Saving the world one garden at a time

The Gympie Times    Wednesday May 4, 2011

Saving the world one garden at a time

Story: Arthur Gorrie

If you thought gardening was a lot of hard work, you obviously have not gone to the Costa Georgiadis  school of permaculture.
A man who seems to have been interviewed about his hair and clothes as much as about his no-frills fun-based approach to gardening , the star of Costa’s Gardening Odyssey clowned it up with the students at Cooran State School yesterday  morning.
Believe it or not, Mr Georgiadis’ hair, beard and scruffy looking coat have become occasional issues, some people being apparently unaware that gardening is a hobby for which a person does not normally dress up.

“There was a bit worn and I looked like I’d rolled off a bench in the back of the park.

“I just said, ‘Well, that’s my jacket’.”

Mr Georgiadis (we are sure he would rather be called Costa) was here partly for celebrations of National Permaculture Day at the weekend and to help promote edible gardens in schools.

And, of course, to say hello.

There is, of course, a serious side to saving the world with permaculture.
It is big job but, like eating an elephant, the trick is to do it one bite at a time or, for a more relevant image, one garden at a time.

Yesterday, Mr Georgiadis shared his inspiring sense of gardening fun with the students at Cooran, before jet setting away back down the sunshine Coast to Eumundi State School and Our Lady of the Rosary.
And putting the fun back into the whole gardening thing is a big part of the whole message – because for Cooran’s newest favourite TV show host, gardening is not about hard work and sweat and hoping your lettuces are nicer and cheaper than the ones you buy.

“Just enjoy it.  Get out and do it,” he said after being ‘energiser” by the Cooran kids yesterday.

“Going around and looking at edible school gardens the thing I learned is that it gets kids involved, right in the heart of the school yard.

“It’s building the community again.  The mums and dads that helped out at Cooran and Eumundi were making time to be there.

“The excitement the kids get out of it infects the parents.

“The kids were just jumping all over each other to proudly display their produce, showing their ownership of the garden.  Fruit on trees is a good example.  Once the kids would mainly have seen them as projectiles for throwing at each other, but because they’ve grown it, it’s their produce and they want to eat it.”

“It goes beyond a learning experience because they’re living it.  If they’re doing  it and they take it home, it becomes part of their day to day mainstream consciousness of society.

“They don’t just build their own health, but the school’s and the community’s health as well.

“The kids’ excitement is infectious.”

ADMIRING FANS:  Costa Georgiadis and Edible Gardens representative Leonie Shanahan of Cooran, with (from back left) Mimi Morrow, Aisha Darmansjah, Molly Maddison, Josephine Birch-Johnson, Mikaela Debone, Taleah Byatt, Maddison Debone, Georgia Bielby, and (front) Aja Cavelley, Eva Bateman, Luna Morrow, Jessie Elle Lowth, Joa Darmansjah, Finlay Jones, Harriet Smith, Maconachy smith and Mila Duffy.