When our photographer Kerry was on Assignment at Quinta do Veloso this Spring, she couldn’t help but notice the abundance of cats around the place.
Three of these happen to be the namesake behind Miranda and Krister’s Olive Oil ‘Os Tres Gatos’. We were thrilled to learn the story…
“When we first moved here the place had been abandoned for fifteen years or so and there were three cats. They would sit upon a little ledge above the fire. They were just skin and bones and completely scared of everything, but they really needed food, so if you left the door open they would rush in and grab whatever they could.
One of them was particularly good at it, we called him The Raider. The Marmalade Raider. So his name has become Marmaraider.
The other one, if you tried to get close to her, would spit at you and be really angry, so we called her Ginger Spit.
The third one, isn’t orange like the others, she’s kind of grey and our son Tor was really interested in learning about the elements, so he called her Selenium. (So that one’s a little different.)
Over time we started to feed them, we caught them, took them into the vets and got them fixed. It was really amazing because over time they became less just these crazed hunger driven animals and started to get a personality and were able to be who they really were.
At the same time we were trying to clean up this abandoned Olival, so when we came to naming the olive oil we thought we have these three cats that we’ve brought back to life and we have this Quinta that we are trying to bring back to life. So as a metaphor we named our olive oil ’Os Tres Gatos’, because of those three cats.”
Selenium
“This is Selenium (so named by our son, who was/still is very interested in the elements). She has zero interest in being domesticated, and only acknowledges our existence at feeding time.”
Ginger Spit
“This is Ginger Spit (named by our friend Faye, who lived on the Quinta as a sort of caretaker before we moved here). She likes to walk in the Olival with us and loves to be petted but is kind of conflicted about it—grumbles and growls the whole time while simultaneously purring.”
Marmaraider
“And here’s Marmaraider, my favorite, in his favorite napping spot in the old mulberry outside the kitchen. He’s a clown.”
Os Tres Gatos – the three cats that gave the name to their olive oil.
Miranda, Krister and Tor
Quinta do Veloso – Os Tres Gatos olive oil
