Struan Farm

New Additions to the Flock

Remember when I went to Nelson and visited Mapua Country Trading Company? I took a picture of the rusty chook sculpture above their entrance, and asked Heather for the details of the artist who'd made it.

 

I then made contact with Jane Downes from Little River Engineering/Ironweed Products http://wwwlittleriver.co.nz , determined to order some chooks for the farm. But Jane de-railed me on the chooks (at least for now) by suggesting that she could also make sheep, and sent me some different versions by email to choose from.

Two weeks later, the ewe and lamb arrived from the South Island, with a note indicating that they will rust further when left outside:

 

I know they will be quite happy frolicking in the garden at Struan Farm (perhaps in our granddaughter Ella's special garden?), but I can already see John rolling his eyes!

Naming Rights

In a prior post I mentioned that we were going to name the kitchen in the Homestead "Rosemary's Kitchen" after John's mum, so that she might supervise all that occurs. Her photo is now framed and hanging above the kitchen doorway. We'll have the official dedication on Boxing Day, when we have a buffet lunch in the garden and sports day (archery, croquet and golf) with the extended family.

At the Cottage we have "The Pink Room" and "The Blue Room." These names date back to when John's sister Julie, her husband Scott and three children lived for a time at the Cottage. I think it was then that the Pink Room was painted bright, bright pink for Roseanna and Lydia, while the Blue Room was painted blue for Edwin.

With our renovations at the Cottage the rooms were repainted but the names stayed. Here's the Pink Room:

 
 
And the Blue Room:

 
 
 

This past weekend John and I were talking about the eventual renovation of Maurie's workshop. John's workshop will need to be closer to our new housesite, so we've been thinking about making the workshop into a small guest cottage or "sleep out" in NZ parlance, since it's adjacent to the Homestead. Of course it will still be called "Maurie's Workshop," although I'll need to wash that plate!

 
 

Bunting Update: making progress!

The House of the Spirits

The landscape of the King Country is dotted with limestone rocks but also rustic sheds, picturesque barns, and sometimes abandoned houses.

The latter are somewhat unusual from my perspective. They are left untouched to weather and eventually collapse. We drive by two often in our travels:

 
 

John wants me to research the histories of these weathered structures, write about their stories and photograph them seriously.  While we do not understand the cultural issues that may be associated with this practice, it is thought that in the early days when a person died in a house that it was abandoned.  We really don't know if this is true, "rural legend," or simply misinformation.

Isabel Allende's novel "The House of the Spirits" drifted into my mind as I was thinking about this. It makes me smile to think the spirits may have kept their homes for eternity.

 

 

Sheepish

While Struan Farm has had cattle and calves on its hills from time to time, it has always been, and we expect it will continue to be, primarily a sheep farm.

In light of this heritage, thinking about decorating the Homestead I've become a bit of a sheep afficionado, hopefully without going too far overboard or (heaven forbid) getting too cutsie:

 
Couldn't resist this Andy Warhol-esque tea towel below. I took one this past June to California as a gift to my friend Grace Olinski, who made it into a cute pillow; think it might also look interesting framed:

 

I found an old sheep iron bank and these vintage photographs at antique shops in Nelson and Richmond, respectively. Both the shop and the framer think the photographs were hand colored:

    

I stumbled upon some other old B&W photographs of sheep herds at an antique shop in Paeroa. The owner had purchased a photography collection that had been displayed at New Zealand House in London, the images at one time were used to promote New Zealand:

 

 
  

They are now in the Struan Farm Homestead mudroom, I hope this isn't too much of a comedown after living with the NZ High Commissioner!

Last but not least, my flock of colored "Herdy Banks" from http://www.herdy.co.uk  imported all the way from the UK:

 

I like the fact that proceeds from their purchase went to help preserve England's Herdwick Sheep.

