`Students in Crete Learn About Olives - Olive Oil Times

Students in Crete Learn About Olives

By Costas Vasilopoulos
Apr. 17, 2013 08:34 UTC

The munic­i­pal­ity of Gortyna at south­ern Crete has ini­ti­ated a pio­neer­ing pro­gram to teach ele­men­tary school stu­dents the qual­i­ties and advan­tages of olives and olive oil. The Discovering the world of olives” ini­tia­tive includes vis­its to the archae­o­log­i­cal site of Gortyna and its peren­nial olive trees, and the Olive Museum at Gergeri.

The chil­dren get a hands-on expe­ri­ence with the olive cul­ture by mak­ing aro­matic olive oil and olive oil soap, and par­tic­i­pat­ing in the­atri­cal acts and con­jec­tural activ­i­ties. Agriculturists teach the chil­dren how to cal­cu­late the age of olive trees and how to prune the trees prop­erly to make them flour­ish.

The pro­gram aims at edu­cat­ing the young stu­dents to value and cher­ish olives trees and olive oil, and acquaint them with the ben­e­fits of the Mediterranean diet. So far, more than 800 stu­dents have par­tic­i­pated in the pro­gram which began in March and will con­clude next month.



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