Gigi and Mena, my local grocery couple invited me to come to their grove of olives to harvest olives. I got there and there were a total of six of us. As the day went on, the total number of family members and friends totaled eighteen. It was truly a family affair as it seemed as three-quarters of the olive pickers/workers/volunteers were related to Mena, Gigi's husband.
Gigi's acreage has about 100 to 130 olive trees. Harvest season is late fall.
Most of the trees were laden with olives.
Low hanging olives are simply "picked" by using a scraper or your hands and just pulling them off the branches. I have never experienced an easier agricultural experience. You don't have to bend down, you simply let the olives drop onto the tarp below and there are no sharp things to worry about. In addition, you don't have to worry about nipping buds or worry about breaking branches. You just pull and go.
Mena's Dad in action. He too, like my grandfather has three daughters. Mena's the oldest, like my Mom. That makes Gigi, the same role in the family as my Dad.
Classically Italian. This friend came out to harvest olives in her blue velour sweat suit and gold shoes.
Gigi here with the machine that shakes down the high olives.
The olives simply fall onto the tarp. The olives are gathered into the middle and then dumped into a bin.
No more olives!
Break to grab some coffee and pastries. Just a little something!
Olives are put on a table to pick out the big branches and to remove the larger stems.
Next, they are dumped into a machine that blows out the majority of the leaves.
The blower in action.
Olives ready for bagging.
After picking, LUNCH! Eggplant Lasagna and a White Lasagna are appetizer. Then small pizzas with meat and then sandwiches with mozzarella and tomatoes. Some wine and water and then finishing up with some sweets.
Mena's parents eating lunch. The other student and I were the only ones to speak any English I had break out my Italian. It's amazing how well circumlocution works. I may not know how to say that it's sunny, but I can tell you it's not raining or snowing. It all worked out and 80% of the time, I could figure out how to say what I want or figure out what was being said to me. Charades are useful and the fact that I only use the infinitive form of the verb doesn't seem to matter at all.
We finished picking 28 trees and this is only half of the bags we filled. The olives next go to the olive oil press here in Viterbo. Hopefully I'll get to see it in action in the next few weeks.
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