Costa Georgiadis. If you’ve ever invested even a couple of weeks in attempting to start your own veggie garden, chances are really good you’ve heard of the guy.
The vivacious and exuberant host of ABC’s Gardening Australia, Costa (along with his trademark beard) is a cultural icon of sorts.
In many ways, it could be argued Costa Georgiadis is to gardening in Australia as…
Shane Warne is to cricket
Steve Irwin is to wildlife conservation
And Michael Jordan is to basketball.
Overblown hyperbole? Perhaps. (The affable Costa would probably say as much).
But you get the gist. When Costa speaks, people tune in and take notice.
So when the invitation email from the man to be a part of a live-streamed Facebook event on the topic of beekeeping presented itself, an all-hands-on-deck call went out. All with the intention of bringing everything together for what everyone was certain would be a momentous occasion.
But what eventually played out managed to impress even the most optimistic of expectations. And, if I dare to say, even the expectations of Costa himself.
And truth be told, the SBCG has two main individuals to thank for this.
Peter Davenport, a practising beehive aficionado of close to 35 years. And Dr. Toby Smith, a native bee researcher based out of the University of Queensland.
Following a concise lead-in from SBCG secretary Arch Cruttenden, Peter and Toby would set the day’s Facebook Live Chat feed alight with their knowledge, humour and, most importantly, their passion.
It was a passion shared by the live feed’s other guests. Guests such as The Practical Beekeeper, Benedict Hughes from Melbourne, Victoria. Etymology Ph.D. student Amelie Vanderstock in Japan. And Christine Peterson, a backyard beekeeper out of Townsville, Queensland.
In all, the SBCG section of the nearly 80-minute-long live feed would top out at a little more than sixteen minutes…
But an amazingly stimulating sixteen minutes it was as Peter and Toby really pulled back the curtains on Southeast Queensland’s stingless bees,
Tetragonula Trigona Carbonaria.
If you’ve ever had any questions about bees and, more specifically, maintaining native
stingless bees here in Australia, you won’t be disappointed. So please click the link below and watch the replay of Costa’s presentation here. FYI, the SBCG segment begins at 18:45.
As it did for us, we’re sure it’ll be a presentation that (pardon the pun) will leave you with quite a buzz.
Thanks again to Costa and everyone that helped make the day both possible and so incredibly memorable.
