Katydid,

I love the idea of it....I have no idea of a solution but they have been making olive oil for 1000's of years so there has to be a way to cold press the olives small scale.

Have you researched how long from planting until you can get enough olives to make a batch of oil?

I've seen blogs and youtube videos that show how to squeeze oil out of one avocado so someone out there is probably hand squeezing oil out of a handful of olives. You might check out some of the presses used to juice apples.

Not sure where you are, but there are olive presses scattered throughout California. You go there with your load, and they will give you the oil (and keep the pomace as well as some of your money). An olive press is much more complex and expensive than an apple press.

It will be 10 years before you are up to 30-40 lbs of olives per tree per year (and those 100 lbs will give you only 10-20 lbs of oil, which is very little. My family of three uses 30-35 lbs a year. If you do the pressing yourself, you may only get 5-10 lbs). In the intervening time, I would just eat some fresh (fresh olives fried with a drop of oil and salt are wonderful, and not bitter at all while hot), freeze some (they are great in all sorts of stews and braised meates) and cure most of them. Middle Eastern friends do the curing in their bathtub. For bigger crops, water in May through July, but withhold water later.

Thanks for the feedback! I bought 2 year old trees, and don't expect much yield right away, but I'm an extreme over planner ;)

I've looked at the videos on YouTube and such, but can't figure out if they are using small presses meant for other uses (like nut oil presses) or if they made some contraption I haven't been made famiar with. I suppose i can cure the leccino just the same as the others in the beginning- and when I start getting a load of olives do research on the nearest olive farm... But like I said, I overplan, lol.

Anyone have any favorite (non lye) curing methods? I have read a few variations online, but would be interesting to hear personal opinion!

I agree that curing is the best way to go.
Brining black olives is easy. You can find many recipes online, but the basic ingredients are olives, water, and salt. Follow the instructions for how much salt to use, how often to skim off the top, rinse, etc... and in a few months you have a great product.

By the way, while you're waiting for your trees to bear you can always harvest as many olives as you want from public spaces (in the right climate), since olives are one of those neglected fruits that just litter the ground under the trees and rot. Just be sure to use unblemished olives only.