eviealex

Anyone out there know anything about farming Olives? .... info required please

fionamw

Farming, pruning, picking, selling, preserving or eating?

Mitzyboy

Use search, there was a big thread on it here

Thanks for reminding me, I must go down the hill to my trees and pick em!

Hondon Voyager

Is it not a bit early yet ??

Mitzyboy

I dunno I was going to ask the neighbours, they seem to know about these things

eviealex

farming, pruning and selling. I don't mind hard work but can we earn anything from them? There will be a bit of a difference from 12 acres to 35 tho lol. It will mean if we can then we will have something to top our income up. I can't imagine it will be a lot as there are olive farms every where out there.

jojojojojojojojojojojojo

They're all doing their picking around here at the moment!??? There are people in all the olive orchards around us at the mo!

Jo xxx

Hondon Voyager

Just going by the book ,I think they say November to January ,I usually do mine around xmas -new year (covenience might I add) but they certainly are nowhere near ready as yet .

jojojojojojojojojojojojo

Maybe its early this year, but there are several orchards around me and there are people in them with baskets and things picking them as I write, in fact my dogs are going crazy cos they're in the field next to my house!! I guess different areas, climates, sunshine, ammount of rain...affects it! Heck, it is nearly november anyway!! LOL

Jo xx

fionamw

Well put it this way: Heard a second hand story of a couple near here with many 10s of thousands of square metres, and a lot of trees, who after paying hired help to pick for them (no suggestion of rip-off, just the numbers warranted assistance) they made a profit of 300€. I wouldn't think it sounds worth it. Do it, as we do, for the fresh air, the knowledge you're working your trees - but don't do it for an income. There are other tales of govnt subsidies/grants for planting olive trees - that may be a different matter!

eviealex

From what we've read so far I didn't think it would be an earner but doesn't hurt to ask. Love the idea of it all tho and will make a difference in looking at how big a plot we should look at, something along the lines of house with 12 acres which is more managable than 35 ooops.... could be out there a long time. I had read harvesting starts about now but quite rightly depends on where you are and how quickly they ripen for picking. It would be nice to get in contact with someone around the Flix area to chat to.

Hondon Voyager

From what I know ,I dont think you are far wrong ,we only have a few yielding at the moment but we just take the oil and give it to friends etc ,have sold some back to the co-op but it was a pittance, wouldn't want to be depending on an income from it ,maybe it would be possible to find a buyer for it but could be hard work .I know its bloody expensive to buy here in UK .

eviealex

Hmm, makes you wonder where the prices come from! They charge a fortune for it in the UK. Would be nice to make our own oil but I still need to find a job out there or a way of earning an income, we can't rely on my partner being able to earn immediately which I think would be a disaster to even contemplate it, there is a need to be realistic. We plan on having money to sustain us for a couple of years but will need an income after that ( unless we win on the lottery...lol

Casa Santo Estevo

But that is just the market place working. Here we have terraces full of vines. However the amount the landowner gets for his grapes and the amount you can purchase a bottle in a shop is vast, even with Spanish shop prices.
At the momnet we are harvesting chestnuts and I know we are getting far less then any one here in Spain will pay in the shops.
Maybe do a web search for information about olive farming there is a lot of information from all over the world on this subject.

eviealex

We keep searching and it throws up different things, using yahoo but think google is far better. It's nice to get different peoples opinions on things as well, sometimes it throws up something you may not have even thought about and it's nice to chat to new people and people that are already living out there. Chestnuts, hmm love them roasted... I love this time of year there's so much going on.