00:00:00.000Hi for the wild, it's Ayana. Today we're bringing you a new series made in collaboration
00:00:09.860with Olive Odyssey, a Palestinian olive oil brand that serves as a gateway for Palestinian
00:00:15.620farmers to connect with people around the world and tell their story through the foods
00:00:20.060they produce. In this series, you'll hear from Aya Gawazi Faur, Olive Odyssey's co-founder
00:00:26.080about plants indigenous to the Palestinian landscape
00:00:28.900and their deep ties to culture, resistance, and enduring lifeways.
00:00:34.080Amid ongoing Israeli occupation and violence against Palestinians,
00:00:38.380we hope this series serves as a reminder of not only the lifeblood of Palestinian land,
00:00:43.160but also the sacredness of land itself and all the life it holds.
00:00:48.720Plants Are Political calls us to consider the way landscapes,
00:00:52.500boudoirs, and the connection to the earth are intertwined with systems of oppression
00:00:56.940and movements of resistance. May this be an invitation to reflect on the central role land
00:01:02.900and the more-than-human world plays in movements for justice everywhere.
00:01:07.080In this episode, we focus on olive trees. Thank you for listening.
00:01:11.140hello and welcome to the wild this is ayah and we are speaking with ayah razali fowler
00:01:25.320well ayah thank you so much for joining us today i'm really so excited to talk to another plant
00:01:32.860person and get into some deep conversation with you thank you so much for having me um i'm also
00:01:40.960very excited for this talk so i think it would be lovely to start this conversation if you could
00:01:48.400introduce yourself your work and the land that's around you right now just to give the listeners
00:01:56.900a bit of a grounding moment into your world um so my my name is and i am from palestine i am
00:02:09.580located currently in haifa in palestine and occupied territory uh my home is on the mount
00:02:17.840a mountain called mount carmel and my house my window right now i'm looking over at the sea
00:02:24.720I'm surrounded with a lot of native plants and some invasive as well, but mostly native in my area.
00:02:32.660So I am an artist and I am co-founder of Olive Odyssey.
00:02:39.320We are a Palestinian single state extra virgin olive oil, to be precise.
00:02:45.160we work with today almost 20 yeah we work with 20 different farmers very small farms family farms
00:02:55.820usually and basically we tell the story of our people and of our land through the medium of
00:03:04.960olive oil this is basically our mission one of the most important things i think for olive odyssey
00:03:13.700when we set up the brand was to work with small-scale farmers in areas where
00:03:23.980they wouldn't be able to sell their olive oil outside of Palestine, maybe, due to restrictions
00:03:31.480and borders. It's basically what we're trying to do is have the voice of these small farmers
00:03:39.500be heard by a lot of people another thing that we're trying to do so along with this along with
00:03:49.100working with small farmers and you know helping the economy in Palestine and telling the story
00:03:56.480of our people the other thing that we wanted to do is connect Palestinians to one another
00:04:02.480whether in Palestine or outside of Palestine Palestinians are divided into a couple of groups
00:04:08.200one being in 48 which is the occupied territory and then the west bank ghazi and the diaspora
00:04:16.960and all of us kind of are divided by borders checkpoints and we wanted to create a place where
00:04:25.000all of us can be together again one another one of our missions and another one one thing that
00:04:31.660is very important for all of odyssey so we work with farmers from both 48 area and the west bank
00:04:37.700before the beginning of the genocide we had a content creating team in ghazi so all of our
00:04:46.460content was done in ghazi and we worked with our food creators in the diaspora that are palestinians
00:04:54.300and this way we kind of connected four groups together trying to reconnect all of these people
00:05:01.980back to the land and to talk more about the plants not only about olive oil right about every plant
00:05:10.060in Palestine and to kind of try and reconnect people to the land and tell the story of the
00:05:16.000land through the plants um that's such a beautiful introduction I really holding on to every word
00:05:25.780you were saying and in it with you and I as part of this content creation and storytelling and
00:05:34.480unifying you're doing you have this series called Plants Are Political which I really was drawn to
00:05:42.280myself and I'm wondering if you could tell us a bit more about the terminology behind Plants Are
00:05:48.360Political and what brought you to start this series so honestly I think everything is political
00:05:55.200I think you can see in the history of colonization everywhere that plants become sort of used by the colonizer to kind of control, take control over the colonized.
00:06:11.980And here in Palestine, I think plants have taken a big part in that, whether it's new plants introduced to Palestine that have corrupted the land, you know, caused a lot of ecological problems here in Palestine for other plants, for animals, for humans.
