After working in post-production on shows such as MasterChef and My Kitchen Rules, Tim and wife Lynne moved to the Northern Rivers over a decade ago to be closer to Tim’s ageing parents and for a treechange. They bought the Grumpy Grandma’s Olives business in 2017 and haven’t looked back since.
‘It was a product that we had been buying at the farmers market for years and we knew the original owners – Denise and Alan – and when the opportunity came up to buy it, we went for it,’ Tim says. ‘Despite their help, it was a bit of a learning curve.’
Tim and Lynne didn’t muck around. They enlisted the help of family and friends to plant an initial 400 olive trees on their farm at Rosebank, mainly concentrating on Manzanillo and Arbequina, which are the two varieties that grow well in this area, plus their Kalamatas.
‘I’ve never worked so hard in my life, but it’s worth it,’ Tim says. ‘We get to live in this beautiful area and we get to work together, so we feel pretty lucky.’
As well as fresh olives and a range of olive oils, which Tim describes as ‘very smooth, almost buttery and creamy’, Grumpy Grandma’s also offers semi-dried olives.
‘The semi-dried olives have a sultana-like texture and are fantastic added to salads, tossed into a pasta sauce, added to a cheese platter or just eaten as a snack.’
Tim says both the olives and the oils are available in barrels at the farmers market so people can bring their own jars, helping to reduce waste and plastic use.
You can find Tim and his range of Grumpy Grandma’s Olives at Byron Farmers Market every Thursday morning and Bangalow Farmers Market every Saturday morning.
Byron Farmers Market is Thursdays 7-11am at Butler St Reserve and Bangalow Farmers Market is Saturdays 7-11am behind the Bangalow pub.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
