Megali Mandinia olive grove 1

March: our olive trees await their spring pruning while wild red anemones, camomile and a burst of more subtle wildflowers enjoy the spring sunshine.

Olive branches

Olives ready for picking.

Selecting a branch

To cut the olive-laden branches you have to get up into the tree armed with a sharp saw then find those with the most fruit, not always an easy task if the trees are quite bushy due to gentle pruning.

Harvesting olives

Olives are harvested from December-January in the outer Mani.  In time honoured tradition we spread mats under the trees, cut off branches bearing olives then the comb off the fruit using a small plastic rake.

Combing the olives

To hand pick olives you use a small plastic rake to comb the olives off the branches.

Neighbours who have many trees use petrol driven, hand-held machines to speed up picking.  Operated from the ground, these have soft, flexible, vibrating rods on the end of a long pole that shake and knock the olives off branches. 

Olive picking

Combing olives off the cut branches can be tiring if you stand up all day, sitting is a much better if less traditional option.

Gathering up the olives.jpg

After the olives are combed off the branches, we pick out unwanted twigs and leaves then gather them up into sacks ready to go to the press.

Ripe olives

Ripe olives are different colours - just like ripe apples vary in colour on a tree.  These Koroneiki olives produce our Kalamata DOP extra virgin oil.

At the press

Once picked and bagged, we take our olives are to the Avia press in neighbouring Mikri Mandinia.  Growers paint their reference numbers on sacks to identify their olives.

At the press

It's a serious business - for many people in the area olive farming is a major part of their income, so this farmer is carefully checking the paperwork detailing the amount of olives he's taken to the press.

Olive press pallets

Sacks of olives are manhandled off vehicles that bring them to the press then stacked on these heavy iron pallets awaiting pressing.

Old millstones

Old millstones at the Avia press.

December olive tree

Harvested and pruned this local tree is still a majestic sight.

Olive groves Sotirianika

January - olive groves south of Sotirianika in the foothills of the Taygetus range.

Harvested tree

January - this tree near Sotirianika has been picked and pruned.

Megali Mandinia olive groves

March - a view to the south taken above the village.

Summer olive press - Sotirianika

Olive presses are cleaned and closed up for the summer.  This press in nearby Sotirianika gives little hint that it's the focal point of the village at harvest time -  pick-up trucks lurch in to be unloaded, weighty sacks fill the yard and local farmers cluster to catch up on the news. 

Olive press - Kalamata old town

This old olive press nestles under the castle in the old town of Kalamata.  It looks disused but the unmistakeable fresh, green aromas of olive pressing waft down the alleyways during harvest time.

October olive tree

October - this olive tree has withstood the summer drought and is laden with fruit.