Harvesting

Harvesting takes place in the winter in June/July.

Firstly, the green Manzanilla and Verdale olives are picked by hand. These are then cured, which takes a few weeks, to remove the bitterness, and are used as green table olives. The hand-picking means there is less chance of bruising.

Secondly, the harvesting crew begin. The crew consists of two people using the harvesting rakes and two people moving the nets. There are eight nets that are used. They are placed so that four are on one side of a row of olive trees and four on the other, and are overlapped between each tree so that all the olives are caught. The harvesting rakes are attached to a compressor and the rakes vibrate. They are then raked through the tree to dislodge the olives. Once a net has been ‘worked’, the olives are placed in a ventilated crate of no more than 20kg each to prevent bruising, and the net is moved on up the row of trees.

There are approximately 3000 trees in the grove, and the crew work for about 8 hours a day for up to 4 weeks. Harvesting does not take place in wet weather, as the olives will swell with water, and the oil yield will not be successful.

Olives can withstand some degree of frosting, but if continual severe frosting occurs, the crop can be ruined.

The third and final stage of harvesting occurs when the remaining olives (mainly the manzanilla and verdale varieties) are black. Again harvesting of these is by hand, and they are used as black table olives.