 

 

 

 

A Simple Twist of Fate: The Pew

We pass through a little village called Ohaupo on our way from Papakura to Piopio and Struan Farm. There's a lovely antique shop called "Collectamania" on the main road. It has a few specialties, including NZ colonial furniture.

I often stop in to browse and have a yarn with the owner Jane. Over the years we have purchased a few bits and pieces. One day when driving by I noticed a beautiful wooden church pew in the front window, the kind that everyone envisions in her front hallway with an interesting needlepoint seat cushion and/or pillows. (I'm sure this isn't only me?) 

Now I don't go buying furniture without consulting John. So I suggested that he have a look at it when he was passing by next. And since he kept forgetting, I kept reminding him (and reminding him).  I'm not a nag, but I wanted this pew for our home at the farm. I could see it there.

One Sunday about a month later we were driving back from Piopio together, and I asked him to stop in Ohaupo so we could check out the pew, which was still in the window.  I'd been keeping my eye on it. I also had a birthday/anniversary coming up.

Of course, as fate would have it, Jane had sold it that very day. But the buyer wasn't able to pay for it on the spot and committed to pay her by month end.  I asked her to call me if by chance the sale fell through, but felt we'd missed out, just. On closer inspection we learned that the pew was made of rimu, and had rails for prayer books at the back. And to make matters worse, it had been reasonably priced. 

To make a long story longer, the sale fell through, Jane rang me, and the pew is ours. It turns out we were meant to have it after all.

 

 
 

It's now in our hallway at the Homestead & Knitting Studio, will either stay there or end up in the hallway of our new house. I asked local Piopio artist Jo Gallagher to print a canvas of her colorful flax designs, that I then had transferred onto handpainted needlepoint canvas thanks to The Needle Nook of La Jolla http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com . At some point I will finish two long needlepoint seat cushions, having spent three hours in La Jolla one June picking out yarns in a multitude of colors with lots of help.

    
 

What's especially interesting is that a kauri table I'd purchased from Jane had also been owned by the same man who'd owned the pew.

So those pieces were meant to stay together.  I just now have a wee bit of stitching to do.

Labour Weekend: Back to Work

This past weekend was our three day Labour Weekend. John and I got stuck in outside around the Homestead.

John is starting to tackle the layout of the terraces off the decks, and re-landscaping the lawns, while I got down on hands and knees and weeded, scraped, and dug out plants around the swimming pool (don't ask about my fingernails). The pool area will get a major rehab.

The weather was perfect. Blue skies, warm spring sunshine. We were both amazed to see the colors of spring, particularly the variation in the trees that John's parents planted during their lifetimes on the property. We feel lucky/blessed to have this legacy to maintain and grow. We were also both pretty stiff and sore by the end of the day!

After a weekend like this it's hard to leave John (and Clifford) and return to Papakura for the work week ahead.  I decided to bring a bunch of viburnum back to help keep the images of the garden in springtime in my mind during the week:

 

 

 

Off on a Tangent

Before you say anything, I know. I'm meant to be finishing my UFO's. I'd been making good progress on my Everyday Wrap, only four inches to go before I can fold, stitch the seam, and knit the ruffle. Home stretch.

But I've been thinking about buntings, which all of a sudden are everywhere. I want to make a knitted one for the Knitting Studio and then play around with making a felted one, maybe with appliques or buttons.

First the knitted one. I searched Ravelry http://www.ravelry.com , and after considering the options chose a free pattern from GreenMountainMama called "Knitted Bunting." It has an applied i-cord edging that's knitted once the flags are done, and knits the i-cord onto the flags, so it will be good to learn that technique. I dug out a stash of Biggan Design DK Merino First Cross http://www.biggandesign.com  in a glorious rainbow of colors (plus one navy skein of Cascade 220):

 

Tuesday night I made two flags:

 
I'm bad, I know. I also dug out some other colors of Cascade 220 for the felted version. A quick detour from the tasks at hand but I'm having fun.

