Olives

When we got off the bus from Torino, our boss was there to meet the group. He immediately invited us to come to his house next day to help him harvest olives. You can't say no to a request like this... His wife picked us up at 11 on Sunday morning ("after church"). T & H (the English teacher and his wife) were invited, too.

They have a fairly small house, but it is on about an acre, and they have 58 olive trees. The trees are over 100 years old! We spread the nets under the trees and went at it with plastic combs.







I felt the trees rather liked my gentle touch...



After lunch (pasta, sausages with fried potatoes, quiche, wine, tiramisu, coffee) we worked a little more, but less energetically. By sunset we had 5 bags of olives, about 150 kg total -- enough to make about 15 liters of oil. We took our crop to the press operator nearby, but it's the height of the olive season and everyone finished at the same time. The line was a mile long, no chance for us to get our oil. (We were promised some, as "pay.")

But we got a glimpse of the big olive press (four huge vertical stone wheels rotating in a big basin...



... and the centrifuge that separates oil from water:



Our little olive farmers union:



Empty cans ready for the finished product: