As early as summer, our thoughts begin to revolve around the harvest. How far have the olives matured by July? What can we expect from this year’s crop? Is the olive fruit fly under control Will we begin harvesting at the end of October, or perhaps not until November?
Harvest - A Process of Love and Respect
Every year we are incredibly fortunate to have the support of our capable and dedicated harvest team: Dimitris, Alexandra, Stratis and Dimitra. Most of them even take time off work to join us during the harvest weeks. Depending on the weather—the ideal days are sunny but not too warm—the work begins at seven o’clock in the morning. First, the large green harvesting nets (13 × 5 metres) are spread beneath three or four trees at a time.
Then comes “Dinos”, our powerful and rather noisy olive branch shaker machine, which combs the olives from the long, slender branches. Alexandra is the undisputed expert at operating it.
Dimitris, who leads the team, climbs the ladder with pruning saw in hand. He carefully removes the branches that will bear little or no fruit the following year. These are placed in piles beneath the tree and sorted. The smaller or twisted branches are harvested by hand, while the larger ones are passed through Dinos.
After pruning, the “Lanares” come into action—large mechanical combs with long vibrating teeth mounted on poles. They remove the remaining olives from the branches. The team works in shifts because holding the heavy equipment overhead for long periods is physically demanding.
As soon as the first tree—and often the second as well—has been harvested, the olives are gathered from the nets and carried in buckets to the sorting table, which is moved from tree to tree. There, the olives are separated from larger twigs, leaves and small stones, while their quality is checked once again. This task provides a welcome change whenever there is a pause in combing. One crate after another is gradually filled.
Throughout the day there are two or three breaks, filled with lively conversation, laughter and good food, especially when the harvest is going well. Someone always brings along a homemade specialty prepared especially for the occasion, making these shared meals one of the highlights of the day.
Shortly after four o’clock, the bright red crates are loaded into the car and driven to the olive mill in Astros. For those responsible for the delivery, that usually means arriving back home around eight in the evening.