10924 Olives - Yes,they're worth the hassle

So so nice Aretina. Well done. Maybe you could post these photos here???

Brilliant Aretina...you should be smug...it's bl....dy hard work. My somewhat rotund OH has lost a few chili this past week and has another week to go, as he's helping to pick 170 trees.....then he'll become fairly sedentary till next year, (apart from long walks with Bella each day). Enjoy the bruschetta!

[quote=Aretina;102508]We've Finished!!
My aching back and knees can atest to that!

Took 270 kg. down to the Frantoio (mill) just 5 mins. from the house, arrived just before lunch and there was no queue for unloading!! Took us two full days to pick in lovely weather, no rain and perfect temperature. Picked 30 trees, 5 are very young and had nothing on them.

We seem to be something of a Frantoio's novelty (we are the only English for some miles around) because they put us to the top of the 'olives waiting for pressing' queue so that we would have fresh oil for supper tonight. The 'director' popped our name at the top and dropped everyone else down half an hour!! Just had time to rush back for a quick coffee and then down again to see the olives goes through the press.

Got around 37 litres which is just under 14% yield, which is good for us as the olives are not irrigated and we did not use fertiliser this year.

So Good Luck everyone and I hope the weather lasts.

If you want to see our olive oil 'process' go to [url=http://www.tuscanyfortwo.com]Tuscanyfortwo.com[/url] and look at the bottom of the gallery page. And yes, the oil really is as green as the pic. above.[/quote]
GOOD on you.but that wasn't what i wanted to say about the olive story.
over time there have been a number of people on this forum ,when talking about their olive groves and so on asking about "profits" (ie. from their olives etc) and the "cost" of getting people to pick them etc etc.We've been working just over four days now and it looks like its going to go on till mid december. between our own olives and those of our neighbour....our cleaning lady who is an employee BTW, is ,in her free time picking the olives for someone else (400 trees)they are asking and getting 75% of the crop this year,round here thats the deal.
it seems that the top price for oil ,southern marche 2008, is around euro 5-6 per litre, which means that supermarkets will soon be down to euro 3. per litre for olio novello.this was just to say that if there was still anyone out there illuding them selves about profiting from their olives that is the scenario.Having said that i am fully in agreement with ARETINA and others who just do it,get their oil,and use it.we will probably/hopefully get around 350/380 litres this year which we consume domestically,with the business, sell/give away a few bottles, we cook exclusively with our own oil and thats it..it would be totally impossible to talk in terms of "business" referring to this subject BTW apparently all those brands of oils you find in the supermarkets are now all owned by three groups of which the largest which controls Monini,carli and others is Spanish!

[quote=Sebastiano;102528],,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,it seems that the top price for oil ,southern marche 2008, is around euro 5-6 per litre, ....................[/quote]

Aretina,

If that figure is correct, you 'got' 370 Euros worth of oil for 2 days picking.

Say 2 people for 10 hrs per day [probably more people?] - this equates to about 9 or 10 Euros an hour - but this ignores the costs for looking after them in the year, plus the cost of transporting them to the press, and the cost of pressing the olives etc etc

On strictly financial terms - it seems a total loss. However, the satisfaction of doing it, is [to you] worthwhile.

Me - I'd probably just pop down the IperCoop and buy another bottle.

4 of us did 25 trees this morning (7 till 12), 480kg of olives should give about 65l of oil.
Another 41 trees to go.
Am aching already.

Stribs

Okay Stribs, you too keep up the good work!!!

Hi Alan H

You're absolutely right there is no financial sense in olive farming - just the personal reward of a fantastic product, that is tasty, good for health and brilliant in the kitchen. Our small crop is enough for our year but you wont find us volunteering for any more picking this year!!!.

As for cost per litre, it's even more than the figure you quote. Even if we dont cost our time, you have to consider the cost of pruning (100 euros) the frantoio (43 euros) the cost of the nets, containers (the steel ones cost around 40 - 50 euros each), fertiliser etc.

Friends in Liguria reckon it costs them around 18-19 euros to produce one litre of oil. I think that is pretty close to the real figure.

Stribs, you did really well, a 7am start!!! We were much more slouching than you around 9 for us. OH not a morning person!! and Vaz (the dog) needed his walk first.

The best way to cope with olive picking aches - a prophylactic neurofen (400mg) or similar before you start. The aches disappear until after picking when you take another one!

And yes, Noble the bruschette were fantastic - Tuscan bread grilled over the coals, a quick rub of garlic, drizzledddddd with oil and a light sprinkle of sea salt.....

I feel ashamed now ... my husband has been out since 8am with our friends and neighbours picking ours - this is our first olive harvest (day 4!). I am still in bed at 10am but now feel guilty enough to go out and join them ...

I don't care about the cost. I certainly don't want profit. The experience of being under a clear blue sky and a warm sun in fresh air with friends chatting away in local dialect (them not me, though I try!) is worth so much more. And I have never slept so well in my life! :SLEEP:

And the Prosecco at the end of the day does help, I admit ... :yes:

I was passed a recent news paper and read this article entitled, Oiling the Wheels of Country Life, seemed appropriate to post it here.
[url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml?xml=/global/2008/11/05/noindex/polive103.xml]Farmhouses: Oiling the wheels of country life - Telegraph[/url]

That's an interesting article Noble - thanks for posting it.

Having survived four days of picking and ending up with two hundred litres of oil (to be shared - we couldn't eat that many chips!), I can now rest back on my laurels for another year and say yes, it's definitely worth it ... :yes:

PS That was a joke about using it to fry chips ...