Ok... so Drumgor was my third farm. A gorgeous olive grove in Kaitaia, the far northland. My host was a couple from Zimbabwe. Jen grew up in Zimbabwe and Murray grew up in Kenya, South Africa, and eventually moved to Zimbabwe. I lived in a bunkhouse and pulled grass from under the olive trees every day and spend lunch and dinner with Jen and Murray with some of the richest conversation I've experienced. I learned what it was like to be a policeman in the bush in Zimbabwe with rebels and snakes, what it was like to be white in South Africa during apartheid, how to make olive oil, the problems with foreign aid and how to help Africans as a westerner, stories and myths about Egypt, how to make banana ice cream, living in Nepal and hiking Everest. After every conversation I'd leave with more questions and I wish I could have stayed longer but I am thankful for the time I was there. I have also added some sweet African music to my collection. Murray told me about a concert they went to in Cape Town in 1985 where Johnny Clegg (a white man) and a Zulu man played music, sang and danced on the same stage with an audience of every color. I got the chills thinking about it, since it was still in the middle of apartheid. I had just finished reading Nelson Mandela's autobiography so it affected me greatly.
Jessie, I also found about the olive-pressing business just for you. Apparently it takes 7 years for an olive grove to mature and the Russels still have a couple of years but once the trees are mature, they must be picked after the second blackening period. After picking, they must be taken to the press within 24 hours. First they are put through the blower, which blows all of the leaves off the olives. Then they are put through the maximizer, which smashes the olives, pit and all, into a pulp. It is then sent to the press which separates the oil from the pulp. Then it must be bottled, packaged, and sold.
There was a waterfall on the property that I swam in every day and Jen took me to some local beaches and lookouts. It was a great stay. Farm # 3.
