Olive oil from Lesbos – saving heritage and social values

Two young people, Spiros and Lina, moved away from Athens when their first daughter was born and started cultivating olive fields at the Greek island of Lesbos. Their ideal is to make a difference in the vast European olive oil scene and produce premium organic oil in a way that goes beyond organic farming. Their method works in the traditional way, manually and without the use of machinery. Often abandoned and inaccessible, olive groves where chosen in order to revive part of the long abandoned countryside of the Plomarian region, widely known for its ouzo production.

They created the brand The Lesbian Donkey. As a symbol of hard work and patience, the donkey reflects qualities necessary for this kind of extreme farming. On the other hand it signifies a whole era that is rapidly vanishing, since machinery is taking over in almost every cultivating process. Today the donkey as part of this rapid disintegrating environment is on the verge to become extinct. 
 
But also beyond these environmental projections, the key vision of The Lesbian Donkey is to leave a positive social footprint by providing a direct route to the market for the much suffering Lesbian olive oil farmer. The Lesbian Donkey premium olive oil is certified organic by EU and also German Bio-Siegel and is already available in some gourmet and specialized shops in Germany. The product is fresh, unprocessed, with a pleasantly bitter and spicy taste. More information is available from their site and their Facebook page.