 

Dyed in the Wool Experiment

Over the past two years my friend Nicky has taught herself to hand dye. One year she had me bring Kool Aid back from the USA so she could dye with that. I had never heard of this before, but since seeing her output I've become increasingly interested in trying this myself. (The goal here is to use our fleece and hand spun yarn from Struan Farm in due course.)

Ravelry http://www.ravelry.com has a group called "What a Kool Way to Dye" that I've joined. As a starting point I've read their linked tutorials on how to get started, including one that was published on Knitty http://www.knitty.com . I also asked my friend Laura if she wouldn't mind shipping me a stash of different colors/flavors of Kool Aid from California so I could jump in and get started (Kool Aid isn't available here in NZ, although other powdered drink mixes that are,like Raro, supposedly also work).

In the meantime, in my recent travels around the country I stumbled upon a Creative Fibre http://www.creativefibre.org.nz sock exhibition in the lobby of Gisborne District Council. It is touring the country to promote knitting and membership in Creative Fibre, NZ's national fibre arts organization. Visitors are asked to vote for their favorite socks on display, which of course I did. One of the entrants was a rainbow colored grouping of little socks that had been hand dyed using Gregg's Jelly crystals (the NZ equivalent of jello). Yet another eureka moment for me to discover that this was possible.

Last week I went onto Creative Fibres group on Ravelry and queried the group how to do this. I was told it could be done either in the microwave or on stove top. I decided to go for the stovepot for my first experiment, since I thought that would be easier to observe and control.

I wet natural spun wool and put it in a pot with warm water, 1/4 cup white vinegar, and one package of jelly, stirred and dissolved. The instructions were then to leave it on low heat until all of the color was absorbed. I tried "blackberry" and "lime" first:

  

I saw in taking the skeins out of the pots that I should have moved the ties so that color could be absorbed in that area. So my first two skeins have little white rings where the ties were.

For my second two skeins, I tried two jelly packets to see how that might deepen the color, with "lemon" and "raspberry."  It was decidedly deeper in color, we'll see what it looks like when I take it out. I didn't increase the amount of vinegar, am wondering if I should have....

   
 

 

But here's the finished product drying on my rack:

 

 

It was very easy and fun to do (not sure how color fast it is, will hand wash whatever is made with this until I determine that). But I can't wait til the Kool Aid arrives and am tempted to play with Raro!

 

 

My Friends at Estuary Arts

Rosie Little and Bruce Hamlin are artist friends of mine who live in Collingwood, Golden Bay, over the Takaka Hill from Nelson on NZ's South Island. They are renowned as potters but also paint, sculpt, and in recent years started making glass pieces http://www.estuaryarts.co.nz

Each year on my vacation I would call into the Estuary Arts Studio in Para Para, past Takaka, to visit them for life updates and add to my growing collection of their work.

I must confess that I see them less regularly now that I live in NZ, but I do manage to catch up every other year or so, and Rosie and I maintain an irregular correspondence of scribbled life updates at least once a year. Oddly enough, after writing the first draft of this post, Rosie rang to query me about Auckland logistics related to an upcoming trip Bruce is making to attend a conference on glass making.

Bruce is a fisherman and his early pottery involved fish:

  
 

Rosie's usually flowers or fruit:

   


Although she went through a nude period:

 
Not sure whether this vase was made by Rosie or Bruce, but I love the color, glaze, and cattails with dragonfly and frog:

 

 

And then there's the glass:

 

I wasn't able to photograph one of Rosie's paintings in a way that would do it justice. I have them framed with glass and it is too reflective. For some reason her mountain landscapes remind me of Georgia O'Keefe. Bruce has taken up painting again but I haven't (as yet) acquired one of his paintings.

I love the fact that their art evolves and that they work in different media. If you get out to Golden Bay call into Estuary Arts or check out their website. When Rosie heard about this impending blog post, she warned me that quite a bit of my collection is now "ancient history" given their current work, so I'm assuming its value has increased accordingly!

