Olive Harvest Season in Palestine
It's olive harvest season in Palestine. So far, I have been invited to participate in three different harvests. One with the rest of my YAGM cohort on land owned by my host family, one with students from several schools in the Bethlehem area as a part of my volunteer work with the Environmental Education Center, and one with some friends I have made since moving here. It has been a unique and joyous experience. In Palestine, olive harvesting is all done by hand. Tarps are laid around the base of the tree to collect olives as they drop to the ground. Those who are harvesting will stand on the ground and pick olives from the lower branches, climb ladders to pick from the high outer branches, or climb the tree itself to pick from the inner boughs. Others will sit on the tarps and collect the olives in buckets as they fall, separating out leaves and twigs as they go. My favorite thing to do is climb up the tree to reach the inner branches; it is a fun challenge to see how far I can sa