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 :)
Yes. Our home in Fair Oaks (east of Sacramento) was in what had been part olive orchard, part plum orchard. The trees produced fine olives for pressing and wonderful huge plums.