00:06:32.680And whether it's plants that people were connected to and relied on for nutrition, for economical reasons, and these plants were forbidden, some are destroyed, cots burned, the fact that plants are political can a lot of people who have lived through colonization connected to.
00:07:01.900because it happened all over the world so we just want to talk we just wanted to talk about
00:07:08.360what's happening in Palestine in that subject and almost every plant in Palestine has something to do
00:07:15.900with the occupations really and I think honestly I think a lot of people don't know a lot of these
00:07:24.780stories some of these people who you know we want to tell the story for people who are outside of
00:07:31.400Palestine uh whether they're Palestinian uh in the diaspora or non-Palestinians uh but also
00:07:38.840these this information that is uh sort of buried um and people you know just kind of look over
00:07:47.020it's very important for Palestinians in Palestine also to talk about it and to be aware of it um
00:07:55.480this disconnect that they're creating between humans and plants is a big part of the colonization
00:08:04.620and a big part of the occupation the moment people are disconnected from their land from
00:08:10.140the plants around them it's easier to you know control them because they don't feel
00:08:19.420yeah i think about the indigenous people of north america or now called north america
00:08:28.840and that was a huge tactic of colonization take away plants and subsistence foods
00:08:36.880language culture spiritual connection to the land
00:08:40.640And it seems like this is a global tactic of colonization, is to remove people's connection, their spiritual and cultural and foodways sources.
00:08:56.880So, yeah, it's not surprising to hear this from you, but it's so heartbreaking and disturbing.
00:09:08.620and i i want to explore this topic more through three or four or five plants we'll see as we get
00:09:20.560into this conversation but at this point let's start diving into the world of olives
00:09:29.220and obviously your work centers so specifically around olives and as we begin i would just love
00:09:37.940to hear more about your relationship to olives and their cultivation for me i i was born and
00:09:48.680raised in a city called akka it's next to the sea it's a very old city our houses are kind of on top
00:09:59.780of each other, so we didn't have any land to plant trees. But a lot of people had olive trees
00:10:08.180on their balconies. Olives are the most important of trees, I think, in Palestine.
00:10:17.160So almost everybody tries to have an olive tree. If you have a small piece of land, the first
00:10:24.660tree you plant is all as an olive tree growing up we used to go to my uh to their groves to for
00:10:35.440for the harvest and you know in palestine you wait for the harvest harvest season is uh it's
00:10:44.080almost like a holiday it's not almost it's like uh in a lot of areas in palestine you know school
00:10:50.280is very early during the whole month harvest so that people can go home and you know be with their
00:10:57.820families in their groves so it's a huge part of every Palestinian life we had an olive tree
00:11:08.140in our garden that I think ever since I remember myself it was almost 80 years old
00:11:17.100when i you know started to understand what this tree is uh and it was the sun in the center of
00:11:24.780the garden it was uh the most important thing in the garden my dad loved that tree so much
00:11:30.460but other than that you know every year when harvest comes um and you get your olive oil
00:11:39.660it's it's a day of celebration even for people who don't actually harvest because they don't have
00:11:45.960lands or just buying the new olive olive oil is a whole thing within itself all the whole family
00:11:55.960would gather around to taste the olive oil you'd have these small plates of small mazzettes kind
00:12:03.640of lebanian za'atar and makdus and you put a lot a lot of olive oil on top of everything
00:12:11.600dive in with your family and it's a it's a it's a really a beautiful day when you get
00:12:20.220your olive oil and you know even in school we have day dedicated to the olive tree we have a
00:12:29.880whole week in every school during the harvest season that is dedicated to the harvest where
00:12:35.320you learn how to harvest you go out the whole class you know goes to different groves you
00:12:42.920harvest with people you help people around and I don't think I can even explain to you what the
00:12:50.380vibe and the feel of this month is it's just the most joyous time of the year for everyone like
00:13:01.780you can feel it in the air that something is different going to the grove at five with sunrise
00:13:08.820and leaving at sunset to go to the press waiting there in line with your family and friends who
00:13:16.520came to help you uh with your harvests you know sit there for a couple of hours to wait your turn
00:13:23.520and then see the first olive oil drip,
00:13:49.860And, you know, it's a time for being with your family and friends, big land, large amount of olive trees, and you can't harvest them on your own, so your family and friends would come and help. And everybody is a part of this, right?
