On the morning of December 1st we awakened to howling wind, and bitter cold.
All bundled up, we headed for the farm. The wind was blowing and the trees were swaying. Some of the younger trees needed to be re-staked and tied, due to the heavy winds.
We began our 2011 harvest, by picking a few olives from one of the new trees.
We instructed Glen, a first time olive picker, how to rake the olives off the tree into a basket.
Glen picked the branches from top to bottom, inside and out!
Blue skies and clusters of olives were seen, as we picked under the tree.
Glen and Richard. One took the top, and the other the bottom. Guess which one took the top!
The bin gets filled slowly, bucket by bucket. It holds about 1000 lbs.
Here are "The Olive Girls," Peeps and Pez," taking care of all the bugs in the grove. They are doing their own harvesting!
Arrived at the mill, only to find out the full bin was too heavy for the fork lift. Transfer in progress!
Mill Time!