Struan Farm

"Nuts to the Squirrels," Turkeys, and a Certain Dog

"In Hyde Park, some people like to feed nuts to the squirrels. But if it makes you happy to feed squirrels to the nuts, who am I to say nuts to the squirrels?"

I've always remembered the phrase "nuts to the squirrels," but had no idea until today that it was from the 1946 movie "Cluny Brown" starring Charles Boyer. So I've learned something through this blog post, even if I'm not sure what the quote above means out of context.

Oh my, have we spread the wealth of this season's walnuts! Buckets have been foisted upon visitors to Struan Farm and to Melanie at The Fat Pigeon Cafe in Piopio.

John nominated himself quality control inspector, concerned there were some not quite up to "Struan Farm standards." At one stage he went through and tossed out a fair number that weren't up to snuff. I'm less concerned, figuring recipients are happy to have them and are able to sort out the good from the bad when they go to use them.

I've been accumulating recipes in the meantime. The most recent issue of Dish magazine had a recipe for a Walnut Caramel Tart that spoke to me, even if it required the purchase of a square tart pan with removable bottom:

 
I made this for guests for Easter dinner this past weekend, and it was a definite hit.

We've now got such a sufficient stockpile of nuts gathered that we're leaving what's left on the ground for the turkeys, and it turns out, a certain dog who has developed a taste for walnuts:

 

Clifford's wide ranging gourmet tastes continue to amaze us. If we hadn't seen this firsthand we wouldn't have believed it!

Autumn Colors at Struan Farm

It's a picturesque time of the year at Struan Farm. I'll let the images speak for 
themselves (all copyright 2011):

 
 
 
 
 
 

And lastly, a great shot of the boys at work:

 
 

Wandering Nelson

 
 
When I'm in need of a weekend escape I travel to Nelson to see my friend Glen at Doone Cottage in the Motueka River valley. Visiting there grounds and restores me; before I met John and adopted Piopio as my homebase, Nelson was my emotional epicenter, and in certain respects remains so. John and I married almost eight years ago to the day at St. James, Glen and Stan's church in nearby Ngatimoti. There's something special about the confluence of mountains, artists and farmers:  landscape, creativity, and artisanal food (and wine) abound. People there tend to live the way John and I will live at Struan Farm, as sustainably as possible. Growing our own food and making things. I always manage to learn a bit more about something that I can take back to our life at Struan Farm.

I spent the weekend before last at Doone Cottage. This time of year the autumn colors are spectacular. It rained heavily for two of the days I was there. Regardless, a little weather didn't inhibit my wanderings.

I hit most of my favorite spots, including two local antique shops in Richmond, the Saturday market in Nelson, the fiber arts cooperative on Trafalgar Street, Cruella's for knitting yarn and a catch up with Ruth and Vicky, Eclectic (the best retro/vintage shop around), The Old Post Office/Moutere Gold in Sarau Village in the Upper Moutere, and Mapua Country Trading at the Mapua Wharf. Unfortunately not enough time to venture over the Takaka Hill to Golden Bay this trip.

 
Driving along the Motueka River, I stumbled upon some rare New Zealand sheep called Arapawa. They are quite unusual, at first I thought they were goats until I pulled off the road to inspect them more closely.  They are horned and have chocolate brown fleece, while the rams have long tails with distinctive white stripes. (Apologies, these are not great pics, and they are quite shy.)

 
Below are some other photographs from the weekend (all images copyright 2011). I was seeing photographs that I wasn't able to execute with my little old digital camera, wish I'd taken the Canon. Oh well, those pictures reside in my mind's eye. 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Along with the requisite knitting yarn, vintage linen, and buttons, I came home with a bag of heirloom German "Gewurzluiken" cooking apples plus with one English heirloom cooking variety called "Five Crown."  I'm going to see if I can grow trees from seed. 

But don't call me "Karen Apple Seed" just yet. John has cautioned me that this is a pretty hit or miss proposition.

 

 

ANZAC Day: In Remembrance of Maurie & Others

This past weekend was Easter, my birthday, our wedding anniversary, and ANZAC Day/Easter Monday. The confluence of events was all a bit too much, really, but we managed.

I'm used to sharing my birthday/anniversary weekend with ANZAC Day since I have no choice. ANZAC Day is April 25th, it doesn't shift. My birthday/anniversary is April 23rd, it doesn't shift either. (I still think John was a little devious doubling up on my birthday/anniversary presents by scheduling our wedding on my birthday, but at least this way he doesn't forget, provided of course I remind him.)

It wasn't a big birthday or anniversary this year, so we decided it would be celebrated working at Struan Farm. (We're odd, we know, but we like having extended time to get stuck into work projects.) On Monday morning, however, we went into Piopio for the annual ANZAC commemoration at the centotaph, a service that John's dad Maurie led for sixty years. It is not the same without him, to be honest. I miss Maurie, and I suspect Piopio does too.

