Olives

Olive Tree in Flower


I had never seen, or thought about, the flowers of an olive tree until I received this picture from my friend Chantal. She and her aptly named husband, Olivier, planted small olive saplings 20 years ago on land they purchased in Provence.








Olives After Spring Rain
Over the years the trees have been nurtured and have grown to produce an
ever-increasing abundance of olives.









Olives Ripening Through the Summer

Once an olive tree starts to bear fruit, it
doubles in quantity every year. What was once driven to the Co-Operative in bushels in the back of a car is now pressed on site in their own Olive Press.






Almost There
There are oil tastings and competitions, much as there are for wine.











Treasure in the Making

Chantal and Olivier have won many gold medals for the quality of the oil that they lovingly produce.

Olives Ready for Harvest
We have been lucky enough to be able to import our supply of olive oil from them; in stainless steel drums, which we empty into a more manageable sized container, with a spigot, that sits on the kitchen counter and provides the green-gold nectar with which we cook and make our salad dressing every day.
The olive harvest has begun, I'm told, on the gently sloping hillsides, with a distant view of the Mediterranean. Every time I pour some olive oil I think about where it came from.