By TANIA PHILLIPS
THERE is a local legend that a Hairy Man protects the environment at Fingal and on Tuesday he had a little competition from another hirsute man of the environment.
ABC television personality Costa Georgiadis, host of Gardening Australia, visited Fingal Head Public school as part of the Farmers Choice School Organics Program on Tuesday.
He was special guest at several schools starting at St James Catholic Primary School and ending up at Murwillumbah High.
The program is aimed at teaching children not only to eat healthy vegetables but also to garden in an organic, sustainable way – helping both themselves and the environment stay healthy.
However he took extra time at Fingal, clearly impressed with the schools’ bush tucker track and talking to students, teachers and local community members about it.
He also got a chance to eat bush tucker snacks from the garden, being urged to try some of the more bitter examples before being treated to some of Dune Care head Kay Bolton’s macadamia paste on biscuits.
“I want to come back and we are going to do a story on your school,” he told students as he walked through the bush tucker track, stopping to talk to students about their chosen plants.
“It is probably the best bush tucker track I’ve seen.”
He said he had been highly impressed by the garden itself and the kids knowledge of the plants growing in it.
Local bush tucker expert Frank Krasna said it was nice to have another “hairy man” visiting Fingal, quickly explaining the legend to the television personality.
“We usually have a hairy man here but today we have two,” he said.
While most schools that Costa visited on Tuesday had vegetable patches, Fingal was a notable exception.
“We can’t have a vegetable patch here because of the bush turkeys,” Frank explained.
The bush tucker track is sure to be a major attraction at the school when they hold their first fete on 26 October. The school is currently looking for stallholders to take part in the event. Which will feature tours of the track, as well as performances by students and a Kup Murri underground oven. Contact the school for more information.