Maurie won the Military Cross for bravery and a number of other service medals during WW2. He took part in the battle of El Alamein, amongst others. We've kept his medals and will eventually frame them properly:

 
In the box with his medals is a fuzzy, old black & white photograph, in a hammered silver frame, with a note on the back in Rosemary's handwriting "Maurie, 21, Papakura Camp." He is in his uniform and this would have been taken while he was stationed at the Papakura Army Camp before he went off to war:

  
The ANZAC Day remembrance ceremony is very much the same all over New Zealand: local veterans march in uniform, there's the same order of service with the same hymns and prayers, the national anthem is sung, and wreaths are laid by local community groups. It ends with "The Last Call" as the flag is lowered before a minute of silence, and "Reveille" as it's raised afterward.

The service continues to have great significance throughout the country.  Everyone buys their poppies to wear to benefit the RSA. And every year the recognition of this sacrifice brings tears to my eyes. While I grew up in the USA with annual Memorial and Veteran's Day remembrances, the sacrifice of war is much more poignant in New Zealand, where many little towns lost most of their men to war. Names of the dead are read out at the local service in Piopio, so that the scale of the loss is clear and not forgotten by current generations. War seemed much more emotionally distant to me in the US than it does in NZ, perhaps due to Maurie.

We will remember them.

 

The Easter Bunny Came and Went

Ella and Olivia spent Easter with other grandparents, but the Easter Bunny did come, thinking they'd be at Struan Farm.

I guess the one who benefitted most from this was John, although he had to move fast to beat Clifford!

 

If you're reading this Ella, I'm sure the Easter Bunny will come back next year.

 

 

Upcycled Find

I know, I'm taking a pause in blogging until after Easter Monday/ANZAC Day, but I stumbled upon these candlesticks made from a variety of recycled glass pieces at a shop called "Small Acorns" in Wellington last week, and had to post them for all to see:

 
Yet another variation on the tiered cakestand idea. I thought they were pretty cool, if a bit over the top and Gaudi-esque, but the concept is a good one to experiment with. I especially like the small glasses at the top that hold the candles, although I think I'd play around with a thicker, shorter candle to avoid the Leaning Tower of Pisa effect.  

IMPORTANTLY: they were labeled "Upcycled Candlesticks," so the phrase "upcycled" is starting to be used more widely, at least in certain circles. Of course you heard it here first.....

P.S. I did ask permission to take this photo above, it wasn't taken in stealth.

Knit Your Own Royal Wedding

 

I know I'm taking a pause in blogging until after Easter, but I had to post this You Tube video with an animated version of "Knit Your Own Royal Wedding." The book is available to order from fishpond should you want to knit your own Queen, Camilla, Kate, Prince William, or the corgis!

Knitters, we love 'em.

Hitting the Pause Button

 

I've realized that due to upcoming business trips, weekends at Struan Farm and in Nelson, and the long Easter holiday (which this year also lands on my birthday, our wedding anniversary, and ANZAC Day), I'll need to suspend blog posts until after Easter Monday, April 25.

I'll be back posting on Tuesday, April 26th with a backlog of stories to tell. I might even get some knitting projects done, but I won't tempt fate on that score.

Have a joyous Easter! p.s. I only ate the black jelly beans....

Improvised Quince (Not Apple)Sauce

I decided to wing it and use quince to try to make something similar to applesauce. The experiment turned out really well, if I do say so myself:

 
 
So well that I actually made a second batch and put a few jars away. I delivered a warm bowl to our neighbors with the three little girls, they are used to sampling my experiments.

Rub off any fuzz, then wash and quarter the quince (no peeling or coring required). Put the fruit in a large pot with water, a few cloves and some star anise. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook it until fruit is soft on medium high heat. (In my case this took about 45 minutes.) Run everything through a food mill into a bowl, discarding pips, skins and whatever doesn't go through the mill.  Add sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and maple syrup to taste. This is one of those recipes that is hard to screw up.

If you want to bottle it, wash and put jars in the oven similar to what you would do when making jam, simmer lids in hot water on stovetop. Ladle hot sauce into hot jars, seal tightly, and wait for the tops to pop.

We're going to a housewarming and 70th birthday party next weekend; I've decided to take along a jar of the Quince (Not Apple) Sauce as the housewarming gift, so made a label out of a stock standard manila tag, rustic hemp twine, copper gardening label, Martha Stewart sheep sticker, and some brown paper cut with a punch on which I printed "Quince (Not Apple) Sauce."

 
Not baaad, eh?

Sheep in the Pet Paddock

John has taken to mowing the Pet Paddock at Struan Farm these last few months. But given it was raining, this past weekend he decided to let the sheep do the work for a change.

 
 
 
We enjoyed sitting on the deck looking out on them munching away through the rain and mist. The ram was also busy doing his job, it's that time of the year. Lambs on the way!

 

 

Special Delivery: Peeps

My friend Laura was kind enough to ship down a supply of traditional American Easter marshmallow "peeps" for me to distribute to visitors at Struan Farm Easter weekend.

 

Provided, that is, I can keep John away from them in the meantime! Love their garish, psychedelic colors. I think they're called "peeps" because originally they were only chicks, but now there are bunnies as well.

 
Some seem to have escaped and are hiding out in the garden at Struan Farm, waiting to participate in our annual Easter Egg Hunt.