Thankfully the Monsoon season decided to pause momentarily for us here in Central Portugal, the sun shone allowing us to finish picking the olives (in vests)! They were sorted in Othelia's machine, weighed and we were well chuffed that we had 380 kilo's - (bit of an improvement on last years 43).
We were hoping for 300 as we wanted our own oil, not the communal Lagar oil that you get if you weigh in less.
Our friends, Viv and Brian learnt quite a lot helping their neighbour Othelia pick her olives and have helped me to prune the tree's quite hard with a bit more confidence. Some of them were pretty neglected. One poor tree was buried under about 15ft of brambles and is now breathing for the first time in some years. The general idea with the pruning is to remove the middle branches to open the tree up, will be a heck of a lot easier to pick them next year now.
The right tools really do make a difference. This year we invested in an 8 meter olive net which surrounds the base of the tree... (clear ground needed). We used plastic hand held rakes which make the picking a lot easier (and quicker), especially when you bung them onto telescopic poles...
Unless you are about 15 ft tall with arms that would make Mr Tickle feel inadequate you will also need a decent ladder.
Watching the locals mind you, the method is to use your hands to 'milk' the olives from the branches or whack the tree's with sticks to beat the olives onto the net below. Its pretty theraputic to use your hands, but the stick method didn't really work for me.
One of the best (and most obvious) bits of advice we got was to always start at the top of the tree and work down... common sense I guess as you knock the majority of the lower ones down in the process.
The aim seems to be to aim for a 3 black-1 green ratio for a decent oil. The green olives add a peppery quality to the oil whilst the ripe black olives yield more oil.
The olives need separating from the leaves as soon as possible as the leaves make them get hot and and they will deteriorate quickly. After sorting we put them into plastic sacks, with NO holes and pushed every bit of air out before tying them and leaving them in a cool dark place.
Unlike last year when we popped up to the Lagar (Mill) with our olives, found nobody there and eventually found the guy we needed in the coffee shop opposite, this year was a little different.
I popped in a week ago and was given an appointment for 1st December... AARggh.
After much umming and ahhing I decided to pop in again and speak to the fella and beg a little today. Man it was busy in there, it is so humid and the smell of olives is unreal. You have to be seriously careful in there too as the floor is coated in a film of oil. One slip and I reckon you could do some impressive stunts and make a right arse of yourself...
Anyhow, not sure whether it was my piteous grasp of the language that did it, my "perleease sir I only have a little bit of olives, not like those lorry loads outside"... or Sienna's cute little face, but lovely Jorge at the Lagar de Azeite do Silveirinho, gave us an appointment for this Saturday.... *whoop*
Last year it worked out at 8.6 kilo's (a total of approx 11,855) of olives per litre of oil. Lets see what we get this year.
Lots of (English) people think its a bit bonkers picking your olives when it is far easier to buy oil at the supermarket and avoid the hassle. Different strokes for different folks I reckon.
Personally I love it.
As long as I have good company and the sun is shining at any rate. I have enjoyed getting to know friends better, being outside in this beautiful place, sharing food and drinks and stopping work as the sun sets, looking over the mountain view and pink/orange/lilac skies behind. I just feel lucky that I have the time to stop and experience the magic of this ancient tradition. Take a look (above) at my favourite olive tree in the garden with 'pointy mountain' behind. Just magic.
Fingers crossed now that my oil doesn't taste like crap.
