UC ANR Farm Advisor, Elizabeth Fichtner partnered with Julie Cates and Isabel Beltran, two 6^th grade teachers at Linwood Elementary in Visalia to merge education on ancient Greece with concepts of ethnobotany and modern agricultural production in Tulare County. Students were introduced to the concept of the center of origin of plant species, learning that olives originated in the region of modern-day Syria.  They became familiar with how olives were disseminated throughout the Mediterranean region and the world. The classes learned about floral anatomy, wind pollination, mechanical harvest, and processing. Students had the opportunity to taste three types of olives, including black ripe table olives, a commercial crop in Tulare County. They also taste-tested olive oil, comparing oil from Greece and Paraguay to oil originating from California. This was a great way to teach 78 local students about a local crop that has deep roots in ancient history.