The year there were no olives

October 31, 2009
Flower buds on a Barnea (click to enlarge)

Flower buds on a Barnea (click to enlarge)

The other day I took a walk through the olive grove to see how the trees are doing.

It was comforting to see the small, green flower buds of spring. It isn’t always this way.

Sometimes olives groves don’t behave according to plan.

When we bought this place the house had been empty for some time, and the grove hadn’t been pruned or sprayed for pests and disease in years.

So it wasn’t producing very much.

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Preparing for the olive harvest

May 29, 2009

The other afternoon I walked through the grove to look at the olives. I wanted to see how close they are to being ready to harvest.

Distracted by the beauty of sunlight on grass

Distracted by the beauty of sunlight on grass

The late autumn light was sloping through the sky and throwing long shadows across the vibrant green grass. The olive trees were literally soaking up all the sun, leaving patches of darkness in their wakes.

The light was so beautiful that I for a moment I forgot why I was in the grove.

Then I turned back to the trees. I walked down their rows, reached out and touched the branches, looked closely at the olives.

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