Yesterday (23rd October), I visited one of the olive groves and mills where I regularly go with clients. This time, however, I went on my own as I wanted to take some photos and one or two short videos of olives being picked. At the estate they have been picking now for over 2 weeks and will probably have finished by the end of next week. There are quite a lot more olives on the trees this year as last year there were problems with the weather around flowering time which reduced the crop.
In the short video below you can first of all see an olive tree being shaken. This is done with an attachment on the front of a tractor which is clamped to the trunk of the tree and vibrates. This operation usually lasts 20 to 30 seconds. Those olives that do not fall due to the vibrating action are then picked with hand held devices which comb the tree as can be seen in the video.