When we bought our two farmhouses in the heart of Umbria less than a year ago, we were both quite excited that there were 75 mature olive trees growing across the property. My husband so enjoyed owning these olive trees in fact, that he had 15 more planted this past winter that will start to produce olives in another year or two. Since we arrived in May, we have both been patiently watching the trees bloom with olive buds, then watched these buds turn into olives, and finally watched the olives turn from green to black as they ripened. We were quite excited to experience our first olive harvest, but being both new to this whole production we really had no idea how to begin.

This weekend was the Festa del Bosco in Montone so we headed up there Saturday morning to check things out. Montone is a beautiful little town in Northern Umbria that sits high on the hill with gorgeous views from all sides. We had only visited Montone once before for a quick stop when we were still house hunting and checking out different areas of Umbria. We arrived (as usual) a little early as many of the stands selling their wares were just setting up. The town has a handful of interesting restaurants, and a few stores selling local artisan specialty items. We walked through the town which winds up and down along stone steps admiring it's cleanliness and checking out the many stands that were dispersed throughout the winding streets selling everything possible that one could make out of truffles as well as some other artisan produced items such as cheese, bread, and honey.