[caption id="attachment_2432" align="alignnone" width="900"] Bechara's mother sorting olives[/caption] Bechara is the owner of the olive mill in Aitanit. During the olive harvesting season, the mill is like a beehive! People wait for their turn to squeeze their harvest into a fine olive oil. [caption id="attachment_2435" align="alignnone" width="900"] Bechara, on the right, explaining to his visitors how olive oil is extracted[/caption] The mill comprises two parts: an old traditional press where visitors can watch every step of the process, and a new mechanical press where only one can see the olives entering the machine from one side and the virgin olive oil going out from another. [caption id="attachment_2433" align="alignnone" width="900"] The traditional press: olive paste is spread on disks in order to extract oil[/caption] Bechara not only presses olives, but he makes baladi soap and transforms the solid olive mill waste into  "briquettes" which make a great substitute for food logs. Briquettes are used to light fire in chimneys and ovens. [caption id="attachment_2437" align="alignnone" width="900"] Green and black olives to be squeezed[/caption]