As Autumn comes to a close and winter draws in. it's time to pick the olives.

Autumn for most is a time of vivid colours, reds, gold and browns as the leaves fall leaving behind the stark branches of the trees as they slumber through the winter. For us however, the leaves do not change colour nor do they fall, instead the trees are fully clothed in their ever green leaves and hidden beneath them lay the olives, green, red and black in colour like jewels sparkling in the winter sun.
Whilst for some the weather is cold, rainy and unpleasant we still have sunny days, with the odd shower though for the most part in Autumn the winter rains are but a distant threat, whilst the sight of butterflies fluttering by, furiously laying the last of their eggs on our winter greens is a common sight but one we are not so keen on when their efforts bring about an unwelcome glut of caterpillars which thankfully our chickens are more than happy to deal with. 
And whereas on some farms the winter months are a time for taking it easy here in Spain you will find most farmers at our busiest.  The olives are getting fat, the branches drooping with their weight whilst beneath them the weeds are growing fast and furious.

Preparation for harvest time is an almost frenetic time.  Especially on an organic farm such as ours.  Because we do not spray the land in order to keep the weeds back we have to cut them. This of course is far more labour intensive than just walking around spraying the life out of the land courtesy of that dreaded stuff, weedkiller.  And whilst we prefer to use the more traditional method of ridding our land of weeds, (the humble Azada) at this time of year we find ourselves under something of a time constraint, so without further ado, enter our secret weapon. 

 

No, not the guy in the rather fetching red safety helmet, though he did prove to be very adept in its usage, We are of course referring to our Strimmer aka Weedwhacker which at times like these is a must have and must use machine.

But allow us to introduce the guy in the red helmet.  In this case it is Daniel from Venezuela he very kindly came to help us with the clearing of the land in preparation for the olive harvest.  He also lent a hand when it came to cutting a few trees down. (the old fashioned way)






























As did Nicolas from Mexico.









Shortly after Nicolas' arrival Randi (from the USA) joined us and together we soon got to grips with the clearing of the land and pretty soon we were in a position to start thinking about picking the olives. (just as soon as they were ready that is). 



Due to unforeseen circumstances Nicolas couldn't stay for the full duration of his expected stay, so he didn't get to pick any olives, however, just when we were starting to panic that we were not going to have enough helpers Joscha (from Germany) stepped in and came to our rescue.




Strike that pose, lol.

But back to the olives.  This year our crop has been particularly good, in fact it was so good we realised that handpicking them all before they spoilt was just not going to happen.  This would have been such a shame because they were really very, very nice olives, full of oil which we knew would taste absolutely delicious.

Cue a rather interesting machine we were fortunate to hire from the local co-operative which Joscha, Christopher (our son) and myself had a whale of a time using.

And as the saying goes, "Many hands make light work". 



Especially when we go back to picking the olives the old fashioned way, by hand and whilst it is no where near as quick as it is when using a machine it is in our opinion so therapeutic.








































But of course we mere humans cannot possibly hope to get it right, not unless we are being supervised/guarded by my ever faithful shadow Toby.

The fruits of our labour


Trailer after trailer full of big fat juicy olives.

That look good enough to eat.

But we prefer them when they are made into this. Our own Organic extra virgen olive oil.







But for those of you who don't know what happens to the olives when they leave our farm and go into the co-operative here is a little taster.



These aren't our olives being raked in, but you get the idea from this picture of what happens as we unload them.

 First they go into a large grilled area through which they fall, landing on a conveyor belt.




They are then washed and put over a sieve through which the olives fall but not any leaves that might still be attached.



They are then loaded into giant crates to be weighed. At this point the grower can decide if he/she wants to be paid for the olives or receive the first press of oil that is taken from them. We chose the oil. Unfortunately the process of pressing the olives is done in a huge machine into which we cannot see. But at least you get the idea of some of what happens.

For the most part everyones olives get mixed together. Oh no I hear you cry, that will mean your oil is contaminated, ah, it would be if we didn't get the co-operative to mill them seperately.  Every night the machines are scalded out and cleaned to within an inch of existence. (no chemicals are used in this process).  After which the following morning my organic olives are put through the machine and voila, clean, uncontaminated by any chemicals oraganic olive oil made solely from my olives is the result.