Black Nets - For Olives

The first part of the "Greek Life" guide focuses on Olives - which can hardly be missed as there are an estimated 3 million trees on Corfu!

I went out for the day with Olga. She has about two hundred trees around and above Agni Bay.

Do not forget, olives are backbreaking work, so when collecting them you will need one of these:

Olives flower during May. If you suffer from 'hay fever' then you may need to avoid the first couple of weeks of May - or find accommodation that is close to the sea.

During the summer months, the olives slowly fatten. The olives start green and depending on the variety, (there are more than 300 hundred types), they will turn purple, then black. (And you thought that green olives were just unripe black ones!) Corfu mostly has the small black variety.

During October and November the olive nets are prepared. Olive groves only give fruit every two years. Now this may come as a suprise to you and it is certainly a little problematic. Nets from groves not giving fruit need to be moved to those that are - not an easy task.

Before setting the nets under the trees, the ground needs to be cleared of 'undergrowth'. With Corfu's warm climate weeds and brambles thrive making the task of clearing difficult - often a petrol 'strimmer' is employed rather than Olga's hand scythe.

The nets are 'laid' under the trees. Each net is about 10m by 30m, making them awkward to position under the trees. They are 'sewn' together with nails or large plastic pins. Usually the whole grove is covered with nets.

Now, to a controversial point: Olive spraying which is needed to control the breeding of the olive fly which lays its eggs in the developing olive. The resulting grub eats the olive while growing and destroys the fruit. Infestation of greater than 1% of olives in a grove render them unusable for table olives and if greater than 10% unusable for oil. During previous harvests, the olives were sprayed from the air with Lebaycid. This chemical is not as bad as it sounds - not that I agree with it though - and it is currently used throughout America to control mosquitoes. Since 2001 the EU banned aerial spraying, resulting in a disastrous olive harvest the following year. I am worried that unless a solution is found, many locals will stop cultivating the olives or worse will sell the land for development. Incidentally, the USDA is currently funding a search in Africa for finding parasites to kill the fly.

Back to the olives! During December till April, the olives slowly ripen and then drop. Every ten days or so during this period, a visit to each grove is needed to collect the fallen olives. If they are left any longer, they start to shrivel and their oil becomes useless.

The olives are collected using a short stick with a nail in the end. Starting from the top of the grove, the stick is pressed into the net, turned 90 degrees and then lifted. This action of raising the net makes the olives run downwards. Once the olives start rolling, coupled with a swift wrist action, the olives can be gathered into small piles. The whole grove needs to be worked in this fashion.

Each pile of olives has to be sifted of leaves and twigs. Then using a traditional "couva" they are scooped up and put in to sacks.

Back to where the donkey is needed! The sacks need to be carried back to the road. Usually this is quite some distance.

The collected olives are either 'pressed' for their oil or preserved in brine for eating. Only the very best will be preserved though.

Most get sent to the press.

There is nothing finer than eating fresh bread and olive oil that you have just had pressed!

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