The Olive Pickers
What's it all about...?
Olives - (Olea europaea L.) (foto:emmakay)
The Story of the Olive Pickers - how it all began...
Last autumn I was fortunate enough to be invited on a very special journey: I was allowed to accompany our neighbour’s olive crop on its journey from tree to oil.
Let me explain.
Greek olives and olive oil are renowned throughout the world, and the area where we live in northern Greece – as indeed in most of rural Greece - boasts acres upon acres of olive groves which the local olive farmers tend to mainly with an eye to producing Extra Virgin olive oil. It’s interesting to note that in fact a fair amount of the Greek oil finds its way to Italy where it is mixed with local oils and sold as “Italian” Extra Virgin Olive Oil... However, that’s a different story altogether.
It had been my intention initially to write a short account, accompanied by a few pictures that I would take during my day spent with the Roma olive pickers at the olive groves. I had also hoped that I would actually be allowed to visit the processing plant, even though I had not yet expressed that wish at the onset of my “expedition”.
Not in my wildest dreams could I ever have imagined what adventure I would become embroiled in. After the events, it became rapidly clear to me that this was in no way going to be a “quick” story... so much had happened that the developments really deserved a little more love and care in presenting the story as it unfolded. I had taken copious notes and they would serve as the basis of my tale...
And this is how the Olive Pickers’ saga was born.
The story will take you a on a day’s photo shoot along with the people who carry out the physical work of picking the olives – Roma from neighbouring countries, mostly Bulgaria, although there are also a lot of Albanian seasonal workers in the area. We will then move together to the processing plant where the olives are transformed from fruit to bottled oil. I thought that this might just be some dry and boring stuff – how wrong could I be!
To make for easier reading and viewing I had to create several chapters in this story, beginning with “It’s Olive Picking Time”. Because of what happened at the olive groves I then visited the Roma at their temporary “homes”, the story of which is told in “Inside the Roma Camp”. I did indeed receive that invitation to watch olive oil being produced “At the Processing Plant”, and finally had a rather unexpected experience which I recount in “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves”.
I have tried to make my account interesting and have introduced streaming pictures as well as a timeless piece of music in the last chapter, so all that’s left now is to let me invite you to join me here and share with you just a tiny fraction of everyday life in this simple, but beautiful corner of our world.
Come on then, let’s go... what are we waiting for...?!
Let me explain.
Greek olives and olive oil are renowned throughout the world, and the area where we live in northern Greece – as indeed in most of rural Greece - boasts acres upon acres of olive groves which the local olive farmers tend to mainly with an eye to producing Extra Virgin olive oil. It’s interesting to note that in fact a fair amount of the Greek oil finds its way to Italy where it is mixed with local oils and sold as “Italian” Extra Virgin Olive Oil... However, that’s a different story altogether.
It had been my intention initially to write a short account, accompanied by a few pictures that I would take during my day spent with the Roma olive pickers at the olive groves. I had also hoped that I would actually be allowed to visit the processing plant, even though I had not yet expressed that wish at the onset of my “expedition”.
Not in my wildest dreams could I ever have imagined what adventure I would become embroiled in. After the events, it became rapidly clear to me that this was in no way going to be a “quick” story... so much had happened that the developments really deserved a little more love and care in presenting the story as it unfolded. I had taken copious notes and they would serve as the basis of my tale...
And this is how the Olive Pickers’ saga was born.
The story will take you a on a day’s photo shoot along with the people who carry out the physical work of picking the olives – Roma from neighbouring countries, mostly Bulgaria, although there are also a lot of Albanian seasonal workers in the area. We will then move together to the processing plant where the olives are transformed from fruit to bottled oil. I thought that this might just be some dry and boring stuff – how wrong could I be!
To make for easier reading and viewing I had to create several chapters in this story, beginning with “It’s Olive Picking Time”. Because of what happened at the olive groves I then visited the Roma at their temporary “homes”, the story of which is told in “Inside the Roma Camp”. I did indeed receive that invitation to watch olive oil being produced “At the Processing Plant”, and finally had a rather unexpected experience which I recount in “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves”.
I have tried to make my account interesting and have introduced streaming pictures as well as a timeless piece of music in the last chapter, so all that’s left now is to let me invite you to join me here and share with you just a tiny fraction of everyday life in this simple, but beautiful corner of our world.
Come on then, let’s go... what are we waiting for...?!
