When it comes to taking a stall at a huge market such as Farmfest, I can only say I am an amateur. Nonetheless the usual market camaraderie was quickly apparent as others who regularly travel to attend markets and field days all over Australia welcomed me into their fold.

It appeared that I had been alloted a good site, a corner position in the Lifestyle Shopping Arcade.

31 - A corner site

This meant I needed to erect two  display tables and cover two walls. Well quite honestly, I had no great background material like this family with their Alpine Berry Farm products.

Alpine Berry Farm

Their jams are their business and their products were professionally displayed.My two male wwoofers, Rex an Australian and Brad from Canada, assisted with muscle to load an abundance of SAP and my books into the stationwagons driven by Rex and me, and to unload this at the Farmfest destination.

My wwoofers at work

I used bed sheets to cover the tables, their drapes providing handy out of the way storage for extra supplies underneath. Yet every time I looked at my bare walls and miscellaneous items in the rear I thought how untidy it all appeared.

Christmas in July candles

Needing extra items to fill my display area I had taken along my abundance of red Christmas candles. That was a waste of effort, as I only sold one candle for a dollar.

I had also taken along 200 jars of fig jam and this proved to be a great move. During the first two days it was so easy to stop some people as they approached by asking if they would like a taste of the fig jam. I say some people as it quickly became clear to Rex and I that the people who eat jam today are, as a general rule, aged over fifty years. Perhaps this is because many young people no longer eat a breakfast that includes toast and jam.

Fig Jam

The comments were nostalgic and the jam was quickly purchased, with three happy shoppers taking five jars each. Visitors also engaged me in conversation about what varieties of figs I grew and how I made my jam. On the very first day we were asked where we obtained our jam jars. I said that I my son Paul had stocked me up with 8,000 jars and asked if they like some at 50cents each. I received an order for 200 jars. Okay, that meant that next day Rex brought 400 jars from home, all of which we sold.

The amusing sales were to children. It appears that many children have discovered SAP in the form of pearls which are frequently used for floral arrangements on event tables. They are such a sensuous item that I had wisely placed and 8litre jug of the red pearls at the front of our display where youngsters could plunge in a hand and trickle the pearls through their fingers. Being non-toxic, wet and soft, I imagine they are used by children to throw harmlessly at each other. Other customers were gardeners, especially those who saw the water retention value of adding them to potting mix.

While Rex minded the stall for me I went out for a walk each day to view the machinery and livestock. There were a number of working exhibits like the Cobber Kelpie Dogs herding sheep.

Water soluble gel display

Australian Kelpies at work

Years ago when my children were small we had a Kelpie known to the family as Red. These are breed of dog who stalk sheep and with steely determination eye them firmly until the sheep backs off or turns to go in the desired direction. They never bite sheep and seldom bark, but Red had been trained on the order, “Bark up!” to find his voice. Also, in confined space Red was trained to jump up on to a flock of sheep and run across their soft woolly backs to the front, where he could stop them moving further. He was also a much loved children’s pet.

The crowd was poor on the first day with the weather cool and overcast. Veteran stall holders said, “It is always like this. It will pick up each day.” Yes, the numbers increased the second day, but money amongst the farming community is scarce and there seemed to be much looking and little buying of the more expensive items.

“I’ll never come here again,” a young Korean man in a neighbouring stall said, as he gave me a free back massage with the equipment he was trying to sell. He had made the mistake of thinking that farmers would come with bank rolls of cash. He didn’t understand the concept of being land rich and cash poor. “Tomorrow, Thursday, is pension day isn’t it?” he asked me. I advised him that although pensioners might appreciate his equipment for the pain relief they wouldn’t be coming to Farmfest to blow their meagre income.

There is a huge and growing health industry. Many people, some inside the shopping complex and some outside with their own marquees or vans, were selling goat’s milk soaps, emu oil products and herbal pain relief potions, but no stall appeared to be doing a roaring trade. There were just too many similar products chasing the same buyers.

Then the third day dawned. Ooh what a miserable day it proved to be. I never took off my sheep-skin ugg-boots. The crowd had multiplied about tenfold but with heads down,  shoulders hunched, hands in pockets they scurried along, hardly able to crack a smile. I asked this woman to pause in front of my stall as an example of how the visitors were dressed. There was a cold wind entering through the arcade wall opening behind her, which did not encourage visitors to linger at our stall.

Naturally this weather created grimacing vistors and even when the temperature edged up to 7degrees the sales did not improve as every stall holder had hoped.

A cold customer

Winter picnic

Traditional Drizabone coats were popular and some families made the best of the situation like this rugged up group I photographed enjoying their lunch on the ground beside the arcade.

Wildflowers, wilderness and wine

While sales of Wildflowers, wilderness and wine were not remarkable, I did find it interesting chatting with women who had already read the book and hearing from them how much they had enjoyed my tale telling.

Wildflowers, wilderness and wine is available on http://www.australia-book.com.au for Australian readers or on http://stores.lulu.com/strictlyliterary for overseas readers.

The sun shone brightly, although thunder rumbled occasionally to the west, as the Granite Belt community gathered to remember the fallen at the Stanthorpe Historical Museum on Thursday 11th November.

Back in August I had been asked for Flanders poppy seeds by one of the volunteers who work at the museum. I replied that it was too late to then grow poppies from seed, but that I would bring in some plants from the Remembrance Field and transplant them into the prepared garden bed.

Poppies at the Stanthorpe Museum

Flanders poppies are best grown from seed and do not establish easily when transplanted, so it was with delight that I observed some of the transplanted poppies were flowering beneath the railway siding place names that once marked the destinations throughout the Soldier Settlement established in 1920 when 500 returned service men took up blocks of land to grow apples.

