Happy new month!

Crete is famous as a major tourist destination and as a top quality olive oil producer. I have shown in my blog many of it's unique beauties as an amazing place to spend your vacations (and your life, as a matter of fact) but now the olive's harvesting season has began and November's #happynewmonth post is dedicated to this small but miraculous fruit!

My family had olive groves for ever but I was raised in the city so I didn't had the chance to follow the whole annual circle of this amazing tree that has been identified with my birth land. But the past six years that I have moved on the island and cultivate on my own, I have become very fond of olive trees.

When I was searching for information about the Moringa tree, I read that it is known as the “Never Die” tree. The same can apply for the olives as they are practically immortal. There are trees on Crete that are estimated to be up to 5.000 years old!

And I shouldn't start writing about the nutritional value of the olive oil, that's a subject for a whole book! What I can say is that it has repeatedly save our people from starvation during our long and turbulent history and has become an inextricable ingredient of the Cretan (and Greek) cuisine that we tend to use in abundance!

But beyond and above it's endurance and usefulness I have appreciated olives for it's beauty, both as a tree and as a fruit. And that's what I am trying to impart to you with those pictures, my relish and appreciation to this nature's gift.
I really hope I did it!

And a bonus shot of my pest control supervisor :)