And November arrives again

Saint-Jean-de-Losne, River Saone.
Weather has been marvellous, bright and sunny. But for the last 24 hrs it's been fairly horrible rain and wind, the river looks very unappealing indeed, fast-flowing khaki colour.
Oh, and the car's broken down.

C'est la vie! :)
 
vyv_cox said:
Do you not use the net method? I came across it in a very entertaining book about a lady who bought a house with olive trees in northern Italy but I have seen the same method used in Greece. Nets strung beneath the trees followed by severe branch shaking to remove the olives.
Click to expand...

See "Under a Tuscan Sun" with Diane Lane.
 
vyv_cox said:
Do you not use the net method? I came across it in a very entertaining book about a lady who bought a house with olive trees in northern Italy but I have seen the same method used in Greece. Nets strung beneath the trees followed by severe branch shaking to remove the olives.
Click to expand...

sorry I missed this ,
we spread sheets / tarps under 1 tree at a time and use an olive rake and just pull down on the olives which kindly fall onto the sheet ,
these are then sorted so as to remove the majority of small twigs and leaves , then put them into 25 kilo sacks .
When they are all collected , in 3 days this season, my son and girlfriend helped , we take them to the press in another village .
This year was a poor crop year so we only waited 1 hour until the press was free .
it takes about 2 hours to process and after sampling some local raki and dipping the local bakers bread into the oi as it filters into the last vat , we go home and put it into store until last years oil runs out .
we picked 215 kilos of olives and this resulted in about 35 litres of beautiful nectar !
If stored in a dark cool place it will still be good for up to 3 years .
our 35 litres is enough for us and we give some away as presents ,
After having done this for 8 years now it is easy to see why best quality virgin cold pressed olive oil is the price it is .
 
Sybarite said:
See "Under a Tuscan Sun" with Diane Lane.
Click to expand...

Strangely enough, that doesn't seem to be the same tale. The one I recall is about two English sisters who took on a house further north than Tuscany, not too far from San Remo. It's not really about doing the house up, which seems to be the theme of your book/film, but much more about the peasant way of life that still existed there not long ago.

Graffozz' description of his process is very similar to that described in the book, except they netted the whole orchard in one.

Found it:
Annie Hawes, Extra Virgin: Amongst the olive groves of Liguria, Penguin Books, 2001

I LOVED THIS BOOK!! The writer and her sister, young women from England, go to a village near San Remo to work in the 1960s or 70s (not quite sure when) and end up buying a very rustic country house for very little money (a few thousand pounds). This is the story of their time there - spread out over 10-20 years. How they fixed it up, how they lived, their impressions of the people they met and of living there. The writing is beautiful, the story excellent and her insights into Italian habits and lifestyle teach us a lot about Italy. This book was a delight to read. I was sorry when it ended. Read it if you are going to Liguria or even if you are not.

Highly recommended by me, at least.
 
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