Railway siding names

Between spirited music from the Granite Belt choir and enjoyable war time songs from the “Silver Barbies’ the Historical Society president, Jim Tacy, led the unique service.

Stanthorpe Choir

Members of the crowd observed a one-minute silence, the Last Post, the raising of the lowered flag and sang God Save the Queen.

Raising the flag

In his address, Mr. Scott spoke of the sacrifices made by those who served at war. “The minute silence is an opportunity to reflect on the enormous sacrifices made, where Australians were fighting for liberties that are so often taken for granted. I often go to memorials in different areas and look at the roles of honour – it speaks greatly of the sacrifice every person made.”

Mr Scott said the enormity of the number of lives lost would be

The address

near impossible to deal with. “Nintey -two years ago Australia only had a population of 5 million people, but we lost 62,000 young Australian men in World War One. There were children who grew up without their father. How would we cope today as a nation, having 62,000 letters sent back to say someone’s father, mother, boy-friend or brother had died? I don’t think we would cope with it today.”

But it happened again in World War Two when young Australians enlisted and served to defend Great Britain from the Germans and Australia from the Japanese. We lost another 40,000 men. Since then we have sent our Australian troops to defend South Korea, to assist the USA in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, and to bring peace to the citizens of Timor.

The Stan Halloran tribute

This was a unique November 11th service, because the Federal Member for Maranoa the Hon. Bruce Scott presented Mr. Tacy with the official plaque and a detailed record of The Halloran Story. Museum volunteer Mary Rofe was one of the organizers for the service and the curator for the exhibition concerning Stan and Dorothy Halloran. In her summary of their story, Mrs. Rofe outlined Stan’s enjoyment of flying Spitfires and how he met Dorothy in Birmingham. Later he brought her home to Stanthorpe where they reared their two sons and continued to serve their district with both becoming elected shire councilors at different times.

Note. The soldier in uniform standing the line-up of officials is one of the sons of Stan and Dorothy Halloran.

After this solemn period of observance the crowd were invited to inspect the extensive historical collection of the museum and enjoy lunch and fellowship together.

Wildflowers, wilderness and wine

Fay’s book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine includes more information about the soldier settlement and how she and Eberhard established the Remembrance Field of red Flanders poppies after a question was asked, “How can we keep alive this historical legacy for future generations?”

Australians can obtain Wildflowers, wilderness and wine on http://www.australia-book.com.au

If you live overseas you may obtain Wildflowers, wilderness and wine on http://stores.lulu.com/strictlyliterary

Fay is also publishing free for your enjoyment her book called THE FORGOTTEN ONES. You can read this chapter by chapter on http://fayhelwigauthor.com

WWOOF at DAS HELWIG HAUS

Everyone who visits my garden asks me how I manage all the work. My answer is, “With the help of Wwoofers”. Wwoofers are Willing Workers on Organic Farms and Das Helwig Haus B&B is a WWOOF host farm. Our 14 hectare farm has a huge garden producing fresh fruit and vegetables organically grown.

 As I write about my garden I will feature these remarkable young people and show my readers the type of work they undertake and how they enrich my life.

Yuki is Japanese by nationality. She arrived in the winter of 2007 planning to stay only two weeks, but enjoyed our company so much that she stayed two months. We are one of the WWOOF host farms within Australia approved to ensure that young International travelers with Work/Travel Visas are able to meet the conditions required to enable them to obtain a second year extension to remain in Australia.

In the photo above Yuki had stopped pruning a weeping mulberry tree to give it a hug.

When she was joined for a short time by another young Japanese girl, they decided to cook a Japanese meal for our household. In this they were aided by a third Japanese wwoof girl from the nearby Mt. Stirling Olive farm. We feasted on soup, vegetable pancakes and sushi.

Japanese Wwoofers at work in the kitchen

The sushi is prepared

After a quick visit back to Japan, Yuki rejoined our household for another two months before leaving us for employment in the tourism industry in Cairns.

It was with great pleasure that we welcomed her back for a winter visit this year. She said she wanted to experience ‘cold’.

Due to the altitude the Granite Belt is the coldest district in Queensland. Visitors come here hoping for starry night skies and frosty mornings when the ice will crunch under their feet. Yuki was not disappointed.

One day when it was too cold to work outdoors we decided to make up a batch of Raspberry Jam as my supplies were getting low. In the peak of summer when I have an abundance of fruit I frequently freeze produce until such time as it is needed. Also, if I’m only picking a small quantity of raspberries each day it is easier to freeze them until I have sufficient to make a full batch of raspberry jam.

Please note: a recipe for Raspberry Jam is available in the Australian Women’s Weekly book of Preserves, but we omitted the suggested Framboise.

Yuki learns to make Raspberry Jam

I explained to Yuki that most jams require equal quantities of fruit and sugar, plus some lemon juice to add pectin. We used 4kg of raspberries. As you can see from the above photo, I have a large stainless steel boiler with a copper base for making my jam. I consider this pot beyond value and have used it for more than thirty years. Yuki thawed the raspberries and placed them in the boiler over a low gas flame where she stirred them until mushy. The 4 kg of sugar and 5 tablespoons of lemon juice were added. The gas flame was turned to high and the jam was stirred as it boiled rapidly. Until the sugar is added to jam the pectin in fruit may be destroyed by high heat, but after the sugar is added it is essential that jam be cooked quickly to ensure a bright colour for the finished product. When the jam thickened, we poured it into jars, sealed it while hot and turned the jars upside down for two minutes. This action not only creates a vacuum seal for the lid, but the heat of the hot jam sterilizes the air within the jar.