Struan Farm

The Judas Tree

John recently mentioned to me that there is a special tree in the garden at Struan Farm called "The Judas Tree," one that should definitely remain as we start to reshape and update the garden.

 
Once again the tree reference books were pulled from the shelf, something that is becoming a regular occurence and has us wondering if we're simply becoming old and boring (John), or perhaps more intellectually curious (Karen). Its proper name is Cercis siliquastrum and it is part of the pea family, Leguminosae. Interesting, Anna has one that already has pods this year, while ours doesn't as yet:

 
The kidney shaped leaves are quite attractive, but it also has beautiful pink flowers in spring.

Legend has it that it is from this tree that Judas Iscariot hanged himself after betraying Christ. That's a bit creepy, even if we do like the tree.

 

Weekend Flowers

I've been going a little overboard with the flower arrangements on weekends lately:

 
 
 
Both this weekend and last I've used some tall stalks of delicate white bell shaped blossoms, which (once again) I wasn't familiar with:

 
When we dug out the gardening reference books last week to find Tigridia pavonia we also looked this up, and discovered it's Galtonia candicans, a giant summer hyacinth from South Africa. The fact that John's parents planted such unusual and diverse specimens in their garden continues to amaze us. I feel responsible to learn about and look after them properly.

It's Dawned on Us: The Living Fossil

The past two weekends we've had visitors to Struan Farm who know their trees. And both indicated to us that the trees we thought were Swamp Cypress were more likely Dawn Redwood. After checking our reference books, we're now convinced this is the case.

While both are in the Taxodiaceae Family, the Swamp Cypress, or Taxodium, has "knees" that rise up as part of its root system. Dawn Redwood, or Metasequoia (meaning "related to the Sequoias"), does not have these.  Our trees do not have these.

The interesting part of the story is that this tree was only rediscovered in 1941 in China's Szechuan Province; like the Ginkgo, it previously only had been known from fossil imprints, it was thought to be extinct.

Following its rediscovery and cultivation, worldwide distribution of its seeds commenced in 1948. John's dad Maurie would have planted our largest specimen tree in the Pet Paddock in the early 1950's, so this would have to be one of the older specimens in New Zealand. (Maurie was like that with his trees, pioneering, really.)

 
 
 
We have four of these of different ages in the Pet Paddock, and one down at the Pond. Its feathery foliage turns pink and amber before dropping in autumn. Apparently it is happiest in damp, deep, rich soil, which we clearly have at Struan Farm.

 

Let There be Light

We've had visitors the past two weekends at Struan Farm. It's been fun, but it has meant that we haven't done much more work on John's Hut. I've been weeding in the garden, and John has been out with the tractor and chain saw dealing with a few fallen trees, the aftermath of some storms with rain and high winds.

Yes, there's always something.

The good news is that we have made progress of some sort: Vaughn has been and hung the  light fixture we purchased from coppersmith Reg Parkes made from recycled copper:

 
It looks good, now to get the rest of the Hut done when we can.

Visitors & The Great Sheep Muster

This past weekend we had some friends visit Struan Farm, a family with four young children. They immigrated to New Zealand from the Philippines several years ago, and had only been outside of the Auckland area once before for a day trip, and never to a farm.

It was great fun to show them the farm, gardens, native bush and river. John decided to wait to move some sheep between paddocks so that the kids in particular could help (thankfully the sheep, except for one cranky old ewe, cooperated and ran through the gate).

 
 
Afterward John, Michael and the older children walked down to the river, while Rowena, little Grace and I walked out along the "Old Road" so that we might watch them making their way down below.

Here's a view looking out across the hills from the end of the Old Road:

 
Turkey feathers, pine cones, and ferns were collected enroute.

"Ephemeral Great Butterflies"

Last Saturday a flower appeared in the garden at Struan Farm. I'd seen it blooming in this corner of the garden previously, but it wasn't one I was familiar with then or now.

 
John's sister Anna, an avid gardener, came to visit that day with another gardening friend, but no one could identify it so we all agreed to consult our respective reference books and revert. Anna rang later that evening with the verdict: Tigridia pavonia.

It is a South American native that grows mostly in the mountains of Mexico and parts of Peru. Our book said that they are "ephemeral great butterflies," with triangular flowers.

