Olive trees thriving in the middle of the Arizona desert sounds like a mix-up, but it is completely real. On a 100-acre farm southeast of Phoenix, thousands of trees produce olives that get cold-pressed into golden oil within hours of picking.
You can watch the whole thing happen, taste oils fresh from the press, and grab lunch under the branches. It is a slice of the Mediterranean hiding in the Sonoran sunshine.
An Olive Farm Blooming in the Sonoran Desert
Most folks picture Arizona as saguaros and sand, not rows and rows of silvery olive trees. Yet at 25062 S Meridian Rd in Queen Creek, that is exactly what greets you.
The property spreads across roughly 100 acres, planted with somewhere between 7,000 and 10,000 olive trees. Varieties like Koroneiki and Arbosana settle in beautifully here, soaking up the heat the desert dishes out…