41 below

“So how much do you anticipate you will make from your plantation every year Mr Ziggy?”, I inquired, or someone else did.

“Roughly a quarter of million dollars per yearly harvest” Ziggy responded to the class. Gleefully!

‘Dam’, I pondered to myself at the time. What a windfall that would be. Harvesting one hectare of ginseng per year, every year, on a continual cycle. That is planning ahead of the finest caliber for mine.

Mr Ziggy is the owner of 41 degree south, a salmon and ginseng farm, situated in Red Hills, roughly a fifteen minute vehicle commute from Deloraine. My class and I were on a field trip through our trade school back in 2007, and we were taken around many of northern Tasmania’s small goods producers. Apart from visiting 41 degree south, we toured Christmas hills Raspberry farm, Ashgrove cheese, as well as the abalone farm that was previously situated down on the Tamar River, near Kelso. Mr Ziggy’s operation was by far the highlight of the day.

Apart from having the coolest name this side of Bass strait, Ziggy has been hard at work returning this previously pest infested wilderness back to it’s natural state, since his acquisition of the premises back in 1998, with his wife Angelika, and the rest of his young family. They host a salmon farm, as well as a ginseng plantation.

I had myself spent many a cold winter day in the locality of Deloraine growing up, with my old man and friends, hunting rabbits with our pet ferrets. The area was always abundant with our desired catchment of introduced pest. While I have vivid memories of being cold most of the time, while wanting to be at home playing computer games, the fresh, crisp and natural tranquility of the area was always refreshing and is still vividly present. Deloraine is still an area worth anyone’s while, especially now I am old enough to appreciate it and 41 degree south has all the motivation anyone needs to head out for a family day. I had plotted heading down there with my son for a few weeks, so we sucked up the 45 minute commute from Launceston and headed down to get something for dinner, and to give the boy a look around.

Ziggy’s salmon stock pile, or catchment as I believe it to be referred to as, is still brimming with monster salmon. Ben, Ziggy’s son, who was manning the gate, provided Henry and I with a bag of fish feed pellets as part of our $10 admission fee. There are two main feeding catchments, that provide a great spectacle for any would be tourist or fish enthusiast. You throw handfuls of pellets into either of the catchments, provoking MONSTER salmon into a feeding frenzy. The boy was amazed when the salmon started appearing to devour their food. The 41 degree team have a further 20 salmon grow out tanks just south of the tourist feeding catchments. The farm is also set up as a natural bio-filter for the farmed salmon. For anyone not fluent in bio-filters, they are filter systems that are designed to help de-contaminate processed farm water, by filtering out anything toxic that may disturb the surrounding natural environment and its complex eco-system, before the water is released back into the river. As with most farms, all the treatments and additives required to grow the salmon makes for some nasty pollutants. It is great know these guys are looking after the place. While this system is probably a good reason why these guys are a UNESCO approved world heritage area.

Further past the concrete grow out tanks, there is a short stroll to Montana cascade falls, where one can potentially catch a glimpse of the evasive platypus. The area had had a fair whack of rain in the days leading up to our arrival, so no luck on the platypus front for my son and I. It would have been a great spot to kick back and throw a line in and pretend my fishing game was strong. Unfortunately for me though, my 2 year old son is not overly fluent in the arts enjoying the peaceful tranquility of places like Montana falls and its surroundings, so we were immediately heading back towards the farm, in search of his new favorite toy car, the one that he had found within the BBQ area, back at the check in point and shop.

We ventured around the broad array of tracks and boardwalks, that incircle the many treatment ponds that are part of the bio-filter systems. And while I didn’t get a chance to speak to My Ziggy about the progress of his Ginseng plantations, his son informed me that they harvest the product in early winter. I have vivid memories while driving back to Launceston that day I was there through trade school, and dreaming of making it big growing ginseng one day. Tasmania is abundant with small businesses, growing and brewing world renowned produce and small good items. I doubt many could claim to be as environmentally friendly as the 41 degree team though.

Ginseng is a traditional Asian healing product, commonly used as a stimulant, immunity booster and muscle relaxant. While it is also commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes and stress. You will find it within plenty of food, drink and cosmetic products. I am a ‘V can’ man, and have always wondered whether or not it was the ginseng content in that energy drink, that gave it its unique sour flavor that I always enjoyed while attempting to abolish a hangover or 10 over the years. Ben informed me I can enquire about sourcing fresh ginseng just before winter, no promises were made though. They utilize all the ginseng them selves, therefore they have a large product range of seasoning’s, honey’s, and many other natural health related products that feel good when you put them in your face.

I had organized a 500 gram salmon to take home upon my arrival, and my son started to insist on taking their ride on lawn mower for a drag, so I fixed the bill and we headed to Deloraine for some lunch and a play on the old train down at the river bank park.

Deloraine, and its surrounds, is one of those places that make you feel like you need to stop and check everything out, in case you miss something old school and cool.

Ziggy, Angelika, and their young son have been building this great peace of Tasmanian agriculture for over twenty years, while improving the area for the natural habitat while they’ve been at it. The eradication of the gorse and willow from their farm has improved the natural river and wet land systems that were present before settlers introduced some of Britons finest flora and fauna. Much more work is still to be done with those varieties of pest all over Tasmania, it is a good start though.

My son was all about enjoying fish for dinner all day until it came time to eat it later on that evening, so it was peanut butter for him, and more fish and slow roasted vegetables for me at dinner time. With a bit of luck Mr Ziggy will let me take some fresh ginseng to play with after his next harvest. While in the meantime, it will be well worth the effort to enjoy many of their great products that we can find scattered within many different shops all over Launceston and Tasmania.

Go down and check these guys out next time your out and about, looking for something to checkout with your family. And go grab yourself one of their products the next time your looking for something tasty to add to your next cook up.

Check the 41 degree south guys out here; https://www.41southtasmania.com/