La Foresta

Extra Virgin Olive OilArezzoVentena, Montevarchi

Azienda agricola Tami Fahren Janine La Foresta

Two women beside a red trailer full of freshly picked olives

In the time of Covid, the two of them began clearing olive groves that nobody wanted any more. Out of it came a farm that is small by choice: honey first, oil alongside, and a stall at the Montevarchi market as its only shop. La Foresta is this — little, made by hand, sold looking the buyer in the face.

Località Ventena, Montevarchi (AR) · on Wednesdays in Piazza Varchi · on Instagram @laforesta.toscana

'20The Covid years, when it all begins
2People: the whole business, nobody else
8–13Wednesdays at the Montevarchi market
0Middlemen between those who produce and those who buy

The olive trees nobody wanted any more

There are businesses born of an inheritance, others of an investment. La Foresta was born of work that asked nobody's permission: bringing abandoned trees back to life.

It happened during the Covid years, on the hills of Ventena, above Montevarchi. While everything else was stopping, two people began doing the slowest thing there is: bringing neglected olive groves back into production, one at a time. From that gesture — clearing, pruning, waiting — everything else grew: first the oil, then the honey that today is the heart of the business, and a way of selling that has never changed: in person, at the market.

Starting again from an abandoned olive grove

An abandoned olive grove is a commitment somebody left half-finished. Taking it on again means years of pruning, clearing and patience before it gives anything back. It is the work that brought La Foresta into the world, and it is still its distinguishing trait: the business was not created to make land pay, it was created so as not to let it go.

That is also where the scale of the business comes from — it is small and it intends to stay that way: quantity is not the objective. Every product that reaches the stall has passed through the same four hands, with no departments, no convenient suppliers, no hurry.

A woman beside crates of olives inside the mill, with the machinery behind
At the mill, with the day's crates. The olives are pressed straight away, not the day after.

First the oil, then the honey

Extra virgin olive oil is the product it all started with — the natural consequence of the recovered olive groves. The honey came later, and became the centre: today it is La Foresta's main production, the one that sets the rhythm of the year and gives the stall its name.

They are two products that hold hands: the hives sit in the same landscape as the olive trees, and the calendar of the one is the other side of the calendar of the other — the flowerings on one side, the harvest on the other. Whoever buys at the stall buys the same hillside, in two forms.

A rainbow above the wooded hills after rain
The hills above Montevarchi after rain. This is where the recovered olive trees are.

The shop is a stall, on Wednesdays

La Foresta sells in one way only: face to face. On Wednesday mornings the stall stands at the Montevarchi market, in Piazza Varchi, from 8 to 13; on the right occasions it also comes down to Firenze, with the markets promoted by the territory. There is no online basket, there is no retailer: there is a person who explains what you are holding, because it is the same person who made it.

For a business of this size that is the plan: direct selling holds together the fair price, the trust and the telling. The stall is the place where the product and the producer answer together.

What is taking shape

In the meantime, on a small scale, they experiment: balms that hold together the two worlds of the house — olive oil and beeswax — and herbal teas made with olive leaves. These are trials in progress, not catalogue promises: at La Foresta new things reach the stall only once they have convinced the people who make them.

Hard to find, easy to recognise

Anyone searching for «artisan honey in the Valdarno» or «oil from recovered olive groves» is unlikely to know the name La Foresta already — and until today, to find it, they had to pass through Piazza Varchi at the right moment. The shop is still the market. Now, though, La Foresta has an address outside Wednesdays as well.

What they do with their hands, in any given year

In a two-person business there are no job descriptions: there is everything, in turn, according to the season.

Coloured hives lined up in the meadow, with the beekeeper beside them
The hives in the meadow. Honey came after the oil, following the flowering.
A hand holding an open pea pod, the peas in a row
An open pod in the hand. They do little, on purpose, and look at one thing at a time.
The rows of the vegetable garden climbing towards a farmhouse, under a cloudy sky
The rows of the vegetable garden climbing towards the farmhouse.

They recover abandoned olive trees

The founding gesture, which still continues: pruning, clearing, bringing neglected trees back into production. It is work measured in years, not in seasons.

They make little, on purpose

The small scale is the choice. Limited quantities, handwork, and quality as the only sales argument.

They follow the flowerings

The honey is decided by the calendar of the hills: every harvest tells the moment of the year in which it was born, and no two at the stall are alike.

They sell face to face

No middlemen, no retailers: whoever buys speaks directly to whoever produces. Every jar and every bottle changes hands with its own explanation.

