nov, 11th - pressing the olives....

[the first golden droplets]

day 272:

today was our final day of olive picking. at 4pm we loaded up our hard work and headed to the mill. there are smalls mills throughout Umbria but choosing one is like entering into marriage....once you've made your choice, there's no messing around with other mills.

most of the Umbrian mills now use machinery but extracting the molten gold from these tiny fruit is still a long process....

crates are unloaded onto a huge scale and then emptied into the press......

the olives are then washed and tightly squished and squeezed into a paste.....

snacks are served, wine is poured and conversations are had......

the olive paste is then wrung out like a towel to remove every last drop of water.....

and then finally.......small droplets of oil slowly turn into a trickle and then a stream.....

bread is brought out....freshly pressed oil is tasted.....it tastes of grass and sunshine.....

liquid is carefully measured out and everyone takes their treasure home to be....splashed onto salad leaves, dripped onto pizzas, tossed through pasta, drizzled onto meat and rubbed into dry skin....

until the next time. x

ps. the press is too loud for baby ears so Limi stayed home with her Lola.