Clearing my olive groves of the weeds

We have had a lot of rain in Crete this winter, and the vegetation has grown very quickly everywhere, which is fantastic for us farmers, as well as for flower-lovers !

This is giving me a lot of work, preparing my olive groves until the next harvest in the autumn. Thankfully, I have very good agricultural machinery, with a strong tractor and a powerfull rotary slasher, which helps me bring down the weeds and unwanted vegetation much more quickly than it would take me to do it by hand.

The high vegetation must be cut down, for the soil nutriments to be able to concentrate on the trees. The high flowers are beautiful, but they prevent my olive trees from developing properly.

The picture BEFORE: my "Pervoli" olive grove before I started clearing it with my slasher

Once cleared, my olive grove offers more breathing space to my olive trees as well as extra landing space to the birds in the area!

Many seagulls flocked together around my olive grove after I had cleared it. It is not unusual to see them so far from the shore when the weather is unstable (this olive grove is about 5 km away from the closest beach). This could well announce a storm within the next few hours!

The picture AFTER: my "Pervoli" olive grove after I cleared it with my slasher

The heavy waterfalls and storms unfortunately also caused a lot of damage, including a tragic accident in my region, which left us all in mourning.

Rain in the valleys and plains often translated into snow in the mountains this winter.

The Faneromeni dam in my region of Messara has now reached its highest level in eight years. This is a good sign as we are entering the Spring season. Fingers crossed, there should be no shortage of water this year!