olio. L'Università di Bologna ha brevettato un nuovo sistema di chiarificazione

23/07/2022

07/06/2022

Joel Salatin : "Don't you find it odd that people put more work into choosing a mechanic or contractor than into choosing the person who grows their food?"

https://twitter.com/JoelSalatin/status/173319743745425409?s=20&t=Q36DUN-W6-6I___uut0JFw

“Don't you find it odd that people put more work into choosing a mechanic or contractor than into choosing the person who grows their food?”

07/06/2022

EPA fails to follow landmark law to protect children from pesticides in food, by Environmental Working Group

"Given the potential health hazards of in our food, it is disturbing that the EPA has largely ignored the law's requirement to ensure adequate ," said the study's author, Olga Naidenko, Ph.D.

https://phys.org/news/2020-02-epa-landmark-law-children-pesticides.html

The landmark Food Quality Protection Act requires the Environmental Protection Agency to protect children's health by applying an extra margin of safety to legal limits for pesticides in food. But an investigation by EWG, published this week in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, found that the EPA....

07/06/2022

FDA Testing Conspicuously Skips , Products. Monsanto’s Roundup W**d Killer Detected on Two-Thirds of Corn and Soybean Samples (2020)

https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news-release/fda-glyphosate-testing-conspicuously-skips-oats-wheat-products

The Food and Drug Administration failed to include oats and wheat products in its glyphosate testing program, leaving Americans largely in the dark about their exposure through food to the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup w**d killer.

07/06/2022

7 Foods Experts Won’t Eat:
1. GMO FOODS (any of them!)
2. Canned Tomatoes
3. Corn-Fed Beef
4. Microwave Popcorn
5. Farmed Salmon
6. Milk Produced with Artificial Hormones
7. Conventional Apples
https://wakeup-world.com/2011/10/06/7-foods-experts-wont-eat

Food experts reveal 7 foods they won't eat from a grocery store.

05/06/2022

Quoting: Look around the countryside, what do you see, lots of grass and maize in the West, lots of cereals and maize in the Midlands and East. More than 65% of these cereal crops go to feed animals, and then there is the huge amounts imported from all over the world at great cost to the environment. Organic farmers are no exception here; they are also importing feed cereals to support their stock farms. Some of this manure is going to support vegetable and more cereal production. So the organic movement is far from sustainable in its present form and if there were a ban on imported cereal then even more of our countryside would end up looking like a cereal prairie. An increase in organic conversions in UK would compound this problem even more as stocking levels would be lower and more land would be needed to feed animals.

So then you are now getting to see the picture, clearly there has to be a reduction in livestock farming if we are to even contemplate being able to feed the growing global population. Much good land is going to livestock production; it could be growing primary food products for feeding direct to people. But then there is much land in poorer hilly parts where it is not possible to grow crops, but how about planting trees? They will grow on the worst soils to provide fruits, nuts and timber for fuel and enhance the landscape as well as providing real rural jobs for local people. Sure enough people love to eat meat, but they use up too much land in the process, they will have to reduce or remove this from their diet. And of course they love to see animals wandering in the countryside, well if it is that important then there could be herds of semi-wild beasts wandering around on common type land. We just need a bit of land reform to bring about some sensible sustainable land use. Given that the EU is committed to funding agriculture to such a high level then it’s just a question of shovelling the money around a bit differently.

Now that organics is regular mainstream the time is ready to move forward to stockless systems that truly respect the land and our fellow animals.

https://stockfreeorganic.net/category/whatandwhy/

Read Iain’s response to an article appeared in the UK magazine Organic Gardening, giving the opinion that it was impossible to grow organically without using animal manures!

03/06/2022

Coltivazione di ? Ricercatori "hanno osservato come Streptomyces riesca a muoversi all’interno del sistema vascolare della pianta dalle radici e dai fiori e come venga trasportato dalle api impollinatrici (Apis mellifera).

Lo Streptomyces in aggiunta, difende la pianta dagli attacchi del fungo Botrytis cinerea, responsabile della cosiddetta “muffa grigia” e protegge le api da patogeni. Impiegando la pianta e gli impollinatori, Streptomyces beneficia quindi di un’efficace dispersione.

(...) Ancora più sorprendente è il fatto che questo stesso ceppo di Streptomyces sia in grado di proteggere le api impollinatrici dai batteri entomopatogeni delle larve. Pertanto, questo microrganismo, svolge una duplice protezione contro gli agenti patogeni sia della pianta ospite che dell’impollinatore.

Coltivazioni sostenibili
Per far crescere milioni di tonnellate di fragole consumate ogni anno, è necessario ricorrere a metodi agricoli intensivi che prevedono piantagioni ad alta densità e che, conseguentemente, facilitano notevolmente la trasmissione di agenti patogeni.

Nella maggior parte dei casi, il fungo che causa la muffa grigia è endemico delle serre commerciali, dove infetta e causa perdita di numerose colture. Per risolvere queste problematiche i coltivatori applicano quantità sempre crescenti di fungicidi. Tuttavia, lo studio appena descritto potrebbe rappresentare una possibile alternativa sicuramente più e ecologica e sostenibile.

