Obviously this is my first blog. I have debated whether to write a blog but have been asked by many people to do so. Would you be interested in hearing what I have to say? So I have decided to start and see what happens. Let's be brave in this online world.

My blog will be about what interests me. Olive oil and its uses will be top of the list but this blog will also include my garden and those gardens that influence me and travel. Interesting food will be the main feature - mainly with olive oil, of course. All the recipes that I mention will be on our website.

Today, I have just been out to feed my two doves and was struck by how lovely the

garden looks in early Spring. The hellebores are flowering, the japonica is a beautiful red colour and every year I promise myself that I will make japonica jelly but never manage it! What could I do with japonica jelly and olive oil!

And of course, the daffodils - we plant 100 bulbs every year so the sea of daffodils in the orchard is getting better. Even the bees were on the move after the cold winter months. Conventional wisdom says that bees don't help to pollinate olive trees but I am sure that they can't do any harm.

I recently attended a food blogging course run by Unna Burch of the Forest Cantina. She is very creative with her food pictures so I have been trying to be artistic too. I am debating whether to make a vanilla infused olive oil in 2015. The oils this year are intense - the first time we have ever produced an intense estate extra virgin blend at Olivo and I am not sure how it will suit vanilla. So vanilla is on my mind and the hellebores reminded me of vanilla. Such a luscious infusion.