wrote on Jun 15^th, 2011 at 5:25pm:

We were in Crete a few weeks back, there they were making upto 14000 per 100 olive trees per harvest, plus 16000 from the EU in subsidy, obviously the original 14000 is mostly subsidy too but not direct. However much of the land is derelict orchards because many prefer not to go to the trouble of harvesting and just get the 16000 instead! Go figure, paying people to do the harvesting is still only a fraction of the 14000!

Either the folks in Crete were pulling your leg, or Crete must be the place to move to.
Any money from crops here is for pin money, that is why the land is so cheap. I have 106 olive trees which are worth more as firewood than as olive oil. Fortunately I dont need the trees to provide me with an income  :)
Whatever you are told you will not be able to support yourself from a plot of land here through olives grapes cherries carobs or even cucumbers.
I would strongly recommend coming over at different times of the year and seeing what its really like. Holidays are one thing and living day to day is another.
You mentioned 7c average temp in winter...does that mean 14c in the day and -7 at night.
It all depends on if you want a back to nature type holiday or if you want to live here.
And rural is best anytime :) :) :)