Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Olive picking time

Hello again

October 26 and the trees here in the valley are just so overloaded with olives and the branches are hanging down to the ground, groaning with their bounty. Tomorrow we are due for heavy rain, which is just what the olives want, so that they can fatten up a bit before being picked.

This year should be a bumper crop, which is just as well as the market price for olive oil is way down - the farmers get about Euros 1.50 ( about 2$) per litre for cooperatively farmed non denominational oil - ie not from a specific area. Think of the mark up when you buy your next bottle - somebody's coining it!

Be that as it may - it's still so good for you, and remember to use light olive oil for cooking at high temperatures.


So, bring on the rain and let's start picking!

Love to you all

Lari and Mike

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Ambrosio's Abundance

Ambrosio is the son of Dona Antolina, the previous owner of the farmhouse we bought some 2 years ago. He picks the olives and almonds off the land at harvest time, and last year gave us 3 huge 5 litre bottles of olive oil, which must be more than the amount of the whole crop - we have about 30 olive trees. We said that was far too much but he insisted, and he also cleared all our land of giant weeds which had overtaken the land in the spring. So by way of thanking him Lari bought some small gifts from Canada for his wife, his mother, and his 11 year old daughter, and gave them to his wife last weekend.

Today he arrives with this enormous amount of vegetables, fresh from his garden - kilos of fresh sweet tomatoes, purple aubergines, 3 melons, and just loads of shiny red and green peppers all brimming with health and vitality.
So now we have to come up with a way of thanking him for this - and so it goes on.
There is a financial crisis here, just as everywhere else, and just like everywhere else there is a shortage of money, but you would never know it here for the generosity of the spirit that seems to be everywhere.
Muchas gracias Ambrosio!

Ambrosio's abundance