00:14:07.920I loved hearing the love and excitement in your voice like although I know you can't fully explain
00:14:19.180it in words I could pick up the energy from you and it sounds so special and yeah I'd love to hear
00:14:28.020more about the process of making the olive oil and what that's taught you about time and seasonality
00:14:39.380um so the the cycle of the olive tree is um you know it's uh it's a very interesting one because
00:14:50.060you kind of serve the olive tree throughout the year and then in the end of the year you have the
00:14:58.260fruit and then you serve it again throughout the year caring for an olive tree is is a phenomenal
00:15:05.700thing to do because you you take care of a tree but while you take care of it it's still
00:15:12.040you know has you feel like it has more wisdom and more knowledge than you and it doesn't matter
00:15:19.140the age of the tree right so and this is why i say you serve the tree because in many ways
00:15:27.800a lot of these trees are our are our actual elders but even when the trees are small and young
00:15:36.280you still feel very very blessed to be caring for an olive tree especially knowing that the outcome
00:15:43.620of this is something so nutritious and so important in the culture and something that
00:15:51.580the colonizer try to take away from you throughout history so it starts once the season of harvest
00:16:00.400comes which is usually you wait for the we wait for the first rain just for the olives to get
00:16:10.340cleaned a little bit of dust that they've been accumulating the whole summer and for the land
00:16:17.020for a lot of places in Palestine the land needs to be wet so that you can actually walk on it
00:16:23.660otherwise it's really dusty and then the olives are clean and ready to pick you can't wait until
00:16:31.180the second rain because then the olives will have more water in them so you don't wait for the
00:16:38.880olives to actually take in the water and we ideally you would want to pick your olives green
00:16:49.800this is the time where they would have the most nutritious values you try and pick it for most of
00:17:00.000most of the people do that because not a lot of people have machineries and you know we're talking
00:17:05.600about every family having a small grove so you everything almost everything is picked by hand
00:17:11.080so the fruit not damaged and then you would go to the press the same day so you start picking at
00:17:19.400sunrise and you go to press at sunset and the reason you do that is while pressing the
00:17:29.940the olives you need to maintain a cooler temperature so you go when the sun is down
00:17:40.400it helps a lot and basically that's it a couple of hours later you have your
00:17:48.880olive oil and then you know the cycle begins again which in you let the tree rest for a couple of
00:17:58.420months and then december uh january you go and you prune the tree you cut the branches the
00:18:06.900older branches um and then two months later you go clean around the um the land around the tree
00:18:15.820and you know you keep maintaining that throughout the year you know the cycle goes on
00:20:56.060So we wanted to kind of capture that and bring it to people outside of Palestine.
00:21:03.060So one of the most important things about this is the farmers, farmers who care for these olive trees.
00:21:13.420In the beginning, we started to work with four farmers.
00:21:18.920Last year, we had 16 farmers, and this year we will have 20 farmers.
00:21:25.880You know, since the beginning, hearing what these farmers have to say about their land, about their trees, and about the work they're doing, which is a very difficult work to do within itself, but doing it in Palestine specifically is even harder.
00:21:43.700Having the voice of these people be heard and their story be told is really one of the most important things that we do.
00:21:54.100and this is why we aim to work with as many farmers as we can also to because every farmer
00:22:01.940has his own story their own experience with with these trees so and obviously economically
00:22:13.280working with these small farmers help them secure whatever amounts for the rest of the year right
00:22:21.740to be able to sell their olive oil for sure.
00:22:26.560So, yeah, so I think today having so many farmers work with us
00:22:33.780and hoping for this to continue to grow and to have more and more farmers
00:22:39.560is probably one of the most rewarding things about an olive odyssey.
00:22:46.260i want to talk a bit more about importance of olive oil to palestine and there was an article
00:22:54.480i was reading from atmos and it said quote according to the united nations nearly half
00:23:00.720of all cultivated land in the west bank and gaza is planted with a approximated 10 million olive
00:23:07.380trees between 80 000 and 100 000 families in palestine are estimated to rely on these trees
00:23:13.200their fruits and oil as primary or secondary sources of income. They compromise 70 percent
00:23:19.740of all fruit production and make up about 14 percent of the local economy. Olive trees are
00:23:25.580more than fruitful. They are vital to life in Palestine, end quote. Yeah, so I'm wondering if
00:23:32.480you could speak to the ways you felt and witnessed this vitality. If you ever visit in Palestine,
00:24:04.100And having the important role that an olive tree plays economically
00:24:10.880in the Palestinian life is huge, because again, like you said, around 100,000 Palestinian families
00:24:20.880rely on these olive trees, on these 10 million olive trees, which a lot of them, by the way,
00:24:27.520are uprooted and burned every single year. Just in August, the Israeli army uprooted over 10,000
00:24:40.280olive trees in El Mayer village. And this is just one incidence that we're talking about.