Multi-crafting: How much is too much?

My friend Marilyn is a wife, mother, accountant, knitter, quilter, and generally busy person. As if she doesn't have enough to do, she has caught the stamping and card making bug. http://www.myhomemadeescape.blogspot.com

Marilyn and I were originally introduced via a knitting contact in Auckland. This person decided that a Canadian and American living in NZ, both enthusiastic about knitting, would probably hit it off. (Not always a correct assumption, but in this case it worked.) I have found living overseas that most Canadians get insulted if accused of being American, while most Americans have thick skins, it comes with the territory. Whatever. It's probably best to say that Marilyn and I are both "North Americans" so we can all hold hands and sing Kumbayah.

But I digress. Marilyn and I became good "mates" from our first meeting. Since that time her family has been to the farm, we've made 65 pots of blueberry, raspberry and strawberry jams in one somewhat sugar crazed marathon day, and we meet at the local Clevedon farmers market for coffee and knitting when schedules converge. I also try to make the periodic gatherings of our larger group of knitting friends at the Botanic Gardens, but those don't tend to work for me with regular weekend commitments and work projects at the farm.

Her foray into stamping/card making is interesting. I'm tempted but can't quite take the leap off the cliff, I know my limitations. I have a project queue (farm and knitting) that will take me to my dotage. (I haven't posted as yet on my needlepoint/tapestry projects, but they're a story waiting to be told.)

Marilyn made us all knitting cards at our recent Knitters Retreat at Struan Farm:

 
 She also gave me a Stampin Up Knitters stamp set in a lovely hostess gift basket (along with chilli chocolate, I confess), with some of the images below:

 

This has added to my repetoire of knitting stamps given my existing stockpile from Kaspareks http://www.kaspareks.com :

 

So with all these plus our new Struan Farm logo stamps, one would think I'm more than sufficiently equipped, especially for someone who really isn't into stamping, right?

Marilyn is talking about holding a Christmas card class in November. Hmmmmm....maybe I need to learn some basic techniques?

 

 

 

Doone Cottage & Collecting Anne Bannocks

I started travelling down to New Zealand in 1987 as a tourist, annually every year after 1992 or so. I'd pass straight through Auckland to the South Island from the US. My trips started in the Nelson area and then I'd drive down the West Coast from there, walking and doing photography, venturing down gravel roads to explore. While each time I'd explore a new area, I also returned to special places (and people).

Every year without fail I stayed with Glen and Stan Davenport at Doone Cottage in Motueka.  http://www.doonecottage.co.nz The property overlooks the Motueka River and looks straight across to the often snow capped mountains and Mt Arthur. For some reason just being there is restorative. Over many years and long talks over the dinner table, Glen and Stan became dear friends. It is a homecoming every visit. One year Stan walked with me up to the summit of Mt Arthur (I wouldn't have made it there on my own, Stan was 70 at the time). Another year Glen, Stan and I joined a group that walked up Lodestone Peak to discover amazing 180 degree views of Nelson and Golden Bays. The gardens, animals, and homey ambiance that is Doone Cottage make it a cozy, welcoming place. Glen continues to take guests, and it is well worth a stay, just don't book the Garden Chalet when I want to visit! 

 
Not far from Doone enroute to the upper Moutere is the settlement of Ngatimoti, where one day for the first time I called into artist Anne Bannock's Meadowbank Gallery in the Orinoco Valley. She displays her work in a wonderful old weathered shed. Anne and her husband Mike of course were friends of Glen and Stan. (And as it happens here, they lived in Te Kuiti before moving to Ngatimoti, and know John's sister Anna.) 

When John and I decided to get married at St. James Church in Ngatimoti (Glen and Stan's local church), Anne and Mike were in attendance, Stan drove me to the church in his vintage Holden, and Glen decorated the car with ribbons and flowers and served as the "mother of the bride." Stan helped us find the right vicar, one who would be appropriately traditional but not OTT ("over the top"). We cut the wedding cake afterward with a small group of friends and family at Doone Cottage, where we spent our wedding night and honeymoon. 

