IN STEREO

The main harvest here is olives. As a concept, we consider olive as a perennial tree – it resists occupation with us. It produces oil, produces olives; we even get firewood from it. It resists diseases. Olives need less work than others. Of course, olives first need tilling. It’s a must to prune it. Pruning means that these trees are living like any living being: sun and air and water and work. These are the natures of living beings. So, in order for a tree be good and productive and with good fruit, it has to have air, sun, water… After that, you find that some wild herbs have grown on the trees’ branches. These wild herbs, they take plants’ energy, so you have to uproot them. There is care, too. I mean, it’s like all other beings: there are diseases, even olives have diseases. Fruit ripens at the appropriate time in late October, November. We gather, we pick the fruit.

The correct situation is, as the agricultural proverb says, ‘from trees to stone’. But it’s not humanly possible to send all that you pick each day [to be pressed]. We try to store it so that it doesn’t rot, doesn’t form a thick layer, doesn’t get touched by water. You turn it over every one or two days. It dries out. There is a positive and a negative [side]. Some people say it increases the oil percentage. It’s the same oil. Really, I tested it more than once. Extra virgin. I gather it, and we sell it. We produce a good quantity. This quantity should cover workers’ wages, it will cover tilling, it will cover planting costs. It helps a bit. We may sell a few other things. We may have apricots, almonds, grapes. It’s possible if there were a surplus, you send it to the market. I mean, this lets you feel that the land is from and for you. – Abu Wisam