We are staying at another farm south of Bari. This family farm is primarily an olive producer with an agritourismo addition offering 10-12 rooms.

Being from BC we have walked past trees that first came to life over 500 years in the past, but this farm has dozen of trees of that age or more.

Notwithstanding the emotional impact of walking through these or our own cedar trees back home, we are introduced to a living entity 6 times older – having breached the soil some 3,000 years ago when Messapians toiled the soil.

Here surrounded by hundreds of trees that are harvested for olive oil, a number of these have been carbon dated to 1000-1800 years old.

But the grandfather of all is this giant, now supported by a crutch or two, that has been around for 3 millennium. A humbling experience.

In the main buildings there is still a cave that was once used to protect the main manual press and inventory from invaders. It produced oil, not for consumption, but to light the lamps of the growing European cities.

A great learning experience about the history of olive oil but also new insights into current challenges.

Similar to the pine beetle devastation impacting great swaths of trees in North America, an introduced bacteria is attacking these olive trees in Puglia.

Slowly moving north it is killing certain varieties of trees. Efforts are in place to halt the spread which is carried by flies so we hope that we can continue to enjoy the fruits of these ancient trees.