We just harvested our olives. Alleluia, alleluia!
Last year, for the first time in our forty years on the land in Umbria, we skipped olive-picking in November: la mosca olearia devastated olive crops due to a mild winter (absence of freezing temperatures which the olive trees need) intense rains in June and July, and an increasingly tropicale climate here in Italy. As of October, 2014, the Italian media was predicting a 30- 40% olive oil decrease but some areas lost 50% or more of their production.
A cold winter, abundant spring rains and hot summer proved a winning trio for the 2015 harvest: our olives are picked and time now to take them to the mill for pressing.
Thanks, Zack, Costantino and little Isabella, for your help on the picking.
Jenny and Liza, glad you were here for the final check on the pruned branches, under the trees…..and spreading out the net under the last tree. Your “installation,” as you aptly called it. An olive harvest gran finale.
…and glad you both were here when Pino brought home our olio nuovo from the olive mill. Buonissimo, no?
Read about – and see! – a past olive harvest
Click here to read about olive oil celebrations in Umbria
Click here to read about the Mediterranean diet
Read about Spello’s celebration of olive oil
Read more on olive oil, “Umbria’s gold”
Read about a risky harvest
Read more about good cooking and good eating together