Wednesday 2 November 2016

Winter is on its way


Temperatures have dropped to 18oC.  Nights are chilly.

  I need to wear a jacket, zipped up, when I descend the mountain on my quad bike.  

It is time to change to a full face helmet. 

Barefeet get frozen, slippers have been pulled out of the wardrobe.

We are nudging into winter

The first bottle of this year's olive oil harvest.

  2016 was a good year for grapes but not for olives.  My sister-in-law, who had a special tank made in the 80's to hold 2 tonnes of oil, this year only managed a few hundred litres.  Instead of a team of olive  pickers she and my nephew picked all the olives themselves in just 2 weeks.  

Apparently it was a dry summer combined with the fact that olives only produce every second year and this is the 'off' year. In the olden days even 'off' years produced almost a tonne of oil.  Not any more.  Conditions have changed and the  abundant oil production of days gone by is just not happening any more.


The first of three large carpets went down today to cover those icy marble tiled floors. 

11 comments:

  1. I just loved this. It all depends on your frame of reference. You say it is getting chilly and temperatures have gone down to 18 degrees Celsius , and here, it is still so mild and we are all saying how nice it still is, it's gone up to 18 degrees Celsius! _Jenn

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  2. How different our lives are! Warmer or cooler it's a great time of the year

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  4. I wish I had a source of good Olive oil. I buy mine from the supermarket, and although it's OK, it's not the best.

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    1. Yes, fresh oil is just so much better, thick, greener and with a pleasant strong taste

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  5. Wish it was18 degrees in Ireland. I am reading The Olive Harvest by Carol Drinkwater at the moment. She's got an olive farm in Provence. She talks a lot about the olive harvests.

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    1. I have read her book and still have it on my shelf to reread. She's an interesting writer and knows what she's talking about.

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  6. We consume a lot of olive oil. I am lucky my friends family in Italy give me a few cans and I purchase more from them as I really like the taste of theirs. I spread it on bread as I dont eat butter.

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  7. You are lucky to get hold of good oil. I bet the Italians don't put up with anything but the best.

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  8. The weather here is definitely bi polar right now.
    We had a day of beautiful warm weather and the next it's cold and raining.
    It plays havoc with chronic pain. And even the fruit trees don't know what they should do
    Hopefully the olive harvest is better for you next year

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  9. Weve got sunshine back again but chilly in the evening and very damp. I hope the sun comes out for you and stabilises. Pain is not good!

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