Oily Education

Having spent most of my working life on college campuses, I am fascinated by new scientific or educational discoveries. I love reading about physical anthropology, ecology, animal behavior and such. My friends know me for the nerd I really am.

On a recent trip to Davis, a great little town with shops, restaurants and a lovely campus, accompanying My Beloved on his calls and swamped with memories of when my niece Ann-Marie was a student there, I came across an educational advancement that I can really get behind - UC Davis is harvesting their olives to make olive oil!

Apparently, they have had olive trees on the sprawling Davis campus for a very long time and when the fruit ripens, it falls on sidewalks making them a slippery hazard for walkers and the ubiquitous student bicyclists alike. So, they did a study and discovered that it's economically feasible to make olive oil from the olives - prize-winning olive oil at that!

If you're interested in learning more, look here. If you want to order some oil of your own, look here.

Win-win-win-win! The university avoids slip-and-fall accident suits (too bad for their law students at King Hall who might otherwise get some early training in ambulance-chasing), the students learn to make olive oil, the olives are not wasted and we get another local olive oil to try! See, Mr. Schwartzenegger, it's well worth supporting the State university system!