Growing organic olives for a living

The extended Leo family inhabits a quiet retreat of 400 hectares of sandy loam that gathers rain falling on the eastern slopes of the Hogarth Range. Off the quiet Mongogarie Rd, on a sloping hillside facing north, they grow 1100 olive trees – not just one type but groups of 23 varieties. They are planted together, in rows seven long and five wide, so they can keep track of them, although the elder curators Angelo and Maria Leo know them well enough.