I grew up in Greece in the 1960s. To say that my childhood was magical would be an understatement. I have wonderful memories of spending my summers in the villages outside of Athens. Kalamata, in the southern Peloponnese, is world famous for its small tart olives. During the harvest large nets are laid out under the ancient trees to catch the olives which are harvested off the limbs by villagers shaking the branches with long poles from the ground. My friends and I would climb to the top most branches and gently bounce them to help loosen the ripe olives. The kids had fun and the adults knew where we were and not getting into trouble.