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A run of wet and challenging seasons has broken for Glen Donald Estate, with this year's olive harvest bringing welcome relief.
A balance of rain and sunshine has led to harvest, which began in April, wrapping up successfully.
Natalie Carauna of Glen Donald Estate said harvesting began in late April and has now wrapped up after a successful season.
"The season this year was good," Natalie said.
"It was probably better than previous years when we had a lot of rain which does impact the fruiting of the olive trees."
While rainfall wasn't formally measured, Ms Carauna said conditions had been far more moderate than in previous seasons.
"The years before we've had quite substantial floods and substantial rains," she said.
"It impacts the trees ability to produce, but this year's probably been a good balance of rain to sunshine."
Despite the favourable conditions, the harvest came with its own challenges, with the olives proving more stubborn this year.
"The fruit actually held on to the trees this year and it was quite hard to get off with the machines.
"As a result we've done a lot of hand harvesting this year.
"We've been out there several weekends hand harvesting, so more of our olives were picked by hand than by machine."
Once harvested the olives are transported to Billimari Olive Processing near Canowindra for pressing with the aim of having them processed within 24 to 48 hours after they are picked off the trees to preserve quality.
The oil is then stored before retuning to Glen Donald Estate where each bottle is hand-filled and hand-labelled on the farm.
The estate held a soft opening in early June for its new farm shop located between Grenfell and Cowra, welcoming both locals and visitors travelling through for the Henry Lawson Festival, where they sell their olive oil and other products.
"We wanted to support the tourists visiting the area and give people the opportunity to experience the olives," Natalie said.
The official opening of the shop is planned for September once a large olive oil dispenser arrives allowing customers to refill their own containers on the farm.
"We're hoping to be open every weekend to begin with and ultimately throughout the week as well."
The estate is also developing value-added products such as flavoured oils including a basil-infused olive oil to expand its range.
Glen Donald Estate also offers farm tours giving visitors a chance to experience life on the farm, harvest olives during the season and learn how to brine their own olives at home.
The property has a long history of welcoming visitors.
Natalie said Glen Donald was originally established as a working farm where guests could experience rural life and the family is now working to revive that tradition.
"We're bringing it back to what it was initially designed for," she said.
"We want people to come and experience farming and understand where their food comes from."
The Carauna family has owned Glen Donald Estate for 15 years and have been permanently based on the property since 2020 after moving from Sydney.
The family hope to keep building the estate's reputation as a working olive farm and a tourist destination in the region.