Fistiki Harvest
Harvesting of fistiki in our country starts in late August through mid-September, depending on the variety and region and lasts 15-20 days. The first harvest is usually harvested when 60-70% of the products is ready.
Harvesting is done by shaking the branches of the trees and the product falls beneath the trees, on spread sails commonly known as "sackcloth". Afterwards, the nuts are collected in piles and a fast sorting is carried out to remove fallen leaves.
The Procedure
The day for the fistiki harvest starts very early in the morning. Families and workers gather and leave for the farm.
They start work immediately in the traditional way, that is, by laying a sackcloth around the tree and with reeds they begin to sting or shake to drop the pistachios.
Everyone helps harvest, even small children who learn everything about farm life from young age.
Once one tree is finished, we move on to the next with the same sackcloth until it is full.
It's time for the first coffee break.
Although it seems easy it is a very difficult task and during the harvest many breaks are made for water and food.
After a few minutes work continues until the afternoon.
At noon, the job becomes even more difficult due to the sun and high temperatures.
In the afternoon and when it is time to return home, the workers prepare to pick up the shelled pistachios.
They first clean the pistachios from the leaves on each sack individually.
Then they collect in a sack all the fistikia from the other sackcloths and begin to carry the empty cages in which they will be put to carry them.
Slowly the packing of fistikia begins in the crates where they will be loaded into the vehicle for transport to the cooperative facilities.
Finally the loaded crates are carried to the vehicle...
...to load them and transport them to the cooperative facilities, where the fistikia will be processed and standardized.