The Olive Harvest

Sunday 14 November 2010

We'd bought some olive nets on the last trip to Lefkas, so we spread these around the foot of Richie's tree-house tree.  Following Christoforos' instructions I'd taken the shears to the surrounding grass and levelled it all off a bit.  I'd also found a long stick off a fallen branch and trimmed it straight.

We set to work beating the branches we could reach, taking turns until the stick broke.  It's not an easy job, but we were fortified by the thought of our own olive oil - if we get maybe a sackful we can take the olives to one of the little local presses and they'll press the oil in return for a tithe of the olives.

Unfortunately, our trees have not been kept cut short, as most that are regularly harvested are.  This one in particular is a majestic tree, but impossible to reach the higher branches from the ground. 

When shopping for olive nets we asked about the top quality netting, but it was very expensive.  It can be left on the ground for months, so you don't have to beat the tree, just wait for the olives to fall when they're ready.  We couldn't afford that netting, and the two large nets we did get were 35 euros each, so we didn't get enough for more than one tree at a time.

The harvest will need picking over, as well.  The disadvantage of beating the tree (as well as the violence it does to the soul) is that a lot of leaves and twigs fall into the nets too.