This is an area and these are people that have a special place in my heart.

Over the years I have acquired a number of Anne's paintings. I love the fact that her style varies, although I am drawn to her landscapes the most.  She has recently set up a website, http://www.annebannock.co.nz  showcasing her work, and is writing a blog (Mike may be in charge of the blog).

The painting below, "Ferns," was my first acquisition. We've decided it is going to hang in the bedroom at the Homestead, where its scale will work with the high ceiling:

 

 These two below hang in Papakura for now. The first is "Marahau," the following "Kahurangi Hills," with our other "Annes" on display in the Cottage:

 
 

 I'll tell you about my friends Rosie and Bruce from Estuary Arts in Golden Bay at some point too, but don't want to inundate you with too much good art all at once, it should be rationed and savored.

It's All About Me?

Everyone has an inner compass. Where we sometimes go astray is in not using it to guide ourselves. As I started to become a reasonably serious nature photographer, it dawned on me that I actually had my own way of seeing things--I'd look at grand vistas and see "pieces," details of texture, line and color within broader landscapes, things that other people didn't necessarily see.  Some might say that I couldn't see the big picture, or that I missed the forest for the trees. I prefer to think what what I saw, and what I still see, are often overlooked details that might represent the essence or heart of a particular scene.

These are some of my photographs, all taken quite awhile ago, and all copyrighted:

 

   

I remember taking each of these images, sitting in the sand shooting the Elegant Terns at Bolsa Chica in Huntington Beach, CA, fighting off the sand flies in misty rain at Lake Rotoiti in Nelson Lakes National Park, stopping along roadsides.

These are all images from my past.

What I'm excited about is that I'm about to get a "real" digital camera. I can't wait to walk around Struan Farm in the photo zone, something I haven't done as yet. I'll be starting to take pictures for our website, and want to capture "our" landscape in different seasons and moods to share with you.

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." --Proust

                                                                                                                                  -                                                                                                          

 

 

 

 

In Praise of Fruit Crumbles

Growing up in the USA my mother's specialty was pies. She was an average cook generally, seemed to view it all as a chore. But she loved making pies: mince, pumpkin, lemon meringue, coconut custard, cherry (for Washington's Birthday) and most of all apple. Mom would often make apple "crisp" pies that had a crumble topping. Those were my personal favorite.

I enjoy cooking. If I have the time to be organized and methodical, I find it relaxing and almost meditative. It also makes me feel good when I make food that others enjoy eating, especially using produce from my veggie garden (my husband John is the best guinea pig in the world when it comes to testing out new recipes).

So while I'm not like my mother (doesn't every woman say that?) with respect to her dislike of cooking generally, I did inherit her love of and skill in making pies. Making pastry has never been a problem for me.

In the summer and autumn at Struan Farm we have loads of fruit, both from the property itself (raspberries, currents and plums) and from Piopio Orchard (strawberries, blueberries and autumn raspberries). And in NZ apples and pears are always in abundance. 

We planted an orchard up by our new house site last year to get the trees going, with heirloom varieties of apples (Peasegood Nonesuch and Monty's Surprise), plums (Black Doris and Elephant Heart), and peach (Golden Queen). I've got a "flatto" peach on order for next year, in the US I think they're called "donut" peaches. And of course the heirloom fig cuttings are growing (yet again) per my recent post.

