29/100... queen creek olive mill

Queen Creek Olive Mill has the somewhat dubious honor of being the first thing on my "100 List" that we did. QC OliveMill offered a "Groupon" (for a tour and lunch for two)  several months ago which was a fantastic deal- I would recommend buying one if they offer it again. We had a wonderful time learning about, sampling and buying olive oil. Who knew there were so many different "flavors!"

The Queen Creek Olive Mill is located at 25062 S. Meridian Road in Queen Creek, Arizona. It is a fabulous place to have breakfast or lunch as you sit among an olive grove!

As we walked through one of the groves and learned about the process of making olive oil, I was reminded of how many times the Bible mentions olive trees or olive oil- over 175 times! Olive trees  represented new beginnings (the dove brought Moses an olive branch- Genesis 8:10-11) and prosperity (God said the Promised Land was "a land of ... olive oil and honey ... where food is plentiful and nothing is lacking..."- Deuteronomy 8:8-9). Olive oil is one of the ingredients of the "holy anointing oil" used to anoint the high priest as well as the Tabernacle (Exodus 30:23-28). It was used as fuel for the lamps (Matthew 25:3) and for cooking (1 Kings 17:16). I enjoyed really looking at these trees that had such importance in Biblical times and learning how much effort goes into maintaining a grove and extracting the oil.

"Its [Israel] branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees, as fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon."

Hosea 14:6

Thumb Up or Down: UP!!!

Miles Round-Trip: 40.2

Miles to Date: 40.2

Date of This Trip: November 4, 2011