olive reality

A local building contractor is Gabriel who also works as an olive farmer and a corredor. A corredor is traditionally a rural agent who would source items, act as selling agent for produce and in recent times, act as an estate agent. Some months ago, Gabriel asked us if we wanted to sell the land surrounding the farmhouse and after a few seconds to digest what he had asked, we said yes.

I got a copy of our deed's land plan and drew the area which we wanted to retain and Gabriel took it away to work his connections. Recently, he turned up again and told us that he had someone interested in buying the land but that the land would need clearing of weeds, the trees fertilised, pruned and sprayed. He and his friend would carry out this work in exchange for this year’s olive crop and as a sweetener he said that he would give us a few litres of olive oil in return.

Now all of this seemed very good; we would get the land cleared, the trees revived, a few litres of oil and the eternal appreciation of our neighbours who probably cry into their morning coffees that we do nothing with our “valuable” trees. Eventually we may get an offer from a rich olive farmer to buy the land which we no longer want.

This all fits perfectly into “the plan” as although we originally bought the land to ensure that nobody could build a house, barn or workshop near us, the planning laws have now changed to reduce this likelihood and in any event, we are able to sell just the land that is out of our sight, retaining our privacy and solitude. It will coincidentally add to the value of our house as most potential house buyers these days don’t want too much land but “just enough”.

Lastly, it would remove the guilt at the back of my mind that I really ought to be a proper olive farmer and do all of the work myself. However, I think that 30,000 square metres of olive grove situated on the side of a mountain might just be enough to see me off…..

One February afternoon, Gabriel turned up with a team of helpers who went from tree to tree, stripping them of their olives and filling a trailer. After several hours work, they left with long faces and never did come back for the rest of the olives or to prune the trees.

We imagine that he thought that the value of the olives would pay for his time in rejuvenating the trees and land but the yield was just not worth it. He has been back several times with potential buyers but no one has yet made an offer.

We are not holding our breath....