Column: the olive harvest

I would actually write a piece about my recent motorcycle ride from the Netherlands to our home in Italy, but the olive harvest has started here and we are very busy every day, and then very tired. So I didn't get around to finishing my travelogue yet. Instead, this bit about our life here in rural Umbria.

We bought a house here in March 2014, in a village with 60 houses spread over the hills. We now live here semi-permanently. Much to the delight of ourselves and of our neighbors and new friends. The people here are really fantastic, and that was certainly not the least reason to move here. Very different from the Netherlands and also different from the (winter sports) area in France, where we lived in an apartment in a large chalet for 16 years.

A house in Italy

Old neighbors of ours in the Netherlands bought a house in the area about 12 years ago, and in those past years we have visited them – and the area here – a number of times. And we loved it every time. So different from France and the Netherlands. So when we accidentally got wind of a house for sale here, which was already 75% renovated, we didn't have to think twice. Well, that's a different story.

The fact is that the immediate neighbors are very nice and have already helped with many things. We always get wine from them, and olive oil. So it goes without saying that we help them with their harvest (we don't have any trees ourselves). Now that sounds simple, but we are in our 60s and I myself am a publisher, programmer, photographer and writer… and certainly not physically equipped for heavy work. And I can tell you that harvesting olives is hard work! So I'm exhausted every night. So at least I have an excuse for typos.

We had already helped our Dutch friends a few years ago, but that was more of a social situation, with long lunch, a lot of chatter and only 50 trees. Our neighbors, including parents, sister and brother-in-law, have over 1.200 trees! I regularly ask 'is it still far, Papa Smurf', to which Massimo, the neighbor, bursts out laughing. Today (by now day 5, with one day break) I reported that after so much work to harvest those things, a person must really hate olive oil. Yes, we laugh a bit together…

The olive harvest: how does it work?

Apart from all the preparations during the year such as pruning, checking, mowing grass under the trees, and sometimes disinfecting, the olive harvest itself also involves a lot.

First, long nylon nets are laid under the trees, overlapping each other so that the mischievous olives do not run off. This must be done with some consultation, because the orchards are not as flat as in our own Betuwe. The slopes are often steep and run in all directions. Before you know it, the olives will roll the wrong way!

And then the actual 'picking' begins. In the past, this was all done manually (and still is), using plastic rakes to 'zip' the olives from the branches. And yes, there are also a lot of leaves, but more on that later.

A modern way of harvesting

This year we saw (and use) a more modern way for the first time. The farmers now have a device that consists of a carrying frame with a large battery on your back and a rod with an electric motor, a rotating shaft through the inside and a kind of moving rake at the end. That rake consists of a number of metal rods that move up and down, and the whole end also goes back and forth.

The result is a long handle with a rake that shakes the olives off the branches, as it were. Very ingenious… but also quite heavy and at the end of the day you are still shaking for an hour.

Over time, the fallen olives should be collected. For this purpose, the nets are lifted from one side and the olives are rolled to one or two points. There someone is ready with a burlap bag and that's where the olives go. Those things are quite heavy, I can tell you, and certainly not good for my weak back. Fortunately, Massimo is very strong!

The bags are left where they are and the nylon nets are placed a lot further down in front of another row of trees. At the end of the day, Massimo drives by with his tractor and trailer and we load the bags, and then it's back to the farm.

But we're not there yet. Just when you're ready to collapse with a cool beer or a nice glass of wine, it turns out there's still more work to be done. Together with the olives, whole loads of leaves and twigs have come along, and they have to be filtered out as much as possible.

Filter twigs and leaves

So the bags are removed from the trailer and lugged to a 'filter device'. Oh my back! The thing that Massimo has is made by a local company. A container in which you throw the olives, an electric motor that drives a fan, a sloping shelf and an output chute. The olives and leaves roll past the fan, the leaves are lighter and are blown out, the olives fall down into a ready plastic crate.

Bag after bag after bag, crate after crate after crate is being filled! The crates are stacked – with space between them to allow air to pass through – and later loaded onto another trailer and lashed down.

The next day the tractor goes to the oil mill. That is also an experience. There are all kinds of people from the area with their olive harvest, and all loads have to be processed separately, so that everyone gets their OWN oil. The olives are filtered one more time to remove even more leaves and twigs, then go into a large container with two millstones spinning.

The result of the olive harvest

There the olives and remaining leaves are processed into a pulp. The pulp is then poured onto large round mats (they look like giant pizzas) and piled up in a large hydraulic press. When the pile of mats with olive pulp is about two meters high, the press is switched on and a little further the beautiful green olive oil finally comes out of a tap. Under this, the cans of olive oil are filled… sometimes by the miller, sometimes by the customers themselves. Finally the results of the olive harvest can be seen!