Olive Picking Do's and Don'ts

As a complete novice to olives before this trip, I have a newfound appreciation for all things olive related. The olive trees were much prettier than anticipated with olives coming in all different shapes and shades from light green to purple to black.

Olive picking was a fairly straightforward task, but there were a few simple rules:
Do not stomp on the olives.
Do not eat the olives straight from the tree.
Do set up a dam when the olives are rolling downhill.
Do not get in the path of the wild boar hunters.
And remember every olive counts.

We smuggled back 5 liters of the precious stock and have been reliving our glory days in Italy as we munch on toasted baguettes with pecorino and parmesan cheese.