They experiment on a small scale

Balms of oil and beeswax, herbal teas of olive leaves: La Foresta's workshop widens its boundaries one attempt at a time, without rushing.

They do everything between the two of them

There is no team behind the scenes: the land, the production, the stall and the customers rest on the shoulders of two people. It is the reason why everything has the same character.

What passes across the stall

The three families that make up La Foresta's stall.

A yellow crate full of purple cauliflowers, broccoli and cabbages
Wednesday's crate: purple cauliflowers, broccoli, cabbages.
Jars of preserves lined up on a bench, with the garden behind
The jars lined up before market day.
La Foresta

The honey

The main production of the house: honeys in limited quantities, harvested following the flowerings of the Valdarno hills, worked by hand and sold directly. Every year has its own character — it is the difference between an artisan honey and one off a shelf, and it is the reason why at the stall it is worth asking «what have you got, this time round?».

La Foresta

The extra virgin olive oil

The product it all started from: the oil of the recovered olive groves, in quantities that depend on the year and on the patience of trees brought back to life. It is the honey's elder brother — less at the centre of the stage, but without it the stage would not exist.

In testing

The workshop of ideas

Balms that bring together olive oil and beeswax, herbal teas with olive leaves: La Foresta's experiments in progress, where the two worlds of the business meet. They will reach the stall when they are ready — and not a day before.

The people

Two names, no org chart: at La Foresta the business and the people coincide entirely.

Two smiling women beside a donkey's muzzle
The two who are the whole company, with the farm donkey.
A woman in a straw hat among the tomato plants
Among the tomatoes, in July. In a two-person business there are no job titles.

Fahren Janine Tami

The holder of the farm and the first of the two pairs of hands. She came from Canada and put down roots at Ventena: hers is the land, hers the olive groves brought back to life, hers the Wednesday stall.

Arianna Balestri

The other half of the business: she runs it together with Fahren, from the fields to the market.

Where to find them

One fixed appointment, a few trips away, and an Instagram profile that acts as a daily shop window.

Montevarchi market — Piazza Varchi

Every Wednesday, from 8:00 to 13:00. It is La Foresta's shop: the place where the products are tasted, explained and bought from the hands that made them.

Contact details

Address
Via di Ventena 117, loc. Ventena
52025 Montevarchi (AR)
Email
laforesta.toscana@gmail.com

Questions

Who makes artisan honey in the Valdarno?

La Foresta, the farm of Fahren Janine Tami, in the locality of Ventena at Montevarchi (AR). It is a deliberately small operation, run by two people, born in the Covid years out of the recovery of abandoned olive groves: honey is the main production, extra virgin olive oil the original one.

Where can La Foresta's products be bought?

Directly from the producer, at the market: every Wednesday from 8 to 13 in Piazza Varchi at Montevarchi, and at the Florentine appearances tied to the markets promoted by the territory. Selling is exclusively direct — it is a choice, not a shortcoming: the stall is the shop.

What does recovering an abandoned olive grove mean?

It means taking on trees nobody was tending any more — pruning them, clearing the ground, bringing them back into production — knowing that the results come after years, not after months. It is the work from which La Foresta was born during Covid, and it is still the heart of its identity: a business built so as not to let the land go.

Why does artisan honey change from one jar to the next?

Because it follows the real flowerings of the hills, not an industrial recipe: every harvest reflects the moment of the year and the course of the season in which it was born. At La Foresta the quantities are limited and every year has its own character — at the stall it is worth asking what there is, this time round.

Do you also make cosmetics or herbal teas?

They are working on it: balms based on olive oil and beeswax and herbal teas with olive leaves are the business's experiments in progress. They will reach the stall only when they are ready: at La Foresta new things are not announced, they are taken to the market.

Do you sell online?

Today La Foresta sells exclusively in person, at the market: it is the channel that holds together the fair price, trust and the telling. Updates go through Instagram.

The shop is a market stall

Every Wednesday morning, Piazza Varchi, Montevarchi: the honey, the oil and the hands that made them. On Tuscany Market Hub you will find the same products, each with its own page, for anyone who cannot get to the stall.

The business

Registered name
Azienda agricola Tami Fahren Janine
Business name
La Foresta
Address
Via di Ventena 117, loc. Ventena · 52025 Montevarchi (AR)
VAT number
02439850518
Legal form
Sole-trader agricultural business
The craft
Beekeeping and olive growing · small scale
Market
Montevarchi, Piazza Varchi · Wednesday 8:00–13:00
Contacts
@laforesta.toscana · laforesta.toscana@gmail.com

This profile is part of the archive for Extra Virgin Olive Oil. All the producers in the network.