The date palms must be nice. We had lots of olive trees in northern California. Once a year people would trade us jugs of olive oil for the raw olives which they shook from the trees onto sheets spread on the ground.
Oh, what a great trade! We haven't cured our olives yet, though we might try that one day too. They look good enough to eat from the ground, though I've been warned not to, of course. The date palms are nice for the bird life too. I didn't know olive trees grew in NoCal, but the garlic festival in Gilroy was always fun :)