Curing Olives!

We have an Olive tree in our backyard. About two months ago, it put out beautiful flowers which reminded me of Japanese "sakura" (cherry blossom). Although I thought I knew it was an olive tree, I started to wonder if it might actually be a cherry tree.

I was wrong. In March, I started to notice little olives here and there. In April, I took off for Japan and came back and guess what I found!!! Hundreds of HUGE olives growing all over the tree.

Its branches were drooping with the weight of huge olives. I felt like the tree was begging me for help. So, I did. My hubby and I picked the olives from the tree. I believe we picked more than several hundred for sure. And, we still have more to go.

We found an article on how to cure olives (http://www.wikihow.com/Cure-Olives) and we decided to go with "Water Curing" and "Brine Curing".

It has been 6 days, and I have started to see a reddish color in salt water. We are curing them! - I hope.

On the same day, we also found some more strawberries and oranges. You can tell how big these olives are in comparison to strawberries and oranges.Spring harvest!