Gathering our olive crop.

This week we have been picking and harvesting our olive crop and it’s here in Italy each year that I realise our marriage is like our olive crop. Each October we make the journey with family and friends to the home of my mother-in-law. It is our annual pilgrimage where we return to our little sun-soaked olive fields to gather the crop, lovingly handpicked from each tree. The olives are picked, collected and taken to the local press to be turned into a peppery, verdant oil, which will be used throughout the year back in London.

Crop size.

This year we have had a bumper crop, and the word of the week has been ‘abundance’. Nearly every tree has been groaning with healthy, oval shaped, pest free olives. There’s been plenty to smile about. Our trip to the local frantoio was filled with joy as we watched our olives being turned into oil.

Last year was dismal as the crop was down by 70% and we weren’t even going to bother picking the olives from the trees. Back in London, throughout the months, we eked out every last drop, rationing this precious liquid. We had nothing to share with our friends back home. We gave out no gifts.

It’s a mixture of luck and maintenance.

Our family aren’t farmers, and the olive trees are there only to bring us joy. Each year we are reminded that growing crops is down to some knowledge and lots of luck. Nature can’t be mastered and commanded. For the crop to thrive it needs a certain amount of sun, rain, temperature, lack of storms etc, all at the correct time.

We don’t use any chemicals therefore we rely on the quality of the soil, and the absence and presence of certain wildlife and insects etc. We only have two fields, and the old field is now less fertile. It’s soil needs help and assistance from a man with far more knowledge than us and luckily, he is happy to help us with our project. Our ‘young’ field has trees that are around fifteen years old. Their branches are pruned, and the soil is fertile. Everything was just right for this field this year and it gave us the bulk of our crop.

My marriage is like our olive crop.

My wedding anniversary happens to coincide with our annual trip and the hours spent picking affords me the opportunity to apply a quick MOT to my marriage. After twenty-three years this marriage has had both years of abundance and years far less fertile. I have let outside influence affect my love and commitment. I have experienced blight and disappointment as well as joy.

This annual MOT is a necessity to catch any problems before they become major issues. In a marriage you are both part of a couple as well as being an individual. I can’t speak for my husband but here in nature I experience and express my feelings deeply. I tend to be internally dramatic. Each year (to date) I decide to recommit for another year, and I hope he does too. Marriages can brake beyond repair, and I don’t take what we have for granted.

Next week we will leave Tuscany and most likely won’t return until the spring. We hope nature will be kind whilst we are away.