There is something almost metaphysical about the first walk at the olive grove, after the harvest. And the fact that this year happened just after the winter solstice and on the verge of the new year, definitely added to its semantic. This is actually the first day of the big circle that will lead to the next year's harvest.
After the overdrive of the last weeks everything seems to be settling down. Olives harvest, among a lot of wonderful things, it is also a harsh procedure, almost brutal, both for the flora as well as for the people. The shape of the trees has changed after the removal of tons of olives from their branches and they look kind of pale and battered. The harvesting sticks have done their job to throw the olives on the nets but on the way they were inevitably abusive on the olive trees.
The healing period is now starting and after the pruning that will shortly follow, they will have ten months to grow new stems and become bushy and fruitful again, before we start all over!
The plant life on the ground was also mistreated. We have walked mile after mile on the olive grove, in every possible direction, over and over again, stepping on the tender plants that form the wonderful green carpet of our fields. Now they are gradually rising again, reclaiming their right to life!
It is on those small plants that I have chosen to focus on, instead of the olive trees that I have shown to you so many times that you'll probably get sick of them :)
Anyway olive trees without olives is not much of a subject, although you can never harvest all of them. No matter how hard you try when you go back and check again you'll find for sure a few fruits that are still on the tree!
After wandering around in the silence for a while, I could almost feel the power of nature doing its magic into healing the damage that we left behind after the harvest. And the beautiful flowers that are popping all over the place, really cheered me up!
I hope you enjoyed yourself all the pictures I took and since it is the first day of the year, I should probably give you my wishes too, so here is it :)
Happy New Month,
Happy New Week,
Happy New Now!
Thank you for reading and if you want to know more about me you can check out my introduction post.
Commenting, upvoting and rebloging are highly appreciated!
You have soursobs (oxalis pes-caprae) there too! We get sooo many every winter here in South Australia. I guess they just love those hot, dry climates for their hibernation phase.
I like the little purple ones, do you know what they are called?
Glad it's not just me who misses some olive every time. 😁
Unfortunately yes :) They came around 200 years ago from South Africa and they are not going to leave ever again. They are thriving now to all the Mediterranean countries out-placing a lot of the indigenous flora.
The purple ones are winter anemones. They grow on their own, all over the place around here!
And yes, we ALL miss a few olives at every tree :)
I'm not sure when they were brought to Australia, but I'm sure it's another import regret they have. They are pretty, though.
I can't argue that :)
Awesome photography! I am really amazed at your work! What gear do you use or what did you use in this shoot? Oh my the detail is just “delicious”!
Anyways, it is amazing how nature repairs herself. I am amazed at how humans see certain plants, such as dandelions and thistles as weeds and pull them from the earth in search of the perfect garden. Yet, if we just leave these plants alone, they fertilise and heal the soil. Thank you so much for sharing these awesome photos! Have a stunning new year.
Thank you very much for your comment, I couldn't agree more!
As for the equipment I use a canon EOS 6D with a lot of lenses but those photos were taken with my second camera, a canon EOS 850D with an EF-S 18-135 lens. I bought it as a light alternative to my ludicrously heavy camera bag, for hiking and vacations, but it turned out to be a pretty solid choice. Of course I can see the difference on a big, high definition monitor but I am very happy with its performance. And as I don't get any younger, light is awesome :)
Exactly. Lighter is better! That is awesome. I am not familiar with Canon gear, I have been using Nikon for 15 years now. But my Nikon D300 is on its last legs and replacing that camera with something similar will set me back a great deal because I also need to replace my laptop.
Is any of your gear mirrorless? Or do you have experience with it?
I changed almost all my equipment 3 years ago. It was then that I considered switching to mirrorless but at the end I accepted the fact that I am an old-fashioned guy and I'll stick to the dslr :)
Maybe I'll reconsider that decision in a decade or so!
Same here. It feels "wrong" to jump onto the mirrorless bandwagon. All my gear is dslr, and I have some really old Nikkor lenses that shoot incredibly. I cannot get it over my heart to switch. But my camera is nearing 150 000 shutter count, so I can feel it being on its last limb!
I can’t get over you have so many flowers on January 1! The last 2 days here have felt like early spring, extremely unusual for my area of New England! It’s to continue like that until Thursday so very strange.
Haha yes, we do have flowers during winter and especially this year, December has been unusually warm. I guess the cold will eventually come at some point!
Happy now to you too! What beautiful pictures and I loved hearing about the healing that is going to take place. We all go through hard things and need to see the beauty in the hard and the healing. Thank you.
Thank you very much Sara, I hope you'll have an amazing year!
Thank you very much @qurator and @ackhoo for your support!
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Thanks a lot!
Looks like spring over there.
And it feels like spring too!
Still waiting for the winter to come :)
And such is the cycle of nature! I'll admit, I do enjoy using olive oil (it's a staple of mine), but snacking directly on olives is something I've never been terribly fond of. I remember the first time I mistook an olive for a grape. That was... definitely not a grape.
But I certainly do like your pictures! 😀
Haha yes, olives are definitely not grapes :)
Thanks a lot!
These pictures had a great impact on my soul. Especially with your beautiful description. great light Excellent coloring. Excellent cropping and...
Thank you @azamsohrabi :)
Happy New Year, @fotostef and @traisto! I understand that your hardest work is behind you and now you have the time and pleasure of looking at the "wonders in the grass". Anemones!
Wishing you a much better year and good health! I am so glad to know you, thank you for letting this happen!
Thank you very much @bluemoon :)
You have the best wishes for the new year from both of us! We are very glad to know you too and if we ever do the Balkan road trip that we are planning for years, you are are on the top of the list of people that we have to meet :)
Thank you very much, @fotostef! I don't even know how to respond to that, it's so beautifully said and a joy for me. I hope you find the best time for this journey.
There are very beautiful flowers in your garden. 👏
I am glad you like them!