 
So now we know we have a special latina bloom at Struan Farm. And true to form, this flower finished its show in one day, with others then taking the stage:

 
This discussion then led into questions about the derivation and meaning of "ephemeral." For me it means "fleeting" or "short lived," but I offered to research further. I have since learned that it is from the Greek word "ephemeros," meaning literally "lasting only one day," but is also used to refer to things that are transitory or exist briefly.

I'm glad we were there to witness Tigridia pavonia's ephemeral show for this year. 

 

 

Mystery Solved: The Steps to Nowhere

Fortunately John's sister Julie came back with a better recollection than her siblings on the corner of the garden at Struan Farm with the "steps to nowhere." You may recall I recently uncovered them during my stint of holiday gardening, although their history was a mystery to be solved.

 
It turns out that the area above Maurie's workshop had been a vegetable garden when Julie was young, circa 1970's. The steps originally led up to a rotary clothes line, so that explains that. Today the trees surrounding the garden are so tall one can't imagine enough sunlight in this area for a clothes line, it is quite shaded, but forty years ago the situation was apparently quite different.

A veggie garden was to the right of the steps, but was converted to a shrubbery in the 1980's with plantings of heather and rhodos that are still there. Julie believes the additional paths were built running through the shrubbery when this change was made. The main pathway led (and still leads) to a wooden archway, one today in need of fresh paint.

 
It's good for us (at least for me) to know the history of why things are the way they are at Struan Farm. Especially as we change things, or not.

 

 

Wandering in the Photo Zone

 
I've started to play around with my new Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera, cautiously. I'm a bit respectful of this camera, not sure about the whole digital thing and how my vision might be translated electronically. 

 
This was my first real outing around Struan Farm, still on "auto." At some point I'll venture down to the river and photograph the rapids running over corregated limestone to test out "shutter priority." Heaven only knows when I'll figure out the software side of things, including my recently purchased Adobe Photoshop Elements 9. One step at a time, as time permits.

I've learned when photographing that you don't go out expecting to shoot certain things, that it's far better to see what presents itself on a given day. That being said, I tend to see details rather than the big picture.

So expect to see lots of fern, garden and tree detail from me, maybe sheep and birds when they'll cooperate.

 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 

All images copyright 2011.

Making Use of our Reclusive Lemon Verbena

I've known for awhile that there's a lemon verbena bush hiding behind Maurie's Workshop. John is also aware so that it doesn't get pulled out during any unsupervised gardening that sometimes occurs at Struan Farm.

 
I love the fresh citrus scent of this plant, and recently stumbled on some free recipes on the NZ House and Garden magazine website using it, including one for a Lemon Verbena Whipped Cream Pound Cake.

I made it over the holidays, and it is delicious:

2 cups (500 ml) cream, chilled

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 vanilla bean, split

finely grated zest of two lemons

juice of one lemon

1 tablespoon finely chopped lemon verbena

3 cups flour

4 tsps baking powder

1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Whip cream to soft peaks then add sugar and eggs one at a time, beating between additions. Add vanilla extract and seeds scraped from the pod, lemon juice, zest and lemon verbena. Then add dry ingredients, beating just until combined, do not overmix. Pour into a greased bundt pan and bake approx. one hour or until skewer inserted comes out clean.

This is one of those moist cakes that really doesn't need anything with it. Give it a try if you can find some lemon verbena.

I know that lemon verbena leaves can be dried to make tea, which I'll do at some point, but I'm going to try to grow a few more bushes from cuttings this year to ensure we have a good supply around first.

There's More to the Story

After reading my recent post on "The Reincarnation of John's Hut," Carrick contacted me to advise that the metal hooks we're recycling for the tool rack in John's Hut came out of Piopio Primary School a long time ago. The School was renovated and Maurie was able to scavenge them for use at Struan Farm. Carrick also has some of the same hooks that he uses at his house at Lake Rotoiti, so there must have been quite a stash.

It's really cool to think that the hooks are alumni of Piopio Primary along with Carrick, John, Anna, Louise and Julie, and that we know their educational heritage. John now remembers them on the wall in the school corridor as coat hooks.

 
Carrick is sending us one that he isn't using, and we've just found two more in the Homestead garage (which is being cleaned out prior to de-construction). I'll get around to painting these hooks soon for their next gig; the transformation of John's Hut continues.