There is always something to be done with the olives it seems,  but we are almost caught up and on schedule.  Jon has now finished pruning all the olive trees.  He pruned for olive production this year which means the center was trimmed so the tree opens up like a tulip.  Last year the pruning was to cut off all the branches on the tree trunk that were lower than his hip in order to shape the “bush” into a “tree”.  So this pruning completion is a big deal.

Now we are working on getting the disk plowing done.  This means having the plow push dirt towards the trunk of the tree.  It helps stabilize the roots and keeps the olive tree roots dry. We have had to wait to do this step until we got the area around the tree trunks cleaned. So the guys began with collecting all and any of  the old stakes that had been left in the orchard, which turned out to be more than expected.  Buy, hey, they are all picked up now.

Here is Dario working away.  This blue disk piece was a lot of trouble to find and has been rented from “a friend”.  It has also broken a disk several times and had to be repaired at the cost of the renter.

The plantation is half finished, but the plow is broken again.  So once again we are waiting to finish a chore.

After this is done, then we rent another part that will break up the dirt clods and move them closer to the tree roots.  Thankfully these two items only need to be done once. And then maybe, just maybe, we will be in ‘maintenance mode’ for the olives. Maybe.