First, Prune Your Trees. Even Better? Prune Someone Else's Trees.

We have a date to sign the compromesso!While we waited for this important moment in our lives, we went to Tuscany, for an olive tree pruning course. As you do.It is fair to say that we had been pretty excited about this course, but also, in all honesty, we were very nervous too. We are very aware that in buying The Olive Hill, we are partaking of a midlife crisis of bonkers proportions, but mostly, we pretend that we are doing something perfectly well thought out, sensible and considered. Of course, the sensible, grown up bits, such as Business Plans and Marketing Strategies will be formalised one day, but for now, I have to admit that they are mostly scribbled on till receipts and scraps of paper. So, amongst the many "what ifs", sitting pretty high on the list has been "what if we can't work out how to prune our trees".Thankfully, I can report that we needn't have worried. A morning in the classroom gave us all the information we needed, and we were good to go.After a looooong morning in the freezing classroom, and following an enormous, and slightly boozy lunch, Edo, our dottore di pottatura (yes, in Italy, one can become a doctor of pruning), was ready to let Scott loose with a rather large motosega (chain saw). Ever the expert, Edo wore suitable protection, which included a hard hat, but Scott, being an aviator, made do with sunglasses.We worked really hard all day, and now know all the important stuff, like the difference between succhione and ovoli. We can spot an inesto, and know that for the best quality oil, we should harvest with an agevolatore. So who needs a business plan? We will be far too busy worrying about what to do with the rami (branches) from our 400 trees, given that this is the clippings from a mere two trees:Cue more sleepless nights.