GEKA Glover Street

The Olive Project 2019

Effie Wright, A parent reflection

This year, the children at GEKA Glover St have been involved in the harvesting, preserving and curing of green olives. The project started when we noticed the olive tree in the front courtyard loaded with fruit was going to waste. I thought the concept of taking something at our disposal and making something rather useful out of it, tied in well with my role as this year’s Maintenance and Sustainability PAG member. 

I grew up in a household where depending on the season, we produced our own homemade jams, relishes, sauces, cured olives, artichokes, zucchini and wine. We grew fruit, vegetables, herbs and nuts in the garden and there was always enough for the whole family to enjoy. My happiest childhood memories are made up of these times. Now that I’m a bit older, I see it’s not just about the pleasure of growing/making something yourself, 100% organic and natural, it’s also about the handing down of knowledge and technique from generation to generation and also about the sharing of produce at the end. It gives me a lot of pleasure to see my children show an interest in these areas at home so that’s what inspired me to share my family’s tradition of curing olives with the kinder. 

The process between harvesting the olives from the tree and being able to actually eat the olives takes a minimum of 4 months. This has also been really beneficial for the children to see that not everything is readily available instantly. Some things take effort and time. The children went out in groups with their baskets and picked the olives from the tree in May just as they were changing colour from green to black (and supplemented with some purchased olives too to ensure there were enough for everyone). The olives were scored and submerged in water which was changed very regularly for 4 weeks. The children were amazed to see the water change to green as the bitterness was drawn from the olives. For the last 4 months, the olives have been preserved in salty water. The children chopped celery sticks and placed them on top in order to weigh down the olives and keep them fully submerged. 

We are at the final phase of the project now, which involves the packaging of our produce. Seeing as the children have put much effort into the project throughout the year, our intent is to sell the jars of olives as a fundraiser for our lovely kindergarten, which allows us to be creative and get involved with meaningful projects such as these.