Picky, picky!

Just before I went to England, Nonno Enrico let me come pick olives from his trees!  It was a ton of fun, although I had less time than I would have liked.

Here's the process:
1. Spread nets under the trees.  Big, long nets.
2. Clamp the nets around the tree trunks to reduce the gaps.
3. Use a pole shaker thingy to shake the branches until all the olives come down.  The shaker weighs several pounds (as opposed to many, as in the past), and vibrates quite effectively.  When I was finished I felt like one of those cartoon creatures that are depicted with wavy lines.
4. Use the nets to corral the olives into buckets.
5. Pick up the olives that jump into the grass -- it's like hunting for Easter eggs!
6. Repeat.

Bear in mind that olive trees are grown on hills.  Steep hills.  And that it had rained for several weeks before I had my lovely afternoon.  Things were a bit sloppy.

That said, it was a wonderful way to spend a few hours...

Love,

Alexandra

You can't pull the nets by hand -- these are BIG nets!

Easter eggs for grownups!

Nonno Enrico's son Luka, carrying lots of clamps

You have to power the shaker!

To see the shaker at work (sorry, but it's sideways & I can't figure out how to fix that):