Swathe

When we first moved here the plot of land we had bought had not been 'cleaned' for about three years so it was overgrown with briars up to our waists. We set about cleaning it with a strimmer (brush-cutter) and a rake. It took about a month.

Our first olive harvest was a bumper year and we got 99kg of oil. Of course we had no experience and just assumed that this was normal, so we were generous with it. Since then olive harvests have dwindled and our most recent one, a couple of years ago, yielded only 13kg oil.

People who care for their land properly clean it twice a year, once in May or June when the Spring growth has ceased and once in October or November prior to the olive harvest, even though the olive harvest is only every second year. People who don't care for their land properly clean it only prior to a harvest. The owners of the land adjacent to ours haven't bothered with a harvest since the bumper crop ten years ago and the result is that their land is now choked with briars that are coming over and through the boundary fence and up into their trees. We have tried to keep them back by cutting them from our side of the fence but it's a constant struggle, so now I'm taking drastic action and cutting a swathe along their side of the fence. I am armed only with gloves, secateurs and a rake and am covered with cuts and scratches but it's very satisfying. I'm hoping to complete it next week weather permitting.