Olive Harvesting With Friends

  October is the month when everyone around this area of Umbria starts up their olive harvest. We've been told that November 25th was the start day 'way back when', but with the climate change and all, it begins much earlier these days.

  Seems like just about everyone has olive trees, so there is lots of work to do. We enjoy helping out, bodies willing, and this year we put in two days on our landlord's property, and two days at a friend's property.

  It's hard work, but we try to make it fun, and there is good socializing and a nice lunch, to boot. You start early, and put in a full day...

Early morning light in our friend's olive grove.

  The big job is laying out the nets, which will catch all the olives as they fall to the ground. This takes several people, as the nets are huge, heavy, and a little hard to manipulate. This grove is really well maintained, so that makes it an easier job.

Laying down nets.

  Once the nets are down, one person manages the 'shaker machine', which has long, stiff fingers that shake the olives out from the tallest branches. The rest of us use our hands, or a small hand held plastic rake called a 'rastrello'. This is fun work, really. It's so satisfying watching the olives collect in the nets.

They are so pretty.

  At mid-morning, we break for coffee, than we break at mid-day for lunch...

There were some hot dishes, too. A nice way to sit, rest and get ready for the afternoon work.

  The next day, we started early again. I love that morning light!

Same friend's grove, different area.

Back at it for day two.

  When there is a hillside, the nets have to be stretched and pulled up high to catch the olives before they roll down into the canyon. We use our bodies and arms stretched way up, to catch them as best we can, or tall stakes and bamboo sticks, too.

  It's a lot of work setting the nets just right.

You can just make out the rastrello (hand rake) in our friend's back pocket...

It's all about this!

   Another break for lunch, and back to work we go....

Yum! Plus leftovers from the day before...
Nice to sit with pals and enjoy the beauty.

Johnny, please don't fall out of the tree.

A couple of kooks just doing their job.
Getting that last olive is very important!

  Later in the afternoon, at quitting time, I loved seeing the grove all clean and tidy.
They still have more to pick, with some new friends in town, but our job here was done. We'll enjoy hearing how it all went, and how much was collected in all.

Nice.