Harvesting olives

We've been working in the common garden of the condominium where we live to pick the many olive trees. This year the olives are very early.

Picking involves stripping the slender olive fronds either with the hand or a small or long-handled plastic rakes - un rastrello. A lot of the olives are clearly out of reach and tree climbing and ladders are employed to cut out some of the topmost and most-laden branches.

Large nets are spread under the tree to be picked and where this is on a slope olive branches are put under the downslope side of the net to stop the olives rolling off. When the tree is declared picked the olives are herded towards the edge of the net and very carefully tipped into big plastic crates.

The heavy crates are then hauled up or down hill and kept in sheds until they are collected together and loaded up into cars or lorries or trailers and taken to the pre-booked session at the olive oil mill (frantoio).

It is quite a slow process, the olives being firmly attached to the trees and hidden behind a maze of fine branches. By the end there is a lot of cut olive brush around. But slowly slowly the harvest builds up. I was amazed that between us in different shifts and at different time we harvested nearly a tonne of olives.

I was dog tired by the end of a long day but its some of the best fun I've had in a long time.