Field work

This week has been a relatively calm one. It is very very hot now and every breeze is welcome. Nevertheless, there are many activities here.

This morning at 05:30, a whole bunch of women gathered for the first time in the field behind my house to gather the cucumbers. They finished quite early (at 8) and the harvest was 4 bags, which is quite good for the first day. The cucumbers have to be picked every day. I will try to join them from time to time, but not this morning as I had a lye in after having some visitors from Aleppo city last night.

Aleppines sleep during the day and find it normal to stay until 2 or 3 o’clock at night. They don’t realize that most villagers get up at sunrise. I do too most of the time. The habit here is to take a siesta at noon until 4 or 5 o’clock to overcome the hottest period of the day, but I’m not used to taking a nap during the day. A loooong day…

Other than doing some chores in the house and battling the dust, I’ve been spending my afternoons until sunset amidst the olive trees. They need some maintenance now, like cutting away dead branches, weeding, clearing the rocks. Some have a bug eating its way on the inside of the tree. It is killed by making a small hole in the branch it is eating away, inserting a wire until you here it being caught, taking it out and smashing it against the rocky soil. The olive trees also need extra water now. All this to ensure to keep them happy and healthy.

Olive trees give olives every other year. Some are heavy with olives and others do not have any or very few. They all need to be maintained, though.