I just recently moved to Northern California and have 5 olive trees on my property. I have NO idea what to do. There are tons of olives on the tree. Please help I don't want the olives to go to waste. perspective@msn.com
If you want to prepare the olives for eating, this webpage gives pretty good directions. I've done it and it's not difficult, just time-consuming. http://www.cookeryonline.com/olives/Olive Pickling.html
Look into finding an olive oil producer who might be interested in harvesting them. Don't expect to make any money by it, but they might do the harvesting for you. Or ask round at local Italian/Greek/Spanish restaurants (they probably won't have the facilities for curing olives for eating, but they might know someone who does).