Deborah and I have just completed the 2011 olive harvest, with the help of Anna Gregor who came all the way from Edinburgh, and head gardener Roberto Ballini. 2011 has been an exceptionally hot and dry year, and most people have made less than half the amount of oil they made in 2010; we made about two-thirds of last year's quantity ( 200 litres instead of 300), so we are pretty pleased. We used a mechanical shaker for the first time, and it made a huge difference to how fast we could work - we did the whole job in 4 days, collecting 1158 Kg of olives in 56 crates, which our friendly builder Marcello delivered to the Frantoio ( olive press) for us. Four hours later we had our oil, and the good news is that the quality is exceptional - it tastes just wonderful !
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