Up a tree ...or harvesting the olives
Up a tree… or harvesting the olives
It is the time of year to harvest the olives, and as the weather has been dry and sunny for the past few weeks, there has been great active around. Pickups have been racing about with nets and olive picking equipment and there is also an influx of migrant workers to help with the picking.
As we are total novices, I think that we have made hardwork of the task, even though we only have six trees, only five with olives (it has been a poor year because of the unusual weather in the summer). In addition, we promised to pick our summer neighbours five fruiting trees as well…fools that we are. So gathering our nets and laying them out beneath each tree, we trashed about with what look like giant toasting forks to bring down the olives, sometimes climbing on a ladder to precarious heights. It was hard, muscle-aching work, but in spite of a brief respite due to inclement weather, we finished the deed, proudly carrying five hessian sacks to the press.
The village olive oil press is only 100 yards up the road, so it was just a matter of checking what documentation was needed before driving my heavily laden Yaris up to the press. The press continues to process olives on a small scale in the tradition way, not really like a factory at all, except for the sweet smelling smoke, black stained floor and the clunking of machinery. At night, the press is full of bright lights as they work long into the evening.
J extricated the best olives of our harvest to soak in salt, and store in glass jars, so that they can be eaten later in the year. It was very satisfying to finish the picking, as it was very tiring work, I hope it was worth it…. but there was no way that we would be irresponsible enough not to bother, as we would be seen in a very poor light.
Update: this evening we had half a churn of virgin olive oil delivered to our door by Y’s sons. From 160 kilos of olives, we have 28 kilos (24.6 kilos after payment) of oil. Apparently the quality is very good, although it has been a bad year in terms of quantity.
It is the time of year to harvest the olives, and as the weather has been dry and sunny for the past few weeks, there has been great active around. Pickups have been racing about with nets and olive picking equipment and there is also an influx of migrant workers to help with the picking.
As we are total novices, I think that we have made hardwork of the task, even though we only have six trees, only five with olives (it has been a poor year because of the unusual weather in the summer). In addition, we promised to pick our summer neighbours five fruiting trees as well…fools that we are. So gathering our nets and laying them out beneath each tree, we trashed about with what look like giant toasting forks to bring down the olives, sometimes climbing on a ladder to precarious heights. It was hard, muscle-aching work, but in spite of a brief respite due to inclement weather, we finished the deed, proudly carrying five hessian sacks to the press.
The village olive oil press is only 100 yards up the road, so it was just a matter of checking what documentation was needed before driving my heavily laden Yaris up to the press. The press continues to process olives on a small scale in the tradition way, not really like a factory at all, except for the sweet smelling smoke, black stained floor and the clunking of machinery. At night, the press is full of bright lights as they work long into the evening.
J extricated the best olives of our harvest to soak in salt, and store in glass jars, so that they can be eaten later in the year. It was very satisfying to finish the picking, as it was very tiring work, I hope it was worth it…. but there was no way that we would be irresponsible enough not to bother, as we would be seen in a very poor light.
Update: this evening we had half a churn of virgin olive oil delivered to our door by Y’s sons. From 160 kilos of olives, we have 28 kilos (24.6 kilos after payment) of oil. Apparently the quality is very good, although it has been a bad year in terms of quantity.
posted by Robert Burrell at
11:26 am
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