Ziggy and Angelika Pyka

ZIGGY AND ANGELIKA PYKA

Tasmania has always attracted pioneers and the vision of a German couple to build a ginseng and salmon farm out of the wilderness certainly qualifies them as modern-day pioneers.
Ziggy and Angelika Pyka with their son Ben have cut 41 Degrees Aquaculture Eco-Experience out of 14ha of wilderness at  Montana, in the idyllic Meander Valley.
Their farm is fed by the rainforest waters of the nearby Montana Falls, under the Great Western Tiers. Real wilderness; Tasmanian tiger country.
Their venture is reminisce of the manpower required 60 years ago when a hardy group of Dutch and Italian migrants cut the state’s hydro-electric dams out of the south-west wilderness.
It is a testimony to Tasmania’s spectacular landscape and its rural lifestyle that there are still challenges to attract these modern day pioneers.
The family left Europe when their children were toddlers to escape the insanity of the Chernobyl nuclear accident and search for a clean, safe environment.
Their search ended in the Meander Valley and five years ago it took them to a piece of neglected farmland at Montana.
The wattle and willow was so thick on their property they they could only drive their front-end loader in one direction, onwards gradually nudging out the stubborn scrub.
They carried 220 tonnes of concrete bucket by bucket to build 10 fish holding tanks.
It took five years of grit and determination for the Pyka’s dream to be realised.
``Not many people are stubborn enough to finish a project like this,’’ Ziggy Pyka said.
Not just stubborn, but committed to environmental excellence.
Their fish tank water comes straight out of the Montana Falls and is recirculated back to the nearby wetlands where platypus and native birdlife bask in clean, reclaimed wetlands into the fish ponds.
Nearby fields of ginseng are flourishing. It was the magic of the medicinal Korean herb that first captured the Pyka’s imagination
They grew salmon to fund their ginseng growing experiment.
Nowadays concrete tanks contain thousands of thriving fish which end up as hot-smoked baby salmon and other gourmet products.
Their waste water system is modelled on similar European models. Nitrogen is removed from the waste water before it is released into the wetlands.
After four or five weeks in the special reed ponds, the water is clean.
 "So clean you could drink it at the end," Mr Pyka said.
 Visitors can take self-guided walks along boardwalks through the farm and along the banks of the western rivulet, view the fish farm, feed some salmon and view the ginseng plantations and wildlife.
Their hot-smoked baby salmon can be tasted and bought at farm gate along with a magnificent salmon rillettes developed in conjunction with Remi  and Ginette Bancal at nearby luxury gourmet getaway, Calstock at Deloraine.
You can explore the fish farm and walk through the reclaimed wetlands before stopping at the information centre for coffee and freshly made sandwiches (salmon, of course!).
41 Degrees Aquaculture is located at 323 Montana Road, Deloraine/Red Hills open 7 days a week.