Monday, October 30, 2017

The olive harvest is in full swing!

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This is my 6th day living and volunteering at a nice kibbutz in central Israel. 
We are working hard harvesting olives.
The main method to get the olives off the branches is to "comb" them off with a plastic rake thingy. 


We spread long long tarps on both sides of the trees. 
The olives we "comb" fall onto the tarps, making a sweet sound. 


Finally we push and pull all the olives into the center of the tarp, kneel beside the pile and fish out a few twigs, and then pour the beautiful olives into a crate. 

More about life in the big olive grove in the coming days.
If you'd like to learn more about the place and the philosophy, please see one or all of these:
Olives 101
The Olive Blog 
Kibbutz Gezer Olives -- Facebook page 
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Come and join us, there's still a few beds left for more good volunteers! 
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12 comments:

  1. When I did my Gap Year in Israel many many decades ago, the kibbutz wanted volunteers to pick fruit from 6.30 AM - 12.30 PM. Since I am definitely not a morning person, this was the most difficult job in my entire life!! But we were all 18, fit, slim and healthy. I couldn't do that now.

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  2. Hels, picking fruit like you did is hard because the fruit is heavy. With the olives you just knock them to the ground.
    We work about the same hours as you did. With breakfast in the field!

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  3. Will you get some of that good olive oil when they've been pressed? Yum. That's a great way to spend your time; if I were there I'd have joined you!

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  4. Dina, How old is the tree before it bears fruit ?

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  5. I had never seen olives harvested... looks like a lot of work!

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  6. Alice, a 3 year old tree will give you olives.

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