Thus fruit crumbles have become my default dessert. Everyone seems to like them, with or without yogurt, cream, or ice cream. Blueberry is probably my favorite, with plums picked from our tree a close second and apples third. But I've mixed blueberries and plums, apples and quince and apricots, apples and blueberries, almost forgot peaches--to quote Cole Porter, anything goes! (In a pinch you can even use frozen fruit.) This weekend I found some gorgeous ruby red rhubarb at the Clevedon Farmers Market, so whipped up an apple rhubarb crumble to test out this combination:

 

It was yummy, I hadn't tried rhubarb before. Below is a rough recipe, it's really hard to mess a crumble up:

Struan Farm Fruit Crumble

pyrex or other ceramic baking dish, inside lightly buttered

fruit of your choice, quantity to fill mounded (it cooks downs), but not so much that it will spill over

toss fruit in about 1/2 cup granulated sugar and a tablespoon or so of flour (amount of sugar varies depending on tartness of fruit and your preference, amount of flour varies depending on how juicy the fruit might be)

To make crumble topping, by hand or in food processor combine:

one cup each of uncooked oats and brown sugar

1/2 cup flour (can be wholegrain)

1/2-3/4 stick of cold butter (2-3 oz) cut up into bits

cinnamon or mixed spice or combination of cinnamon, cloves, ginger (again, just about any of these work to taste)

optional: chopped walnuts

Don't go overboard and pulverize the topping if you use a food processor, you want it to be lumpy-- just get it all roughly combined and then pat on top of the fruit after working it a bit with your hands to incorporate the butter throughout. This quantity of topping should be more than enough for most size dishes, but you can play around with the quantity of topping until you like the result (some of us like more crunchy stuff than others).  I've also used canola oil instead of butter, and that works too. I bake it at 350 (F) or 180(C) until the top is browned and fruit is bubbling (a little less than one hour depending on the size of the dish). It can be made in advance and reheated, or served from the oven, but serve warm either way. I often put it in the oven to reheat at a lower temperature as we sit down to dinner, that seems to work reasonably well. 

 

I delivered the blueberry crumble above to my neighbors hot from the oven on Saturday night--they were happy to see me.

p.s. As you can see, this is not a cakey, cobbler-like topping, that's another thing entirely but also good. When I head in that direction I revert to Jamie Oliver's recipe in "Jamie at Home: Orchard Eve's pudding with whisky Jersey cream." 

 

An Appreciation of Wood

As I've indicated previously the Robertsons love their trees, an appreciation that also extends to wood and woodworking. Maurie kept himself occupied up to his death making all sorts of hand crafted items, including an abundance of bowls and coasters we've inherited, so numerous in quantity that some have been bequeathed to family and friends:

 

John learned woodworking from a teacher named Vic Matthews at St. Paul's Collegiate School in Hamilton, was involved in making a cross that is still hanging above the altar in the Chapel there today. He has threatened to pick it up again "when he has the time."

NZ has stopped logging of native forest (except I believe on an exceptional basis by special permit). So native timber items today are made from either recycled timber or from longstanding stockpile. I found and have stashed an old ruler that has samples of different types of woods:

 

There is continued debate about the floorboards in the Homestead. Some say Rimu, others say Matai. In the Cottage there is more consensus that some floors are heart Rimu (toilet and bathroom), while others are Matai.

I recently picked up a beautiful, hand crafted magnetic kitchen utensil rack at the Hokitika Craft Gallery made by local artisan Marc Zuckerman http://www.mzdesign.co.nz . Utensils below are made of Rimu and Rewarewa, but there were many other types of wood and utensil designs and sizes, as well as different rack sizes:

 

Okay, I purchased two. One has been installed in the Homestead kitchen, one will be a Christmas present for some lucky family member or friend, and I'm thinking I may need to order more!

I also nest collections of rocks in hand turned bowls, these by Ann and Bob Phillips of Nelson:

 

 The rocks and wood together seem a natural fit.

 

    
  
  

The Village Smithy

I remember a verse from childhood that it turns out was a poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called "The Village Blacksmith." The first part of which is:

"Under a spreading chestnut tree, the village smithy stands;

The smith, a mighty man is he,

With large and sinewy hands;

And the muscles in his brawny arms

Are strong as iron bands."

