Harvesting the Olives

In Italy’s western Umbria, where our oil comes from, the weather begins to cool in late September. Although olives start out green, they all gradually begin to turn light red, then dark wine red, and eventually black (top photo). That change of color, which signals the ripening of the olives, means that the harvest is quickly approaching.

Most harvesting in the area around Città della Pieve continues to be done by hand. The late-winter pruning maintains the trees at a maximum of ten to fifteen feet in height, which makes it possible to harvest the tops from an easily movable ladder. A circular net about thirty to forty feet in diameter is placed around the trunk of the tree, so that it extends a few feet out from the bower (second photo). Small stakes pushed into the ground by hand and placed around the periphery of the net prevent the olives from rolling off as they drop from the tree.

A wooden (usually chestnut) ladder is carefully set into the tree allowing the harvester to pick the upper part of the tree. In a mature tree, the ladder may have to be moved three or four times to reach all the top olives. The olives on the part of the tree that can be reached by hand are picked from the ground.

Some people pick by hand, but for the most part a small rake is used. As the harvester grasps an olive-bearing frond and rakes it down, the olives separate from the branch (along with many small leaves and twigs), and drop down into the net (third photo).