Harvest

Olive harvest comes each winter here and it means weeks of Bedouin neighbors raking trees for olives, the olives falling onto tarps. We love the way they stop for a picnic tea in the midst of the work.  The burlap sacks of green and black olives are weighed and taken to be made into oil (we buy it in huge canisters and use it for our food and on our skin and occasionally for soap).  Caleb wanted to try helping the harvesters this year so we joined them for a bit, appreciating the chance to learn something new from them.  My neighbor talked me through the process of making my own olives, which I tried in a small batch.  She has a tradition of giving the olives a shallow slice and soaking them for 4 days to remove the bitterness before canning them in saltwater, lemons, and sealing the top of the jar with olive oil.