DRAMATIC SEASONAL CHANGE

One of the joys of living at Glen Aplin on the Granite Belt is that due to the cool mountain climate this district experiences the four seasons of winter, spring, summer and autumn. Much of Queensland only knows the hot, humid wet season of summer and the warm dry season of winter.

In 1990 when I visited Europe in the early spring as the snow was melting I witnessed the dramatic change as tulips and pansies flowered in April just as the fruiting cherry and apple trees burst into blossom. in May they were followed by the lilac, phingst rosen and climbing red roses.

When we moved to live here at Glen Aplin in 1992 I realised I could grow these same flowers. I was agreeably surprised at how rapidly, just like I had seen in Europe, spring arrived and dramatically changed the appearance of my garden.

These photos taken in August, when the decision was made to remove large eucalyptus trees, and photos taken of the same scenes now reveal the changes.

Last month of winter at Das Helwig Haus B&B 2008

The Remembrance Field had been cultivated at the end of June. The Flanders poppies had germinated but were merely a green tinge across the soil due to the dry and frosty conditions throughout July and August.

We had made the decision to bring in heavy equipment – a large excavator on tracks, with a bucket in which a man could be raised to tie chains to the branches of these eucalyptus trees. With a chainsaw the branches and tree trunks were cut to then be swung out and dropped onto the field.

The excavator claws then gripped these heavy lengths of timber and the machine clanked away to drop them in heaps off the field, where once more a chain saw could be used to cut wood into rounds, later to be split for firewood.

Now for the “WOW” factor. Read the rest of this entry »

STROLL THE PATHS OF THE FRONT GARDEN

When I first sighted the cypress pine cottage that was to become our future home I was delighted by the honey stained timber which blended naturally amongst several tall eucalyptus trees. While constructing the garden I maintained the natural ambiance by creating rock edged sand paths.

As I lead my tour group towards the southern portion of our front garden I offer them a choice or direction where the path divides around a large bed containing an ivy covered stump, a popular spot for my cat, Patches, to supervise garden activities.

Patches on Ivy

The area fronting our house contained five large eucalyptus trees, the variety known as Peppermint gums, which grow in the cool mountain districts along the Great Dividing Range from Melbourne to the Granite Belt of southern Queensland. Most farmers curse eucalyptus trees because they survive the droughts of Australia due to their capacity to spread roots to match the height of their growth. They are capable of taking every last bit of moisture from the ground. They drop eucalyptus leaves as a mulch  containing a chemical which acts as a growth retardant for grass and other plants within their drip zone.

When he sighted those five trees my father warned, “They’ll rob your garden of all its goodness.”

Other people worried, “What about storms? Aren’t you worried they’ll fall and damage your house?”

Reluctant to remove the trees until I had other plants established I allowed them to remain. Sure, I was forever raking leaves, adding rich composts and pouring on the water, but those trees provided cooling shade in the summer and a degree of frost protection in the winter.

Then disaster struck! Read the rest of this entry »

PAULA – MY CHEF FOR THREE WEEKS.

It was Eberhard who met the bus from Sydney at Glen Aplin and brought Paula Snow to our home. Paula had contacted me from Boston in the USA and asked if she could come to me as a wwoofer. She had joined the WWOOF organization and discovered that Das Helwig Haus B&B was a host farm prepared to teach organic gardening and cookery skills to young international travelers who were Willing Workers on Organic Farms.

Over coffee, i discovered that she had studied cooking for three years at a culinary school, then worked under a senior chef at an Italian restaurant for two years and then under another senior chef in a  seafood restaurant for a further two years. Both restaurants were situated in the city of Washington.

“What prompted your trip to Australia? I asked.

“My Grandmother died and left me a small legacy on condition that I do something adventurous with the money. After three weeks with you, I’m heading to Cairns to go white water rafting, bungee jumping and scuba diving.”

“And why have you chosen to wwoof with us?”

“I read that you practised self-sufficiency and I want to learn ‘garden to table’ from you.”

Eberhard turned to me and asked, “What are we eating for lunch today?”

I laughed. “I’ve got a cook and a chef in the kitchen and you’re asking me what we will eat? Can’t the two of you work it out?”

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WE ENTER THE HERB GARDEN

“Why do you call this your herb garden?

I am always asked this question as we walk down the slope between borders of marigolds and camomile daisies. It is true that this lower terrace at the rear of the house has never been designed as a formal potager. The style of such a traditional garden is usually symmetrical and surrounded by neatly trimmed box hedges. They often contain a fountain, bird bath or sundial in the centre.

The reason that this area at the rear of Das Helwig Haus B&B became our herb garden is its proximity to our kitchen. Rather than keeping a bunch of herbs in a glass on my kitchen table, I prefer to go into the garden to gather fresh sprigs as needed.

Garden path between marigolds and camomile.

