Olive Harvest in Jordan

On Sunday I had the unique opportunity to pick olives on my friend’s family farm near Madaba. Though my friend Mohammad and his family live in Amman, they have a small farm where they grow olives and cucumbers. There were also chives growing alongside the road but I’m not sure they belong to the family. It was refreshing to get out of Amman for a day and take some photos. On the farm, I met Hussein, the caretaker of the property. He came here 6 months ago from Syria and lives here with his family. Mohammed mentioned to him that I work at the Za’atari camp and Hussein told me he has some family that lives there. Hussein didn’t used to farm back in Syria (he worked for a business – that’s all I understood) but he learned gardening techniques from his father. I’m glad he was able to get work outside of the refugee camps.

Mohammed and I toured the small farm with Hussein and I took LOTS of pictures. I munched on a delicious cucumber from one of the green houses (plastic house in Arabic) and before the sun went down, I helped pick some olives. The technique they used was to pull them off onto the tarp or hit the higher up ones with a stick. I don’t think this farm is necessarily a source of income for Mohammed’s family. It’s more of a nice property they visit where they can harvest some food.

After the sun went down the family made meat kebabs to grill and we enjoyed them with hummus and grilled bread. It was a very relaxing day and I’m so glad I got to have this very Jordanian experience.