Applicazioni future
Le interazioni benefiche pianta-microrganismo sono ormai riconosciute, ma la diversità, l’entità e le conseguenze di queste associazioni rimangono aree di indagine in continua evoluzione.

Eppure, anche se sempre più scoperte rivelano interazioni mutualistiche tra diverse specie viventi, gli ecosistemi naturali o agricoli mostrano molti elementi complessi e sofisticati. Pertanto, una migliore comprensione delle relazioni mutualistiche faciliterà l’uso del fitobioma per proteggere in modo più efficace e sostenibile l’approvvigionamento alimentare mondiale."

https://www.microbiologiaitalia.it/batteriologia/batteri-fragole-e-api-una-squadra-dolcissima/

Le associazioni mutualistiche Quello delle relazioni mutualistiche tra microrganismi e altri esseri viventi, rappresenta un mondo affascinante e tuttora parzialmente ...

21/05/2022

Time flies! Nancy Harmon Jenkins Salvatore Denaro Il tempo vola! Molini Del Ponte Drago

27/04/2022

19/04/2022

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert mentions in one of his masterful intro speeches!

L’attore-comico star e presentatore del talk show americani The Late Show with Stephen Colbert nomina le olive di Castelvetrano in una recente puntata. Per “Castelvetrano olives” s’intende in USA l’oliva Nocellara del Belice “da cocktail” ovvero verde dolcificata, croccante e mediamente salata.



https://youtu.be/pbR-kF0PjlA?t=69

26/03/2022

Garden people, orchard folks, vegetable lovers: season!

How much to plant for a year's worth of vegetables in your pantry! Here's the chart, the blog post, the info. Happy planting. (You don't need a huge farm, even for a family of six people).
https://www.theseasonalhomestead.com/how-much-to-plant-for-a-years-supply-of-food/

24/03/2022

Tanti di noi lo conoscono come gambero rosso di Mazara. In realtà questo crostaceo proviene non dalle acque di fronte alle coste siciliane, bensì da...

11/03/2022

At last, truffle excursions now an experiential tourism activity in Sicily. The first one I offered with Prof. Mario Prestifilippo fall-winter 2003-2004. Amazing progress. Only took 18 years of my time and 25 of Mario's time and activism! Sicilian-time!

02/03/2022

I believe in sharing my expertise and drive with the world, pursuing opportunities to contribute and make good and beautiful things happen.

01/03/2022

Tea drinkers know where and how to purchase their tea. And food producers know that even multinational brand offer to guarantee as to the healthiness and legality of their products...

https://www.greenme.it/lifestyle/sai-cosa-compri/te-pesticidi-test/

60 Millions de Consommateur ha analizzato diverse referenze di tè nero o tè verde, trovando in diversi marchi noti tracce di pesticidi

23/02/2022

Sambuca di Sicilia, now part of National Italian Association of Truffle Cities!

05/02/2022

At minute 20’35”seconds past the hour, we learn why we also really want organic plant food vs conventional. As preferably nibbled on by insects… 🤗🌱🌾

https://youtu.be/QVPAo6gzu-I

Dr. William Li

ATHLETIC GREENS are sponsoring today's show. To get 1 year's FREE VITAMIN D and 5 FREE TRAVEL PACKS visit https://www.athleticgreens.com/livemoreToday’s gues...

26/01/2022

22/01/2022

These outtakes from the excellent Guardian piece will give you an idea of what's going on the meat front...

since not all the meat that leaves slaughterhouses ends up being either sold or eaten

the expectations of populations accustomed to consuming large quantities of unrealistically cheap meat

people had to reduce their meat consumption, and contrasted meat from traditional, extensive farming with that produced on intensive megafarms

some regional governments have already acted to limit intensive farming

The ministry for ecological transition wants extensive production systems promoted, and well-adapted native breeds used more.

campaign against junk meat sold for junk prices

losing out because food quality and food prices were too low.

Junk prices, often imposed by all-powerful supermarket chains, he said, “drive farms to ruin, prevent animal welfare, promote species extinction and burden the climate.

consumers must get used to paying a fair price for better quality

higher food prices must be accompanied by compensation payments for those on low incomes

better quality meat produced closer to home and consumed in smaller quantities would make a significant difference to the environment.

Changing our diet will have the combined benefit of improving public health, decreasing water use and producing less CO2.

The message should be: eat less meat, but when you do, buy locally produced meat that is more sustainable. Even if you pay more, eating better quality meat once a week is far better than eating a cheap hamburger every day.

aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture – which represent 20% of the country’s total, with fully 80% generated by livestock farming

the new government features a minister for nature and nitrogen affairs

the European Commission itself, struggling with the incompatibility of ambitious carbon emission reduction plans and the vast common agricultural policy subsidies that account for nearly a third of the EU’s budget. Greenpeace has broken down the numbers and calculates that a fifth of the EU’s entire budget is spent on livestock.

Thanks Jonell Galloway for posting this article in her Facebook Group, The Rambling Epicure:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/21/the-greens-want-to-take-our-meat-away-europeans-go-to-war-over-their-dinner?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

With meat consumption twice the global average, citizens of EU27 have to reconcile environmental concerns and culinary traditions