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.
