Costa Gets a Permaculture Logie Award

Costa Gets a Permaculture Logie Award
By Frank Gapinski

Colourful TV personality Costa Georgiadis told a packed audience yesterday how he was asked by the TV Network to attend the annual television Logie awards – but he knocked back the special occasion because of his prior engagement with Permaculture. You see, Costa had promised Leonie Shanahan of Permaculture Noosa to attend the National Permaculture Day held yesterday at Yandina on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Speaking to a packed audience at the event, Costa described how the media tried to explain his exuberant style of television. One critic described Costa as a “Scarecrow on Acid!”
Consequently Leonie Shanahan (photo holding the trophy) and organizers, Dee Humphreys (in red shirt) and Linda Mahony delighted the crowd when they presented Costa with an award – the “Permaculture Logie” complete with a miniature figure of a scare-crow.

An part time football referee as well as an avid organic gardening evangelist, Costa had the packed audience laughing when he described how school kids whispered amongst themselves when they saw the bearded Costa arrive on the football field.
“Here comes Moses!” say the Jewish Kids.
“Here comes Jesus!” whisper the Christian School children.
“Here come Osama Bin Laden!” yell the State School kids! “He’s gonna frisk us all!”



Costa spoke about his early influences in organic gardening from his Greek Godfather and how his travels through Europe and the universal language of gardening. He also spoke about the individuals right to influence growers and manufacturers of food by watching carefully what they choose to put into their mouths.

By being observant people can wield tremendous power by becoming informed in the decisions they choose to make in selection what products they choose to buy and what foods they favour. Costa stressed that people should stop thinking they are powerless to influence government and realize the choices they make in life have far reaching impact. Costa mentioned the case of a local mayor in Victoria who was rocked by the sheer number of people that rocked up to an organic gardening event and the political implications of people power.

And yesterday at Yandina was a wonderful event. Packed crowds at the National Permaculture Day at Yandina filled seats to here a number of speakers like Murray Hallam speak on Aquaponics, Rockcote’s Bob Cameron on DIY Cob Ovens, Elisabeth Fekonia on growing tropical bush food and we heard a very entertaining speech by Rosina Buckman on the joy of owning chickens.

Rosina clearly loves her birds and fusses after them cooking them special breakfasts each morning like pasta and porridge and giving them special treats etc.
This caused Costa to chirp in “Is there any room in your coop for me?”
Rosina was quite happy for Costa to move in. She kept the crowd laughing when she told them the story of how she wanted to introduce a new chicken into her coop. Someone told her to bring the new chicken into the coop at night so the chickens have a chance to become acquainted and adjust to one another without tension.
Of course in the morning the older chicken went ballistic at the intruder chicken and feathers began flying fast and furious. Chickens can take longer than one night to become acquainted.