Dreams can certainly come true.
And mine has been to live in Greece for as long as I can remember, preferably on an olive grove. But the fact that I would one day become an olive farmer came to me more like the virgin to the child.
But let’s start from the beginning:
My name is Marion Diana Zeussel, I was born and raised in Germany and have spent half my life here. My mother is Greek, taught me the language and so the desire grew in me to experience this beautiful country with its culture and tradition more intensively than just during the summer vacations.
Years later, with my husband, my favorite vacation destination was still Greece, very much Alexandroupolis, my mother’s hometown.
Here in the north-east of the country, in the Thrace region, there is a special microclimate. The area is still very pristine with lots of forests, the sea and large olive trees groves with their own variety from Makri. But I had no idea about that at the time.
Yes, and then at some point we fell in love with a plot of land and what can I say, it was exactly what I had dreamed of. A little paradise with olive trees, some of them 500 to 1000 years old.
In order to provide the trees with the best possible care, we extended our stay longer and longer. At first it wasn’t easy to find organic fertilizers and pesticides. But we were persistent, made enquiries with organic farmers on Crete and got to know a qualified agricultural engineer from Germany who lives here and with whom we now work.
In the meantime, this beautiful piece of land has grown, our 200 olive trees are healthy, the vegetables grow between the olives and find sun and shade as required.
The fertilizer comes from our chickens, who happily live in their own part of the grove.
This year we have also added bees, a hobby that has already given us great pleasure in Germany.
To do justice to all this, we have decided to live in Greece forever. This commuting between two worlds is too exhausting in the long run. This decision was further solidified when we took part in the olive oil competition in Berlin in 2023 to see how the expert jury judged taste and quality.
Our olive oil was determined to have the tasty aromas of avocado, basil, fennel and fresh herbs and was awarded with the gold medal.
The special thing about it is also the early and gentle harvest, which gives the olive oil a very intense flavor and is also healthier due to the high polyphenol value.
We are proud of ourselves, have done many things right and have remained true to ourselves. It is important to us to work for and with nature and we hope that more olive growers will follow our example.
With this in mind, let's see what the future holds.
E-mail: info@ntianas.com
Phone: +49 17622939546