Today, I was on top of the world, or so it felt. I had another day of olive picking, but this time up higher in the mountains, with the most amazing views. This was my first time, on this piece of land, as some friends of mine, have just recently bought it.
I got picked up from the local petrol station at 8:30. Then we made our climb up the mountain, we'll the car did. It felt really good to being going up, where the air is fresher and there is an overall sense of more space. Rising up, always feels good. Like you are literally leaving a lot of baggage behind, you just feel lighter, well I did.
We started picking just before 9 and it was still quite chilly, especially as we were higher up. But it felt good, to be up the mountain starting my day. I was working with 4 other people and one of them brought a speaker so we could listen to some tunes.
The land is sloped, so it was interesting trying to harvest to olives, whilst also trying to not slip down the olive netting. If you have harvested olives, you will know how slippy they are. Still I managed to only slip once. The trees were not too big, which makes for an easier harvest and I also had to climb a few, which is always fun.
I didn't take any photos of the harvest, instead I wanted to share the amazing view. If you look at the photo above and the one below, you can just make out the sea, in the middle right hand side. I joked that they should build a zip line down to the it. But jokes aside, how nice to be so high with mountains all around and see the sea in the distance.
I was told, that on a clear day you can see Africa, as Morocco is not so far away. But it was quite hazy today, as well as some spraying. When we took a break, I ventured down to some big boulders where I could just sit under the midday sun and enjoy my surroundings.
We harvested a few trees that were just on the edge of the terrace, so we improvised by making a hammock below to catch them. Ad the land is sloped, just laying a net, would result in any of them rolling off. We really had to watch our step when we harvested those trees.
If you zoom in on this photo above, you can see some of those trees on the right hand side. It was a bit risky, but it feels good to do things like that. It also felt really good to be working together with others, there was a real community spirit, as we worked side by side. We also had to carry the sacks of olives up to the house, where it can be stored until tomorrow. The pathway was quite steep in places, I really felt like I was pushing my body carrying them up there but again, it's good to push ourselves. To explore our body's limit.
All in all, it was a great day harvesting with some great people. There are still loads of trees to be harvested, they are just not ready yet. I reckon they will be in a couple of weeks and then I'll get to be on top of the world again.
All photos were taken by me, on my Samsung Galaxy phone.
