On 26 November 2024, the International Day for Olive, 2 members from the Kalamata Educational Center for the Environment (KEPEA) with 12 students along with their teachers from the 1st Vocational Upper Secondary School of Kalamata visited the suburbs of Kalamata city in order to search and make photos of plants in the city and especially olive trees and the plants that coexist in olive groves.
The landscape was in a civil area, connecting the daily life, entrpreneurship and culture of the place with the local plant, the olive tree.
We visited the monument of nature: “Mana- Elia” (Mother-Olive Tree), a lofty tree of 14 meters height and a trunk perimeter of around 9 meters, that stands for hundreds (or thousands) of years in the area of Kalamata, reminiscent of the city’s close relationship with the olive. The fertile valley around Kalamata was almost entirely destroyed by fire on the orders of Ibrahim Pasha between 1825 and 1828. According to a local legend, this is the only olive tree in Kalamata that survived the devastation. The youngsters had prepared and presented us a 3Dmodel of this special monumental tree. This ancient olive tree “Mana Olive” of Kalamata, located in the farm of the Research Centre – Institute of Olive and Horticulture, The students were introduced to the historical olive tree and were informed about it and the cultivation of the table olive variety “Kalamata Olive” by the Head of the Olive and Horticulture Department, agronomist-researcher Mr. Panagiotis Katsaris. Mr. Katsaris guided students and teachers to the facilities of the state-of-the-art Olive Oil Analysis and Certification Laboratory and informed them about its operation.
We visited also a special local olive grove with plants from all the Greek varieties and explained us the procedures in the research center regarding local plants.
The next stop was the Olive Oil Mill of the Agricultural Cooperative of Kalamata where the students were informed about the production process of “Extra Virgin Olive Oil PDO Kalamata” by Mr. Ekonomakos, responsible for the operation of the oil mill. Emphasis was placed on the environmental way of operating the olive mill with renewable energy sources and applying the principles of the circular economy of the olive tree. In the courtyard of the mill the students participated in an olive oil tasting activity, accompagnied by representatives of the Cultural Organization “Olive Routes” led by Mrs. Marilena Kotsilieri, who informed the students about cultural paths based on olive trees.
The participants had the opportunity to taste delicious bread sandwiches with Kalamata olive paste, extra virgin olive oil from Kalamata and other local natural products.
The program continued and was completed with a visit to the shop station of the Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (U.A.S.) of Messinia where the students learned about the modern marketing and trade of the wide variety of olive and olive oil products of the Messinian land.
KEPEA Kalamata thanks all the institutions – partners who have been supporting for several years its environmental – educational program and all its actions for the “Kalamata Olive” and the “Extra Virgin Olive Oil” of Messinia. We particularly thank all the persons and institutions that have participated in any way and supported this visit for the World Olive Day.
We also thank the accompanying teachers who teach in the Agriculture Department of the 1st Vocational Upper Secondary School of Kalamata above mentioned school: Maria Linardopoulou and Dimitrios Apostolopoulos.
