Texas Locavore

I’ve heard about it here and there since my re-birth as a Texan two years ago. “Olive trees,” whispered seductive voices, “can grow in Texas…” “So-and-so’s someone makes their own olive oil…” The voices have come and gone, always enticing, but never revealing. I couldn’t have any, the message always ended. Production of Texas olive oil was too limited.

Until today.

Go Texan tags hung from bottles of olive oil at the Hill Country Wine and Food Festival Fair today in Georgetown, and I nearly cried. I unfolded the tag and read,

Farrell’s extra virgin olive oil is made from the finest Arbquina olives, right here on our ranch in south Texas. Every olive is hand-picked and carefully hand-selected.

And on the back,

Grown by Texans, for Texans. {Insert happy sigh here.}

The bad news? You can’t have any. (Did you want me to whisper that?) The some-dozen bottles the Farrells brought today represented the entirety of this year’s batch, and they’re not selling any that remain anywhere else. The good news? Texas olive oil is coming. Keep your eyes and your ears open and you’ll find it someday, too. Keep asking your market managers about it, because their buyers need to know you’ll buy it if they do. Why would you care to buy local olive oil? Well, for this Texas gal, it’s just cool. And buying local also cuts a step out of the supply chain, making the whole transaction more efficient. The Farrells will keep every cent of the $30 I coughed up for two of their 500mL bottles today.

And life is like a song.