2017 has started well as I have already run a number of tours. Also, with the bookings that I already have it looks as if it will be a very good year.
One of the tours that I ran a few days ago was my half-day olive oil tour, which happens to be one of the most popular. The mill that I normally visit pick their olives earlier than a lot of other places and have normally finished making their own olive oil before the end of November. They do, however, continue making olive oil for other people throughout the month of December. Well, at the moment they are in the middle of pruning. The is the best time to do this as the trees are in a near dormant state. Olive trees tend to give a large crop one year and a smaller one the next. There is a Spanish word for this, “vecería”. When the crop is large, less new shoots grow due to the number of olives that have been produced. This means there will be less olives the following year as these develop from the new shoots. It is normal to prune more severly after a small crop so that the production the follwing year is not so great. After a large crop the trees are pruned less to lessen the reduction in olives the next year. It is always impotant to prune the trees so that sunlight can reach all the olives as otherwise they will not mature adequately.