We had started harvesting earlier this year. The rains were coming soon and some olives were already falling. Coupled with an impending visit to the UK, it seemed prudent to start now. After all, some of the locals had also started so we thought we would follow their lead. It transpired that the percentage of oil to kilograms picked would be low (last year we achieved 25%) but at least we would have some oil. In the past we have harvested as late as the end of December but harvesting has been necessary earlier each year. Strangely, the almond harvest has been getting later. Weird!
We girded our loins on Tuesday the 27th October and laid the nets. We started on the small trees and managed to pick, prune and sort 18 trees (out of 47) and our crop so far weighed in at 249 kilos. This produced 34.1  litres of virgin olive oil.
On the Saturday that week we thought we would tackle one of the biggest trees at the back of the casita. It was only when we started that we saw what a big job this tree would be. In the end it took us all day and that one tree produced 80 kilos. We were absolutely shattered, particularly as we pruned the beast as we went along. It was worth it as it produced 12 litres of oil on it’s own. On the Sunday we polished off the tree in the garden at the back of our house and that again was very bountiful.In the end, our average yield was 14% from 20 trees, yielding 350 kilograms of olives producing 50 litres of oil. We still have over 40 litres unused from 2014 so now we have a very large stock. We would like to take most of it to the UK but it will have to wait until we move back.
We are hoping that we will be able to harvest more olives in a couple of weeks but that will depend upon the kindness of the weather. If the weather is mild, our work is not yet over.