Olive Harvest

The past few weeks has been olive harvesting time.

Some folk may take their harvest to a local village where the olives will be pressed en masse. Or if you have enough to do a single press that is another option if for example yours are organic and do not get mixed with the communal lot that may not be organic. An olive mill is called a Lagar de Azeite.

For those olives pressed communally the harvest you take in is weighed beforehand and then you get a proportion of the olive oil that is produced. Apparently the mills only open for a limited amount of time each year so it's quite important to get in early.

The Expats Portugal forum has more information.

Pruning also takes place at this time of year. Pruning olive trees is something of an acquired skill apparently.