We'll be honest. Our weekend was super tiring but so so fulfilling. Olive picking season has begun both in Crete and in North Greece where Maria, my daughter, is located right now. Friends and families gather up to collect the year’s harvest and will all very soon enjoy the freshly squeezed olive juice also very-well-known as Extra Virgin Olive oil.
Ripe olives in Maria's hand.
For Maria, it was during this weekend, that she worked hard with her family to harvest and prune the olive trees in their fertile land. The farm has a breathtaking view of a worldwide famous landmark of Greece, the mountain Olympus, the home of Zeus and the other Greek gods that ancient Greeks believed in.
The serene view of Olympus Mt from the farm.
There is so much produce coming off that wealthy region and there is so much beauty in Pieria lands that one can almost equally short Pieria region & Olympus Mountain along with Crete island as top nature and agriculture destinations in Greece, but hey that’s a subject for a different post.
The olives trees reaching to the sky need serious pruning!
The heavily loaded olive trees bow to the sun and the family enthusiastically gathers the fruit, gently cobbing each branch. The olives fall off easily and are then gathered up in sacks to be transported in the close-by cold-press factory. Maria will bring along a warm loaf of bread, cut chunk sizes by hand for everyone to dip in the fresh olive oil -agourolado in Greek. Spicy, almost bitter, thick and deep green, agourolado is packed with antioxidants and is the most beloved snack for the hard-working family and the rest of the farmers.
Olive picking is a family matter. Sonia, Maria's sister in law picking olives by hand.
As for me back in Crete, I had to fulfill the most important task of the year; to make deals for the Olive oil we will need for our production process in soap making, skin creams and body oils. I packed my bag with fresh & dried fruits to snack later on, and took off with the best buddy in the world- Leo the dog, for a great adventure! We drove between the hills of Platanias region to reach Astrikas village, where our friend and long-time partner Chloe runs her cold-press factory. The olive harvest for her family is ongoing, lasting from October till the beginning of spring in March. My next stop was at the factory in Anoskeli village. There is olive oil, but there is also wine! Enough said.
Astrikas view and Biolea factory.
On my way back, I decided to stop and have a picnic with my boy, to enjoy the last silver and golden hues of Summer. This is when I got an unexpected call from a friend, informing me about one more olive producer, whose product is also certified organic. Cheers to that! We need more farmers choosing organic methods and more people supporting them. I immediately arranged a meeting to see if we could claim some of their harvests!
Driving through the olive farms during olive picking season is the best way to meet the farm owners.
And how lucky we were! This new-to-me farmer proved to be a very communicative and hard-working man, coming from a small family business like ours, who wishes to collaborate with FISIKA and fill our olive oil tanks! More wine, please! I can’t reveal more details yet, but you can guess my relief and happiness. What I can do is show you my hard work’s reward: Imagine me (you can’t see me as I’m standing behind the lens), very happy, very pleased and calm, standing on top of this hill, at Polirinia- a place I stumbled upon on my way back from the farm. The ancient city’s ruins overlook the olive fields and striking blue sea of Kissamos bay.
Olive fields overlooking Kissamos bay, and the port that you can take the boat to Balos lagoon.
This was a good weekend. Look how happy Leo is!
