Olive Harvest in Provence

Early November in Provence is a highly-anticipated and auspicious time of year...it brings the olive harvest. This is a moment when olives are gathered and brought to the local mill for pressing, but also a period of time when family and friends gather in soft, autumn sunshine and share a day of picking. Inevitably, it is a day filled with stories among the trees and usually a bountiful meal after the hard work.

In our grove of 25 trees, the olives were perfectly ripe this weekend and the day we chose was magical - a breath of pure sunshine. Harvesting can take various forms...but the first step is spreading a specialized net around the base of the tree to catch the fruit as it is picked. Some pickers prefer rakes that comb through the branches and others like to pluck the fruit with their fingers (my preference). At night after the harvest, I always dream of olives in my fingers and the sensation of plucking them from the branch.

The girls did a beautiful job of sorting through the olives; once olives are gathered from the nets on the ground, any leaves or small branches need to be picked out.

Once harvested, the olives are brought to the mill, or moulin, where they are weighed and processed for pressing. The first step is washing the olives, then they are crushed into a paste and slowly cold pressed, extracting each drop of their golden elixir. Some traditional mills still use granite wheels the crush the olives, but more often today there are modern tools. After pressing, the olive oil is left to settle, separating from residual water, before being filtered and bottled.

Yield from olives to their oil varies, but generally 5-7 kilos produce one liter of olive oil. The golden liquid is so tied to this part of the world and this time of year. It is one of the truly emblematic products and experiences of Provence.