I grow the German camomile (matricaria recutita) as an annual plant like the marigolds as it self-seeds and germinates thickly each year in August. The flowers are plucked when fully open, dried and stored. Later they can be steeped in hot water to provide a soothing bed-time tea to encourage a restful sleep.

We pass beside the feijoa trees under which I have planted seed of jam melons as they will need space to run out their vines.  Borage always self-seeds in this area too. It was the ancient Romans who first floated borage flowers in cups of wine. I pick a few dainty blue flowers and hand them to my garden visitors, remarking that I freeze the flowers in ice blocks to later float in a jug of water. The leaves of this herb are cucumber flavoured.

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FIVE POPPIES

There are several different varieties of poppies from the Northern Hemisphere growing in our garden at Das Helwig Haus B&. This morning after a shower of rain last night I found I had five varieties in bloom. I have photographed all five types of poppies for inclusion in this post today.

I’ll begin with the Flanders Poppy, commonly called the Field Poppy in Europe until it became associated with the battles in Flanders during World War One.

Flander Poppy

Flanders Poppy and honey bee.

Often there is considerable difference between individual Flanders poppies – Papaver rhoeas in both flower and leaf structure. The Reverend Shirley, an English cleric, noticed several different colours amongst a clump of wild poppies in his garden and with selective breeding produced the Shirley poppy which now bears his name. These poppies have the texture of crepe paper ranging through colours from rose pink to mauve and purple. In our Remembrance Field at Glen Aplin I often notice poppies with unusual colouring. Sometimes I will receive an telephone call from a excited gardener who obtained seed from me the previous year to say his seed has produced a new colour.

Papaver rhoeas with white centre and petal edging

First Oriental poppy of 2008

The poppies bred from the Papaver rhoeas stock have similar leaves and will last no more than one day as a cut flower. They are annuals and must be planted from seed each year. The Oriental poppies I grow are Papaver atlanticum, a hairy perennial with orange flowers. The first flowers appear deep within the foliage but later blooms may grow as tall as 60cm. As they are perennials they will carry over from one year to another.

Oriental poppies in 2007

Iceland poppies

One of the most beautiful poppies is the Papaver nudicaule commonly known as the Iceland Poppy. It is actually a perennial grown as a winter/spring flowering annual. This is an excellent cut flower, requiring no water if the stems are firstly seared with heat. I use a candle flame to scorch the stems.

Honey bees love these poppies

Like the Flanders poppies the Californian poppies – Eschscholsia Californica seed prolifically and have become one of the weeds of my garden. I have one garden bed where I allow them to grow each year as a ground cover under shrubs, but I have to thin them severely. I have also found that seed spread from my rubbish heaps to surrounding grassy areas where these colourful flowers have created perennial clumps. They don’t transplant easily as they have a single tap root, so should be sown from seed. However it is that strong tap root that allows them to survive as a perennial. They grow wild across the hills of southern California.

When bought in a seed packet there are a variety of colours including shades of cream, lemon, yellow, orange, red and mauve.

After a few years of self-seeding most of my poppies are the traditional yellow colour associated with the wild poppies of California.

Californian Poppy

ENTER THE VEGETABLE GARDEN

Once we cross the covered walkway that links our guest apartments to the northern wing of Das Helwig Haus B&B we enter the vegetable garden. On our right the rhubarb and acanthus grow gigantic leaves and the kiwi fruit vines entirely cover the lattice along the apartment veranda. This is the south western part of our garden and as such is exposed to the worst of our winter winds. All the permanently planted trees and shrubs in this region are deciduous and in the winter months the area becomes rather desolate.

Rhubarb

Winter is our busy season with guests who come to the Granite Belt to taste the wines, follow the food trail and cuddle up before a fire at night. Thus it suits me that the garden is dormant. I try to have the grape vines, quince, persimmon, cherry, mulberry, apricot and nectarine trees pruned by the end of August.

There are some years when spring is slow arriving on the Granite Belt with frosts continuing on into October. In fact, frosts have been recorded in every month of the year. Because of the cold winters the garden does not yield much produce in spring until the soil warms.

While we were holidaying in Germany during the spring of 1990 my sister-in-law, Minna Helwig, told me that we would be having a barbe kue on Samstag and I had thought she was telling me that she planned a barbecue on Saturday. Imagine my surprise therefore when she picked the first red stalks of rhubarb from her garden, discarded the poisonous leaves, and gave me the stems to wash and slice. Meanwhile Minna used fresh yeast to make the sweet bread base of a Kuchen. The rhubarb was spread across the base, sprinkled liberally with sugar, and after the dough had risen to double the original height, placed in the oven to bake. Served with generous amounts of pouring cream, this is the traditional way the first rhubarb of the season is presented to families in the village of Wolferborn and throughout other regions of Hesse.