In Piopio the old blacksmith forge and the smithy's cottage have been preserved as part of a simple country museum open to the public. John remembers as a child taking spades, axes and horse shoes to Bill Glascow, the blacksmith in Piopio village, to be repaired or made. He always wore a black singlet, and seemed very imposing and strong with his red hot forge.

This past weekend we stopped in so I could photograph the old anvil and forge:

 

There was also a board of different horse shoes on the wall, which must have been used as samples:

 

Thinking it might be nice to have a resurgence of this skill.

 

 

Piopio Homework

Recently I've done a bit of work researching the bird after which Piopio is named. I'd always been told that the Piopio was an extinct native thrush, but had no idea what it looked like and why it became extinct. Below is a picture of a print taken from Walter Lawry Buller's "Birds of New Zealand, 2nd edition, 1888." One thousand sets of the edition were produced, although 251 copies were lost in the wrecks of the Matai and Assaye sinkings in 1890. The image below is a photograph of a chromolithograph by artist J.G. Keulemans of the North and South Island Thrushes (Turnagra tanagra and Turnagra crassirostris) that we own, purchased from a company in Greytown called New Zealand Birds, http://www.nzbirds.com . (The South Island bird is in the front, North Island in the back):

.

It was a passerine bird of the Turnagridae family, common in 1873 but declining rapidly thereafter due to predation by cats and rats, with the last specimen seen in 1900 or thereabouts. The bird was commonly named a thrush, but is now thought to be more closely related to the bower birds and birds of paradise from Australia and New Guinea.

Still can't find out how/why the village was named after the bird, my detective work continues....

The New House is Happening

I think I've mentioned that John and I are going to build a new house on another part of the Struan Farm property for us to live in. The Homestead and Cottage will then be used for guest accomodation for the farmstay and the Knitting Studio.

Our new house will start life initially as a Lockwood showhome in Hamilton http://www.lockwood.co.nz . It's being build by Waikato Living in Hamilton, and we've worked with Jol Glyde and his wife Kath to design it.  Once it has done its gig as a showhome it will be moved to the house site at the farm. (Don't ask me how they do these things, but they do. I won't be watching that.)

We are able to drive by and see the progress on the site on Hukanui Road:

As if the renovations at the farm weren't exciting enough?
 
 

 

A Chance Encounter

Over ten years ago while I was vacationing in NZ, well before I moved here, I stumbled upon two sepia toned black & white photographs by a Dunedin photographer named George Chance (1885-1963).  One was a scene of "Poplars beside Lake Wanaka," another of "Pastures beside Lake Hayes" (both South Island locales that I travelled to). As someone who has dabbled in photography myself over the years, I decided these were worthwhile acquisitions.

I have since acquired three other images by this early NZ photographer: "Autumn South Canterbury," "A Wayside Chat-Otago Central," and most recently, "Matai Valley-Nelson."

Chance was born in Liverpool but emigrated to Dunedin in 1909. He was an advocate of a style of photography called "pictorialism," whereby photographers composed their images like paintings. I have since learned that during the Depression his photographs were published widely in magazines and newspapers, and that he had quite wide appeal.

 

Above is his photograph of Matai Valley, Nelson. I'm interested both in his landscapes as well as the scenes of rural life he depicted.

 

Scenes from a Country School

John attended Piopio Primary School many moons ago. He still keeps in touch with a number of people from his class, several of whom continue to live in the area.

The school sits in a lovely tree lined setting, near Piopio College, with a traditional wooden exterior and high windows. I especially like the fact that the signage is in both English and Te Reo Maori:

 

The school was the first in NZ to have a school bus. Picture of this school bus taking students from Paemako (near Struan Farm) to Piopio circa 1924-25, courtesy of our National Library, http://mp.natlib.govt.nz/detail/?id=15841 :

 

We have a print of this image framed in the cottage, although no one can really figure out where on the road it was taken!