WORK ON THE FARM
πεtra is a family-run sustainable farm located on the beautiful island of Paros, Greece. We specialize in the production of Mediterranean crops that are well suited to the distinctive microclimates of our farmland. From the olives, capers, oregano, lavender, figs, grapes and other herbs that we grow, we produce a wide array of high-quality packaged products that embody the flavours of Greece through their taste and aroma. The whole cycle of production, from cultivation, harvest, processing, and packaging takes places at the farm, allowing us to oversee and control the quality of every item we produce.
How We Fertilize Our Crops
We never use any chemical fertilizers to fertilize our crops. Organic fertilization of the soil is not just about providing a quick dosage of nutrients to a plant’s roots; actually, it is about building the overall health of the soil. Healthy soil, rich in organic matter and soil microorganisms is essential for the health of our crops. We fertilize our crops using compost that we make on our farm, local animal manure, as well as manure from our chickens.
In addition to applying compost and manure to our crops, we have a rotational grazing system for our chickens. The chickens are strategically allowed to roam in specific parts of the farm during certain parts of the year for a controlled amount of days. While grazing they eat the weed seeds and weeds that grow and deposit their manure throughout the farm.
THE SEASONS ON THE FARM
One of the beauties of working with nature is bearing witness to, and participating in the seasons and their transformation. Each season has its own unique character, as well as its accompanying duties on the farm.
* Spring
Spring is probably the most beautiful time of the year on the farm. Everything is sprouting to life: flowers, birds, butterflies, ladybirds to name just a few! In March we till-in our vineyards and start to monitor the crops for pests: after-all some of the insects that come to life are also after our tasty plants! Come April we begin harvesting our first capers and caper leaves. By the middle of May, as the green fields of barley have started to turn to gold, it is time to harvest the oregano and the lavender.
*Summer
The summer is marked by long, dry days with high temperatures and winds coming from the north. From June to August farm work in limited to the cooler hours of the day, from sunrise until 11 and then from around 5 until sunset. During the early summer, the caper harvest dominates the labour on the farm. Harvesting just over a kilo of capers an hour, with dozens of kilos of capers to harvest every day you can imagine how much caper picking defines the summer season at Πεtra.
The end of the summer always brings with it one of the most definitive aspects of Mediterranean agriculture: the grape harvest! At the end of August the grapes have taken on their luscious, juicy form and their sugar content rises every day. We monitor their sugar content carefully in order to harvest at the point where our wine will have the desired alcohol content. We make both a white wine and a red wine from local grape varietals. Each year we also make a natural wine where we allow the native yeast present on the grapes, instead of a commercial lab produced yeast, to ferment the grape juice. This allows for a more unique wine that really expresses the local terroir.
*Autumn
As the summer fades, the days shorten and first rains appear it is time for the olive harvest. At Πεtra Farm we harvest our olives when most of them are still green before they turn purple. This allows for an oil of lower acidity and higher quality. We begin our harvest at the end of October and harvest by hand and very light handheld machinery. We take our olives to the olive press at the end of every day where they are cold-pressed at a state-of-the-art facility on the island. Before bottling, we store our olive oil in sealed, stainless steel containers to prevent any oxidation and degradation of quality.
* Winter
Winter is a time of year that many crops get to rest. Our olives have been harvested, and the capers and vines have lost their leaves. We are in constant hope for the winter rains that are essential for replenishing the island’s water table, and for turning the crispy brown landscape into a lush green paradise. On the farm, winter is the time for pruning and fertilizing our crops. We apply manure to the olive grove, the vineyard and the capers and the winter rains do the rest. The rain carries the nutrients in the manure into the soil in order for the crop roots to be able to access them. In January and February, we prune our crops to keep them healthy and productive. We don’t burn any of the materials that we prune from our crops. We value all the rich carbon and nitrogen that they contain, and instead, we chips the prunings and turn them into nutrient-rich compost!