Brilliantly sunny today which made for warm work picking olives. Our daily total was 39 ½ kilos for an overall total of 135 ½ kilos. As we work through our uliveto (olive grove) the tally increases more slowly because the trees we are stripping now have less fruit. If we are lucky we might get another 20 kilos for the rest of the trees which we will pick tomorrow morning. Today’s picture shows us about halfway through one tree. You can see the net spread beneath the tree and Dom on the ladder picking the olives in the top branches. While he is up there he does some pruning, cutting out limbs reaching skyward so that the tree does not grow too tall. The goal is to have airy, open branches in a bowl shape. If the pruned branches have olives on them I strip those directly into one of our collection bins. Afterwards the branches are thrown in a pile to one side of the net. The upturned bin is where I was sitting to work. At some point in the next few weeks we will finish the pruning, collect the branches and throw them on the burn pile. Next spring they will help the grass burn a little more vigorously. We are looking forward to going to the frantoio (olive mill) tomorrow afternoon and finding out how much oil our harvest produces.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Hot, dry olives!
Brilliantly sunny today which made for warm work picking olives. Our daily total was 39 ½ kilos for an overall total of 135 ½ kilos. As we work through our uliveto (olive grove) the tally increases more slowly because the trees we are stripping now have less fruit. If we are lucky we might get another 20 kilos for the rest of the trees which we will pick tomorrow morning. Today’s picture shows us about halfway through one tree. You can see the net spread beneath the tree and Dom on the ladder picking the olives in the top branches. While he is up there he does some pruning, cutting out limbs reaching skyward so that the tree does not grow too tall. The goal is to have airy, open branches in a bowl shape. If the pruned branches have olives on them I strip those directly into one of our collection bins. Afterwards the branches are thrown in a pile to one side of the net. The upturned bin is where I was sitting to work. At some point in the next few weeks we will finish the pruning, collect the branches and throw them on the burn pile. Next spring they will help the grass burn a little more vigorously. We are looking forward to going to the frantoio (olive mill) tomorrow afternoon and finding out how much oil our harvest produces.
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1 comment:
Deb shared the link of your wonderful blog with me and I have so enjoyed reading it! I love the subject matter; about everyday life, but one that sounds like it is truly enjoyed. I think many, me included, are very envious. Would love to help pick olives and take them to the olive mill. Looking forward to the next installment! Cindy (Deb's sister)
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