A free place of learning takes shape in the olive grove. Our brochure tells how young people from Waldorf special-needs schools in Hamburg and Wangen experience a completely different kind of learning in the olive grove – in an unfamiliar language and culture, in a place that became a point of arrival for refugees at Europe’s edge. FIU-Verlag, ISBN 978-3-928780-76-6.

The Association

The non-profit association Platanenblatt e.V. collects donations that fund the free place of learning in the olive grove. In addition, direct donations from the sale of Platanenblatt olive oil flow to the association.

This financial support goes to the Free Place of Learning in the Olive Grove.

Free Place of Learning in the Olive Grove

Since 2018 we have been building a free, inclusive place of learning in the olive grove. Children and young people from Germany come here, meet people on the ground and experience farming not from a textbook but in the middle of it all: among olive trees, soil, animals, smells and tastes.

We believe that connecting agriculture, education and inclusion can set something in motion. That working and learning together – across languages, backgrounds and differing abilities – can start wider social processes.

That is why the olive grove brings Greek and German children and young people together. It is about climate change and nature conservation, about food and recycling, about the plants and animals – and again and again about the question of where our food actually comes from, and what responsibility comes with it.

For us this also includes the idea of “Το σχολείο της Τροφής” – the School of Nourishment: a place where we learn how food grows in living soil, how our everyday lives affect the cycle of nourishment, and how we ourselves can help bring about healthy soils, fair food and living communities.

Perhaps education sometimes begins exactly there: with your hands in the earth, under an olive tree – and with the taste of something real.

Transparency

You can read how our funds are used in our annual reports, which we make available for download.

Get Involved

Platanenblatt e.V. welcomes new members. You are warmly invited to join if you share the association’s goals. The association has a donations account and is recognised as a non-profit by the Hamburg tax office.

A donation receipt can be issued for every donation the association receives – whether in money or in kind.

As Platanenblatt begins its new chapter, the association’s statutes will change and develop too – more on this as soon as things take shape.