The Cultivation of Olives
The green colour of olive trees predominates on the cultivable pieces of land of the village of Lythrodontas. The village’s residents have been dealing with the cultivation of olive trees and the production of olive-oil since the very old times. Olives are today, according to Karouzis, “the main source of income for the villagers, especially for those who did not seek a job at the nearby capital city”
The people of Lythrodontas work with plenty of love and labour in the olive groves. Taking care of the ground, pruning the olive trees, and collecting the olives are the basic cultivation works of the olive cultivators.
One of the first tasks of the cultivators is to take care of the ground. In particular, they prepare the ground in an appropriate way, enrich it with nutritious ingredients and relieve it from any pests.
Another task which is important for the productivity of the olive trees is their pruning, which is done either at the beginning of spring, or during the harvest. With pruning, any unnecessary branches are removed and therefore only the fruitful branches are “fed”.
Correct irrigation of the olive trees contributes to the increase of production, as well as in the quality of the fruits. Although olive groves do not require frequent irrigation, the irrigation of olive trees is a determinant for the fructification, mainly during the months of florescence – spring months.
From the end of October until the end of February, the collection of olives called “louvisma” takes place. The method used for the ‘louvisma’ of the olive trees is known as ‘ravdismos’ or ‘vaklisma’. Modern methods with the use of machinery are also used for the collection of olives. The aforementioned traditional method for gathering olives, “Vaklisma”, is used by the villagers who manage to make the olives fall by beating the olive trees with a wooden stick called ‘vakla’. The olives are then gathered in huge pieces of clothing which are placed under the olive trees. Next, the olives are placed into cases and are usually taken to the olive-oil press for the production of olive oil.
As far as the multiplication of the olive trees is concerned, the traditional method used by the cultivators is called grafting, meaning the attachment of a branch of olive tree to another tree. It takes at least three years after the planting of an olive tree to become fruitful.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that in the olive-groves of Lythrodontas one can meet age-long olive trees. The people of Lythrodontas, as Karouzis distinctively remarks, “are proud of their olive groves, some of which may even be more than a thousand years old”.
Source:
Ionas Ioannis, Traditional Cyprus Professions, Lefkosia, 2001, pp.487-497.
Giorgos Karouzis, Strolling around Cyprus, Lemesos, City and District, Lefkosia 2001, pp.301 – 303.
Natural Environment
Nature has dressed Lythrodontas with its most beautiful colours, having the green colour of pine and olive trees as prevailing. Wild vegetation intermingles with the cultivated pieces of land, this way creating wonderful scenery.
Especially in the north of Lythrodontas, the prevailing cultivations are olive trees, and this is why Karouzis mentions that “Lythrodontas might possibly maintain the largest cultivations of olive groves in Cyprus”. After all, the cultivation of olive trees constitutes one of the main occupations of the residents of Lythrodontas. More: Olive Cultivation
Apart from olive trees, several fruit baring trees such as pear, fig, apple, peach and plum trees, as well as many kinds of vegetables are cultivated in Lythrodontas. The construction of water dams appears to have contributed to driving people into the occupation of cultivating fruit baring trees and vegetables. In particular, according to Karouzis, the two stony water dams were built during the British occupation, the first in 1944 and the second in 1952, “in order to irrigate 33 hectares of land”.
In the past, apart from many olive groves, the village also maintained several vineyards, to which Gauntry refers. There were mainly vineyards with types of grapes that could be used for producing wine, suitable for producing the traditional alcohol drink of “koumandaria”.
The village’s uncultivated pieces of land are covered with wild vegetation, such as pine trees, thyme, aspalathus. With regards to the wild vegetation that one gets to see in Lythrodontas, Karouzis remarks: “the nature-lovers travellers will have to visit Prophet Elias or Kyprovasa or they will have to follow a trail towards Machairas. Only then will they enjoy the wild scenery, the deep grooves formed by the creeks, the steep but forested sides of the mountain, the sharp peaks and the deep-shadowed ravines. Extremely rich vegetation on this wild scenery is enough for specialist scientists, botanists and foresters to enjoy. The history of the old Monastery dedicated to Prophet Elias is equally significant to the one of the neighbouring Monastery of Machairas. The mountain of Kionia, with the special station on the peak, emerges at the back of the scenery. It is not just state land that is covered with wild vegetation, but also a very large part of the village’s private land”.
Sources:
Giorgos Karouzis, Strolling around Cyprus, Lefkosia, City and District, Lefkosia 2001
Great Cyprus Encyclopaedia, vol. 9
Lythrodontas Community Council
Linear Park
The Linear Park of Lythrodontas, the 500-metre-long beauty of the community, is one of the projects which were effectuated in order to beautify part of the river bed of river “Katouris”.
The inauguration ceremony of the Linear Park was performed by the honourable Minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment, Mr. Demetris Eliades, on the 23rd of January 2011. The project was completed with the important contribution of the president and the members of the Community Council, who began their efforts upon assuming their duties in January 2007, while all other parties involved, those being the District Officer of Lefkosia Mr. Argyris Papanastasiou, the Water Development Department, as well as Civil Engineer Mr. Charalambos Charalambous, also contributed to the completion of this project.
The total expenditure for the project rose to €100.000 and the required amount was covered by various sources of the community. The Linear Park is one of the projects which, as it was mentioned in a speech given during the inauguration ceremony, “signifies the efforts made by the Community Council for the exploitation of other greenery areas in our community”.
Source:
Speech given during the inauguration ceremony held on the 23rd of January 2011.
Dams
Located at a peaceful, covered in green scenery, are the water dams of Lythrodontas. The moments during which water flows in abundance towards the dams are exceptional.
In Lythrodontas there are two water dams in the river “Koutsos” which are called “Pano” (Upper) Dam and “Kato” (Lower) Dam respectively. The Upper Dam is located at the “Zahara” area, whereas the Lower Dam is located near the road which leads to Prophet Elias.
Pano (Upper) Dam
The Upper Dam was constructed in 1945 and has a capacity of 32.000 cubic metres of water (m ³) and a height of 10 metres.
Kato (Lower) Dam
The Lower Dam was constructed in 1952 and has a capacity of 32.000 cubic metres of water (m ³) and a height of 11 metres.
The purpose for the construction of both dams is the irrigation of cultivated pieces of land during the summer months. In particular, the water from the dams is used for the irrigation of main cultivations, of olive trees and of garden products.
It is worth mentioning that the dams overflowed both in October 2004 and in January 2010.
Sources:
Lythrodontas Community Council
http://www.moa.gov.cy/moa/wdd/Wdd.nsf/dams_gr/dams_gr?OpenDocument
Fires
During the past decade, Lythrodontas has suffered from destructive fires. The fires of 2002 and the summer of 2010 constituted some of the worst fires that had ever broken out in the area.
The fire of 2002 was caused by human action and it had been burning for three days by the time it was finally extinguished. The difficult task to extinguish the fire required the contribution of the District Officer, the Civil Defense, the army and the residents of Lythrodonta. To remedy the destruction, the Community Council has asked the Department of Forests to proceed with the reforestation of the affected area.
Around the end of August 2010, four fires, whose destructive force continued burning for two whole days, were maliciously set. To extinguish the fires, the fire department was assisted, just like in 2002, by the District Officer, the Department of Forests, the Civil Defense, the army and certainly the residents of Lythrodontas.
Unfortunately, the fires that broke out both in 2002 and 2010 resulted in the destruction of an important part of vegetation. Pines and bushes were wrapped by the flames. More specifically, the latest fire destroyed two hundred hectares of land covered with pines and bushes.
Source:
Lythrodontas Community Council
