OK, so I tend towards hysteria at the end of a long spell of olive picking, but who can blame me? It’s hard work, it’s tiring, I hurt…everywhere!

But over it is. The local pundits say that you tend to have a good year (i.e. loads of olives) followed by a mediocre year, and this was one of our good years. So this year, the olives were superbly healthy, the trees were full, and the weather was wonderful. A truly great harvest, but 800+ trees later, we’ve had enough!

We took advantage of the great weather to put together some footage of the process, for those of you who may never have even seen an olive tree! But first, to answer some FAQ’s from my readers:

Do you have to sort the ripe olives from the green ones? No, they all go in the press together.

Isn’t the oil made just from the green olives? No. It depends on what type of olive oil you like. For example the Greeks like a sharp, green olive oil, so they pick their olives when they are fairly green. In Spain, the taste is for a bit softer oil, so usually there is a good mix of green and black.

How do you know when they are just the right ripeness to be able to be shaken from the tree? We always pick at the same time of year. The olives ripen at a pretty consistent rate, so you know roughly when they will be ready to pick. Here, from Dec – end of February is the season, and that is also when the press is open!

How long does the whole process take per tree? Depends on the tree, the terrain, and how many olives are on the tree. This year, a good tree might take 20 minutes each to shake, as you have to shake each branch. Also, some varieties of olives fall from the tree more easily than others!

How many trees do you have? About 850.

Do you do the process several times for the various lengths of ripening?  Nope. We pick until we have enough to press.

And now, the video…

Gifts abound on these trips. Kenton came home with bags of clementines, lemons, avocados, radishes. Also a cabbage, a cauli and some parsley. All very welcome, as due to our respective recoveries from surgery, our winter garden was planted very late this year. (We are so used to eating vegetables fresh from the garden that it’s almost impossible for us to buy/eat/enjoy store-bought vegetables)

As the pair drove around, our friend commented on the number of pieces of land owned by ex-pats, which are now abandoned and have now become ruins. He said

See that land? It used to be one of the nicest pieces of land in Yunquera. It had everything – oranges, lemons, avocados, grapes, olives, cherries. It was irrigated and terraced – you could grow anything.

And now? Abandoned for the last 5 years, untended and unloved, a ruin.

Manuel has told us that the biggest sin he could think of was to not work your land. I can understand this, because as he was growing up, if you had land, you could grow food, and not starve. And he knew many people in this village that starved during those years.

So one wonders what is thought of us over-indulged ex-pats who move here and expect the easy life? I think we can guess.

Yes, at long last – almost a month later, with many sore muscles, turned ankles, sore backs and twisted knees. It’s been a wonderful year to harvest, however, full of rewards. The olives have been plentiful and healthy, and the weather has been almost perfect.

So, two tons plus of olives later, we’re calling it a day. The last sacks of olives have gone to the press, the nets are folded, the machine has been taken apart. In a few short days, we will return from the mill with 25 litre containers of gorgeous Yunquera Gold olive oil.

Ahhhhh……

We were in the middle of a heavy olive picking session this week, in the bottom grove where it was so lovely and sunny that it was (almost) a pleasure to be out picking olives. It was shortly after lunch, so we were in the lovely stage of having a brief surge of energy.

Up turns one of our friends, driving down the track to find us (the tree shaking machine makes a very distinctive noise, so we were easy to find). An interruption was not really what we needed, but when friends turn up for a chat, work must stop! It’s only polite.

He gazes around at our land.

Not many olives in your nets,

says he. I’m shocked. It is a really good year for us, and we thought we had loads of olives! But he’s probably right – his land is at a lower altitude, in a warmer situation, so his yields will naturally be higher than ours.

Then he adds

You’ve left olives on the trees. Ana should go behind Kenton with a long stick and hit the last olives off the tree

Now really. He’s right, we do leave olives on the tree – maybe up to 20-30 per tree. But there are only the 2 of us picking, so we play the percentages. It would take an extra 20 minutes to knock the last olives from the tree, in which time, we can move the nets and shake a new tree. So for us, that doesn’t make sense.

You can see his point. He generally works in a team of at least 4 men, where you have the extra labour needed to do this. Plus, he learned from his father, and the thought of wasting anything, even a single olive, is just untenable.

So he left shortly after commenting on our poor harvesting techniques, smug in the knowledge that once again, he’s proved himself right!

Olive picking (photo by Kenton@imagenary.co.uk)

We eased into work gently yesterday by cleaning house and making Lujos. For some reason, most of the orders involved products for the hands, so I guess there are some people with very dry hands out there! Our hand balm and hand cream will restore those claws back to dewy softness in no time, I’m sure.

And today? Another of our typically varied days! This morning, Kenton took a trip into town to post our orders, buy bread and do the shopping. He is also talking to our very nice tourist information lady about ‘stuff’ for the town’s tourism plans. The lady has boundless enthusiasm, so hopefully her plans will pay off in a busy summer for the town. She enjoys talking to us as ‘outsiders’, to get our perspective on her ideas for increasing tourism in the area.

While Kenton is wheeling and dealing (and shopping), I’m home blogging, doing laundry and cooking. We’re continuing with this week’s theme of “spicy food detox”! The last 2 nights, we’ve cooked from our new cookbook by Rick Stein, which is full of gorgeous recipes from the far east. (a gift from good friends in the village) Tonight, we are switching to Indian food. So all in all, a good week to be working hard outdoors!

This afternoon we will re-commence with the olive picking. The olives are so good this year that we just can’t let them go to waste. And selling them is pretty pointless, as the price is only 25 cents/kilo. (I don’t think many people are selling olives this year, they are either pressing the oil for sale, or are letting the olives go to waste)

So by tonight, once again our muscles will be sore, and we will have the ‘good tired’ of an honest day’s work harvesting the fruit of our labor.