Jeremy Scheltus

Personal Bio

Hi, I’m Jeremy, I left home at an early age to travel around Australia while picking fruit and general farm work, found out I was to become a father, so came back to Melbourne, as it was put to me, to get a real job. Started dishwashing in a kitchen at 17, ended up a qualified chef and pastry chef. Have now been cooking for 30 years. The kids are all grown, and now I want to do something completely different. I moved to S.A 5 years ago and had the opportunity to rent a big property. It started of as all grass, but by the time I left almost every plant on the property was edible. I loved growing all my own food and cooking with it, the flavors are so different from store bought food, also got into fermentation,made my own sauerkraut, kimchi, milk kefir, water kefir, kombucha, kogi rice, miso, you name it. Also during my wanderings I’v done a lot of stone masonry, building, landscaping, general labouring, and have worked in pet shops since the age of 4 [fathers business]. I’m 40-odd, 6’2” and enjoy physical labor. Hobbys include hiking, ornithology, chess, reading bike riding, canoeing, swimming. I have tried to never use artificial chemical in growing or cooking food. I would love to learn new ways of becoming self sufficient, any skills that come with that, and to get to meet and talk to like minded people. It would be a great change from a commercail kitchen. So, I like hard work learning, and will travel, and if I can help with any of my knowledge I’m always keen. thanks

Why I joined WWOOF

It seems like a better way of working while travelling than the standard way of finding work, having that monetary relationship, worrying about where to live, trying to negotiate wages and all the other humdrum stuff. It sounds like the hosts are willing to share their knowledge, know how and experiences and be friendly at the same time. A very welcome change.