Olives olives everywhere!

The weekend of november 22nd was all about the olive. Axel's mom, Catherine, decided when she started cultivating her property in Sanary, that she would only have olive trees. What this means for her, and this year, for us, is that mid-November every year, the olives must be harvested. Catherine has been doing this for several years now and has made the best olive oil I've ever had. It really tastes like nothing you've ever tried. And last year and this year, she has used the old method of extraction which, instead of 20 minutes in an industrial press, takes 6 weeks using big stones, their weight, and time.

So this year, Axel and I, along with our friends Katelyn, Megan and Niki, headed down to Sanary on the overnight cattle car and became the migrants that work for a bed and food. (photos of this section by Katelyn)




We arrived at 7 am and after breakfast and a little tour, we were put to work.

These pictures are by Megan...olives that Catherine picked before we arrived.





And then...we picked. We had these baskets you wear around your waist for easier, more efficient, and just old fashionable picking. Most pictures by Niki. Please ignore the "Rani Cruz" label on me. (I did a screen shot of all of the pictures off of Facebook....actually, the rest of the blog are mostly a mix of all of our pictures! Sorry, lost track.)













So what I didn't tell you yet is that it was the coldest day I've ever experienced in Sanary. Plus there were 95 km/hr winds in the area which meant REALLY cold. Hence, the arctic look was mode of choice. And apparently, early eighties garb is warmer than modern day clothing.







So day 1 was just cold. But easy for olive picking as we focused on Catherine's trees. She prunes them in a way that allows us to just handpick the trees. The middle is open so that you can go into the tree. And the branches are low. Catherine was smart to make us think that was all there was to it.













Then day 2. The finger machine. This thing was incredible. It basically goes through the branches and with its fingerlike whirring bits, would vibrate the olives out of the tree. It wouldn't pull off any leaves or branches. Amazing. The trick was to make sure you had nets that caught everything that fell out. And yes, it ran off a car battery. This was necessary as the rest of the trees were not so easy. They are all older trees so taller. And not pruned like Catherine's are. So branches aren't so organized. Thus, the finger machine was a necessary tool.















Then we learned how to supervise...





Katelyn always managed to find a sunray to be in that day. She was a trooper as she came to Sanary after being sick for two days. Unfortunately we lost our Hawaiian to the cold. Megan found her sunray and her rubik's cube in the house on Day 2. Niki, however, was probably the most enthusiastic of us all. Is it her ever-positive attitude or is it because she is from Ontario and is used to this temperature?! Her enthusiasm was catchy though so thank goodness she didn't think it was THAT cold.






It was not all work though. We did make it around Sanary and le Castellet. Megan got a thimble (apparently she collects them. And she thinks this is a normal thing to do).










We also went to visit the neighbours who have been family friends since Axel could remember. They are famous in the area for their nativity scenes (or creche). The local schools go on a field trip to see their creche! The first time I saw one of theirs was in 1997. This year it took 11 days to make. Nothing on it is made with anything that isn't from the land. Even the buildings are made by them. I have a video at the end of this...excuse the non-pro videography...but I was cold and excited.

Creches are truly a provencal tradition in my eyes. Nothing beats their figurines (santons). When my cousin Cheryl and I went to Reims we saw a stand of santons from provence and everyone was flocked to it. What is really cool about the santons is that every single santon is tradition...they all have a purpose. And very traditional creches have the santons always facing the baby jesus. This and other traditions in this country only make me love it here more.









The girls left Sunday night on the night train. Because of a threat of a spontaneous strike, Axel and I drove them to the Marseille station instead of bandol. But there was a train and they did make it back. Strikes are a normal part of life. But unlike the strikes in Canada, most of these strikes only last a day or two and move on.

The next day Axel, Catherine and I bulldozed through the day with the rest of the properties. Catherine's trees were all done but there were all of Axel's uncles and aunt's properties left. They don't have as many trees but the ones they do have are old big trees, so we tried our luck with them. Unfortunately, Laurent's trees still needed another week of ripening. And Marianne's trees were not are fruitful. Then, we went to Eric's yard. The last tree we did together reaped about 3 crates!



Ax left that night and I stayed until Tuesday at 11h30. So from 9-10h30 am, Catherine and I did the mega tree on Eric's property. When we did it we realized it was one of the original trees on the property. There were still markings of the big fire. We got about 3 crates from that tree too. So 4 days, 3 nights and 200 kgs of olives later, I zipped back to Strasbourg on the day train.





We're looking for recruits for next year!!!