help with the olives - and more besides

I may well be teaching a lot of grannies to suck eggs....but in case this might be useful to some...Many people don't bother to pick olives / make oil any more, as it is often a job requiring numerous people and paying them makes the whole concept of "personal" olive oil out of reach. But...it is a problem that many overcome with the help of a "woofer" or two. In very simplistic terms - volunteers come and stay with you, and for bed and board help with whatever you have to do as long as it is something to do, in broad terms, with organic farming . I know several people who have adopted this system - and all say they simply couldn't make their own oil a viable financial prospect without it.Check out: www.wwoof.org (and yes, it is a double w)Two other iternational web-based orgnizations that work in a similar fashion - but not limited to things agricultural are:www.helpx.net and www.workaway.info.I have a couple of friends who have had "volunteers" from both places on numerous occasions - and so far, no disappointments. They've done everything from building walls, decorating, plumbing, helping with the restoration of properties...gardening and more besides. The volunteers seem to be mostly young-ish people (25-35) who are travelling Europe / the world, and fed up with cheap hotels, campsites churches and museums, they choose to spend a few weeks (or months) living in "the real world" enjoying home cooked meals and the use of a washing machine! But - one friend has twice had someone who had retired from work (a builder and can't rememeber what the other did) and sometimes the volunteer is simply someone who wants an opportunity to come and experience life in another country or practice the language. They too do up to x no. of hours work in exchange for board and lodging - but accommodation doesn't even have to be "comfortable". Apparently even if they can only pitch a tent in the garden, or sleep on the floor, its fine as long as you are up front with them from the start.So - if finances are sometimes the reason for not going ahead with a project - any one of these 3 organizations may help...and, before someone accuses me of something....I have absolutely NO interest in any of them!