Rhubarb clump

We continued our around the world trip to visit Margaret, a friend who lives near New Liskeard in northern Ontario, Canada. I was amazed by the size of her rhubarb clump. Obviously established years previously it seemed to require no special attention, would die back into the earth under a heavy cover of snow each year, but then burst forth in the spring to create a remarkably thick cluster of plants. I was to see many more such clumps on other farms in northern Ontario and the attitude seemed to be that rhubarb was little better than a weed. There weren’t enough ways to utilise all that rhubarb and it was frequently ignored.

My tour groups are equally astounded by the size of my rhubarb clump.

“What do you do with it all,” I’m asked.

“Each weekend I’ll ask our guests if they would like to take a bunch home with them, but very seldom will they take me up on my offer. They would rather buy my Rhubarb Relish, which is especially tasty on cold roast lamb.” During the next fifteen minutes as we wend our way through my productive back yard I’ll be advertising our jams, jellies, chutneys and pickles, which they’ll have the opportunity to buy before they board the bus. “The rhubarb must be picked until April.”

Fay's jams and jellies

Because our rhubarb is well watered and shaded from the afternoon sun by the structure of the self-contained apartments it doesn’t suffer any stress and tends to remain green in colour, not the ruby red I would prefer. As a result, if cooked alone, it is rather an unattractive khaki green colour. When I stew my rhubarb I add either strawberries or raspberries. These share their colour and flavour, thus creating a tasty and attractive compote.

“And this fern – what is it?”

“That’s the asparagus. If you look near the base,” I scoop away some soil with my bare hand, “You can see fresh spears. We only pick the stronger shoots during the first couple of months. Then we let it make fern. This is important as the fern allows the roots to receive nutrients during the summer months. Then when the winter frosts come, it dies down and we clear away dead foliage. It is an ongoing cycle. If properly looked after an asparagus bed will last a lifetime.”

“And what are these bushes?” My attention is drawn to bushy clumps on the left side of the path.”

“Red and white currants. We use them to make jellies.”

Harvesting white currants

During 1995 I planted the upper terrace at the rear of Das Helwig Haus with red and white currants. These now bear a prolific crop each spring and must be hand stripped from the bushes and converted to currant jelly. Little did I think when I began planting this huge garden to offset our home, what a rod I was creating for my own back? No matter how busy I am with other matters, by the end of October Eberhard will be drawing my attention to the asparagus needing to be picked, the rhubarb running to flower, the strawberries attracting birds and the currants hanging ripe and ready for plucking.

Fruiting strawberry plants edge the paths and draw gasps of awe from the visitors. Don Burke, of the Burkes Backyard TV program, was amazed at the healthy growth of our strawberry plants when he visited the garden in 1997. I explained to Don that each year I covered them in hay during August then set fire to the hay, allowing the fire to also burn away all the leaves of the strawberry plants. This destroyed the leaves and any disease. The ash added nutrient and the perennial plants were triggered to all shoot new leaves together, flower together and fruit together.

THE SEASONAL RYTHM at DAS HELWIG HAUS

The four seasons.

2008 was the coldest August recorded on the Granite Belt for 17 years. The winter was also dry. We weren’t short of water for the garden as we experienced a huge flood in January 2008, which filled our waterhole on the Severn River. We have an irrigation license allowing us to draw water from the river source.

This view shows one of the dams we built on a gully watercourse below our house at Glen Aplin. We have never needed to use water from this dam for irrigation purposes. We constructed it to beautify a swampy area formerly covered in tussock grass and to provide a refuge for wild waterfowl. It is much enjoyed by ducks and geese.

Another benefit is the tranquility afforded to guests relaxing on the verandas of Das Helwig Haus http://www.webstation.com.au/accom/helwig. They take pleasure reclining in comfortable cane chairs overlooking the spectacular garden, with their view extending down under the skirts of the pine trees to this expanse of water.

The flooded dam below the house.

Big summer rains lead to an abundance of fruit and vegetables. The rosella bushes, which are a form of hibiscus, are so attractive that I scatter them through our garden, rather than confine them to the vegetable patch. Because they are a tropical plant we have to get fruit picked before the first frosts arrive. In 2008 I lost my rosella crop when an early frost on 30th March devastated all the field crops of the Granite Belt. In this cool mountain climate the rosella bushes require five months growth to become productive. I try to get my plants into the ground in October. The red flesh of the flower calyx is the portion used for jam or jelly and next autumn when we are hopefully harvesting a crop I will include recipes for the jam and jelly.

Following heavy summer rains an abundance of grass grows across our countryside. As we don’t have any livestock, like sheep or cattle, we are obliged to slash the grass to keep our property tidy. Each year I gather some of this cut grass for composting and mulching purposes. Usually the frosts begin in May, drying the grassland and turning it the colour of straw. Each August farmers on the Granite Belt are advised to conduct burn-offs of grassy areas as a preventative measure against bushfires later in the season. I am a great believer in the cleansing power of a controlled fire so each year take advantage of the weather conditions to spot burn our land in the manner of the original settlers – the Aboriginal people.