00:24:46.920Important to mention also that with olive trees that we have every year,
00:24:56.420with the amount of olive trees that are uprooted, all these families are tremendously hurt
00:25:03.860economically. I think the reason people plant olive trees is it's not only, you know, the
00:25:13.720economical aspects. It's because you're familiar as a nation. We are familiar with the olive tree.
00:25:20.100We know how to care for it. Almost every person here in Palestine knows how to care for an olive
00:25:26.480tree and what needs to be done, how to harvest and how to press. People choose the olive tree.
00:25:32.280I think also, you know, because it's probably easier to care for a seasonal fruit or vegetable that you plant, but also it's the deep connection that we have with the olive tree.
00:25:47.240The numbers you speak of are very high, I think, to any other country in the world.
00:25:54.280Another number that is very high is the amount of trees uprooted in Palestine since 1967, which stands on almost 800,000 trees, which means the amount of lives lost since 1967 is 800,000 trees.
00:26:14.980The annual loss economically for Palestinian people is around $12 million annually because trees are uprooted and burned and destroyed.
00:26:28.560So the number, and the number doesn't really change because they uproot trees and Palestinian people replant, right?
00:26:37.240This is one of the missions that is very important for Palestinian people.
00:26:45.860Sometimes, you know, they uproot trees for roads and things like that,
00:26:50.600and then you can't replant, or they uproot and they confiscate.
00:26:55.580People still try and plant the same amount of trees in different areas.
00:27:00.280I think it's, you know, to maintain this relationship with the olive tree.
00:27:04.280i want to talk more about the uprooting and burning and the destruction of these olive
00:27:14.000trees it's it's hard to know how to ask the right question about it but i i'm just
00:27:23.560trying to understand amidst the utter destruction of the genocide
00:27:29.800these trees being burned is a part of that as a part of the genocide and so
00:27:39.540you know there's there's a question about how we could hold on to hope for resilience for both the
00:27:47.100people and for the land and yeah maybe just hearing your personal experience with this all
00:27:56.300And there's a lot of different aspects, because if we're talking about the destruction in Ghazi, it's obviously very different than the destruction in the West Bank, which I'm not able to speak of the feeling.
00:28:14.840I know, I do have family in Ghazi, and I have a friend who, her father, their olive grove was uprooted for the third time.
00:28:26.420And every time he kept tree planting, I'm honestly not sure what they're going to do now, if there is hope for this grove to be planted again.
00:28:37.780In the West Bank, when these things happen, let's say, I think the last occasion last month in the village where they uprooted 10,000 olive trees and, you know, filmed the whole thing.
00:28:55.160You know, you hear this person, this soldier, saying all sorts of things that will teach you or, you know, these kind of things.
00:29:06.380And, you know, having her not understand what she's doing, you know, you are killing a creature right now.
00:29:14.940Most of the trees that were uprooted in that village are 100 years old.
00:29:19.540the amount of knowledge the amount of wisdom the amount of love this tree has it you can't put it
00:29:27.700into words this tree is older than the occupation the amount of disrespect these people have for
00:29:34.760for life really i i can't comprehend it really i and you know when i talked before about people
00:29:41.880people being disconnected from land and trees because i think this is exactly this because if
00:29:49.020you're connected to the land and trees you you won't be able to do this even if the tree isn't
00:29:54.740yours it's it doesn't even if you didn't plant it it doesn't mean it's less of uh importance uh
00:30:01.740i don't think any uh palestinian farmer would be able to uproot uh a tree that you know belong to
00:30:09.260an israeli or a non-palestinian this is just not something you can you i can imagine people doing
00:30:16.820This is, you know, against all beliefs, everything that we're taught throughout, from day one, really.
00:30:30.480I'm not even talking about how we're feeling, like the humans looking at these trees, being our elders or being our family members or, you know, being the thing that they rely on economically.
00:30:44.900But imagine the devastation of these trees themselves.
00:30:49.520And I know this is going to sound maybe a little bit weird,
00:30:53.480but all of these trees share a connection.