Story
Preserving the good life
words HEIDI HELBIG
PHOTOGRAPHY pete thornton
The man behind one of the Barossa’s most successful food brands appreciates abundance like few others.
Blessed with good fortune in business and in life, Tanunda’s Steve ‘Zimmy’ Zimmermann is now instilling gratitude in the lives of others as a life coach and mentor.
The softly-spoken founder of Zimmy’s Barossa Valley Produce says he learned a thing or two while turning his home-based hobby into a runaway commercial success.
Like so many Barossa food stories, the Zimmy’s line of pickled and preserved condiments is founded on home recipes passed down through generations.
Steve’s secret to success is simple.
“It’s a lot of love, and the heritage of the grandparents, Ferdinand and Bertha Zimmermann, who are on our logo,” says Steve.
The Zimmermann family emigrated to South Australia in the late 1800s and settled in Marananga, a location that reminded them of their home in Prussia.
“In this environment they could grow all of their produce – vegies, grapes, fruit – because the climate and the soil was good,” Steve says.
German Barossans were characterised by their frugality and resourcefulness, using produce that was in season and wasting nothing.
Steve’s parents, Martin and Cora, also tilled the land at Marananga and later Vine Vale while Martin was a farrier for Schrapels Blacksmiths of Tanunda.
“They were vegetable growers as well as fruit – dried fruit was common, as well as fresh. They did a lot of preserving and made their own wursts, along with pickles and sauerkraut,” recalls Steve.
“We’d always made these products and I thought that was the sole base of food – I was surprised as I got older that other people didn’t know about them.
“We always had more than an abundant amount and had to preserve, pickle and cure so we had a whole year’s supply.”
Steve particularly remembers the pungent, sulphurous smell of horseradish.
“If you stood on the wrong side of the wind you couldn’t breathe and the fumes would make you cry – my parents would laugh at me because I couldn’t handle it!”
Steve and his brothers also hunted with their father, catching rabbits, foxes and spoggies.
“Rabbit pie in a tomato base, it was a real delicacy and one of the favourites. It was more common than chicken, and plentiful,” says Steve.
This self-sufficiency was the inspiration behind the decision to pull vines from 7.5 acres on Basedow Road and replant with vegetables.
“We started Zimmy’s as a hobby in the backyard,” says Steve. “I said to my father, what could we do with the land and he said ‘Look, there’s not a great horseradish around the Barossa’, and that was our first line.”
Supported by wife Jeneane, dill cucumbers, beetroot and pickled onions followed, fuelled by growing consumer demand.
At its peak the company produced 20 tonnes of gherkins and thousands of jars each week.
“The locals ate half of them,” said Steve, laughing. “We spread to a few stores in Adelaide, then to interstate buyers who owned shops in Melbourne and Sydney. Before we knew it we had to upgrade to more sophisticated, expensive equipment to take it to the next volume level, which was a wonderful decision in the end.”
A judge and convenor of the dill cucumber and pickled onion championships at the Tanunda Show, the father-of-three says despite the growth of the business, it was important to stay true to his roots.
“I never saw myself as an entrepreneur – I still wanted to have hands on all the activity and couldn’t do that in a large corporate, so we stayed a family business with only a few employees,” he says.
“The one thing we can change is the only thing we have control over, and that is attitude. “I’m convinced that life is 10 per cent what actually happens to us and 90 per cent how we react to it.”
- Steve Zimmermann
To this day, Zimmy’s recipes remain unchanged, although Mother Nature plays a big hand in quality control.
“What can trip you up? Very much seasonal things, the climate,” says Steve. “Cucumbers vary considerably. When you’re harvesting and curing, a colder climate slows fermenting, and in a hot season it’s the opposite, and you have to cool them down so they don’t ferment too rapidly.
“The other thing is the nutrient value of the produce. Natural, whole foods help the body with vitality and wellbeing, something I discovered much later on.”
It was during this time that Steve embarked on a journey of self-discovery, exploring the linkages between physical, metabolic, spiritual and mental health and how they impact wellbeing.
He read and studied widely to learn more about positive psychology, gaining accreditation as both a Christian and secular life coach.
“It frustrated me why a few people were not getting on in life. I was obviously doing something others weren’t, but I wasn’t able to explain it,” says Steve.
“It was a process of seeking and finding the answer to how I could help others. After 20 years of research it dawned on me – I had a (positive) mindset.
“The one thing we can change is the only thing we have control over, and that is attitude.
“I’m convinced that life is 10 per cent what actually happens to us and 90 per cent how we react to it.”
Using his own tailored life coaching program for individuals and groups, Steve wants to help others find their mission and purpose.
“You have to grow the character before you receive the results, whether that’s finances or relationships or any goal you have,” says Steve.
“It sounds Biblical, but what you sow in life, you receive, sometimes tenfold.”
The recent sale of Zimmy’s Barossa Valley Produce has also given Steve time to indulge his other interest, rally driving, a pursuit he’s loved ever since navigating the Barossa’s dirt roads as a teenager.
It’s a passion he shares with adult son Jeremy. The pair claimed a podium finish in the 2005 Toyota Rally SA and have recently rebuilt a Yaris GR to officiate in the upcoming six-day rally from Flinders Ranges to Victor Harbor.
Steve has a motorsport rally coaching licence to train and teach safety and driving skills, and says rally driving teaches lessons both on and off the course.
“You can do hundreds and hundreds of corners correctly, but make one mistake and it’s costly – that’s another learning in life,” he says.
When he’s not enjoying travelling, yabbying, crabbing and playing games with German Collie Mazi, Steve is also a natural educator. He visits primary schools to talk about the principles of good nutrition and wellbeing, and mentors secondary students whilst driving Faith senior school buses.
“My favourite question to ask the kids is: ‘what good happened today?’ I find it really important to think of the good,” says Steve.
He remains immensely grateful for the place where he lives, the beautiful landscape at the base of Trial Hill, and the legacy he created.
“I feel very content. Proud is a nice word but I like to be a bit more humble. It certainly is a great feeling to produce something from nothing and add value to the community,” Steve says.
Ultimately, he hopes others will learn and grow from his wisdom.
“I have always wanted to be able to contribute – not just have the benefit for my own good feelings, but make it wonderful for other people,” says Steve.
“Teaching others is as much, if not more rewarding than just having a good time yourself.”