This fire burnt the land between the house and the dam.

This blackened appearance of our land did not last long as the heat of the fire drew up moisture from deep within the soil and triggered immediate green shoots of grass. As I had hoped we received some rain and the grass responded and the area is now greening rapidly. A winter fire like this is called a cold fire as there is usually insufficient heat to scorch the leaves on the eucalyptus trees or the trunks of deciduous trees.

The removal of an overburden of grass encourages the perennial coreopsis to burst forth with a luxuriant growth of green leaves. The yellow daisy-like flowers rapidly follow and by the end of October the countryside is turning gold.

Golden wildflowers beneath a blue spring sky.

The Granite Belt is noted for enjoying four different seasons. Here I have shown you a lush green summer view, a Wwoofer – Ursula from Germany, harvesting rosellas in the autumn, the dramatic difference of recently burnt grassland and the golden glory of the spring season as Mother Nature follows her yearly rhythm. The Granite Belt is becoming famous for its cool climate wines, but many of the sixty district wineries are boutique sized and Australians are only able to purchase the wine by visiting the district. For this reason many excellent accommodation businesses have been established during the sixteen years since we moved to the Granite Belt to establish Das Helwig Haus B&B http://www.webstation.com.au/accom/helwig .

The residents and tourist operators of the Granite Belt, all know that summer is a delightful season. From the moment the spring storms moisten the fallow land of the Granite Belt the perennial coreopsis flowers begin to bloom, reaching their peak with a golden carpet of daisies across the paddocks in November. The Snow in Summer melaleuca – commonly known as a paper bark tree, provide a mass of white, honey scented blossom along the river and creeks while the apple gums – Angophora floribunda flourish in the forests on the hills at Christmas time.

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.

Although it is the last month of winter, it is not unusual for August to be the coldest month of the year on the Granite Belt. This year, 2008, is not proving to be the exception to the rule with morning temperatures dropping as low as -8°Celsius.
Due to the altitude the Granite Belt it 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. They are seldom disappointed.

This is great weather to dine in at Das Helwig Haus on a roast goose dinner. I breed a flock of geese each year and graze them free range on our farm so that when winter comes I can serve a true German style Christmas in July dinner. This is what I like to call “Self Sufficiency at Das Helwig Haus“.
It is sometimes hard for city people to comprehend how food arrives on the shelves of stores or on their restaurant plates, but the reality is that meat animals and birds are bred for the table.
So it is that I breed our own geese and now in August I have already have four mother geese each setting on about a dozen eggs. Ganders make very protective parents once the young are born, but mother geese don’t achieve a high score from a clutch of eggs. I always consider that a fifty percent survival rate is excellent.
Most people think that geese are as savage as watchdogs but I assure them that my geese are shy and will always walk away from people unless they are protecting their young babies.
I always ask our guests not to feed the geese anything like pieces of bread or they could get in the habit of following after people expecting a free hand out. That is why geese in public parks gain a bad reputation for chasing people and pecking them.

Our geese enjoy a great life as free range geese during the daylight hours. They roam all over our farm, grazing on the green grass and swimming on our dams.

Geese are a natural grazing bird, but appreciate a handful of cracked corn in the evenings. This is the lure I use to encourage them to return to their pens, where I feed them prior to closing the doors for the night. Due to the predators like foxes we have to ensure our geese are securely penned each night.

Although it is the last month of winter, it is not unusual for August to be the coldest month of the year on the Granite Belt. This year, 2008, is not proving to be the exception to the rule.
Due to the altitude the Granite Belt is the coldest district in Queensland. Visitors come to Das Helwig Haus in August hoping for starry night skies and frosty mornings when the ice will crunch under their feet. They are seldom disappointed.

Although the frosts are still with us throughout much of August I always think of it as a golden month with golden daffodils and golden wattle. There is no better view of the wattle than from the deck of Claudia’s Country Café at the Thunderbolt Farm and cellar door. Set high on the hills of the Granite Belt the view from this lookout is magnificent. Set on the eastern side of the range of hills above the valley through which flows the Severn River, the deck of this charming restaurant is protected from winter winds. In the warm glow of an afternoon’s sun, guests linger over yet another glass of wine, reluctant to stir from the tranquility of the setting.
Keith and Claudia chose to call their farm after the famous bushranger who roamed the New England Tableland as far north as the Granite Belt. In honour of Fred Ward, otherwise known as Captain Thunderbolt, because he appeared suddenly usually from behind huge granite rocks, they named two of their wines Stagecoach White and Bushranger Red.
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