Struan Farm

Surprise under the Redwoods

Recently I went up to our orchard at Struan Farm to check out the fruit trees, and was surprised to see a burst of color, the azaleas we planted a few weeks ago under the redwoods are already flowering:

Good to see they're settling in.

 

 

 

Feast for the Tuis

Arriving at Struan Farm this time of year one hears tuis croaking in the gardens, almost non-stop! They feast on the camelias, but also our native kowhai tree. They pretty much strip the yellow flowers off the latter, a tree John planted as a boy:

I'm assuming those flowers must be pretty tasty.

Bedding Down: Enter Mike

Lucky for me, our nephew Mike had time off from university recently. And lucky for John, he likes to come stay at Struan Farm and work around the property to help with his school fees.

This holiday one of his projects was to replace the soil in the raised rock garden we are re-making. This garden had been riddled with a terrible weed, twitch. To such an extent that it had become impossible to weed the bed, so we were left with no choice but to remove the soil and entirely re-do the garden. A few months ago a friend of ours and I removed all of the flowers, bulbs, and dahlia tubers, but the weedy soil awaited removal and replacement. Not really a fun job from my perspective.

Enter Mike, with fresh topsoil.

I can now re-plant the dahlia tubers we took out and organize plants for the rest of the bed. Much more fun, with thanks to Mike!

Lambs on the Rocks

I've been having fun photographing the lambs at Struan Farm this season, for some reason they've been unusually cooperative.

They love to play on the limestone rocks that are dotted around the farm, sleeping or frolicking around.

Sometimes they even get a bit territorial.... 

New Project: Secret of Change

I've missed knitting of late. Between work and running around the world on airplanes, I've been frazzled and tired. Not too tired to knit, but rather too tired to get myself organized with respect to a new knitting project. This week I decided it had been long enough, I had to take the bull by the horns. Or perhaps the better analogy is "to take the Addis by the hand."

I pulled out some beautiful Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in "Cousteau" colorway from my stash, a shawl pattern by Veera Valimaki called "Secret of Change" and cast on.

Here's where I am thus far:

 

Had a few false starts due entirely to not reading the pattern, but once into the groove I've found this to be a fast, easy knit. And it feels so good to be back on the needles! 

Beet Harvest

I decided to harvest the beets in our raised bed at Struan Farm this past weekend.

It's almost time to make way for beans and peas (okay, yes, I'm ready for spring and more importantly summer). In NZ this vegetable is called "beetroot" rather than "beet," although to me this seems to state the obvious. Aren't the colors beautiful?

My next decision was about what to do with them.

I found an interesting recipe here for Roasted Beets with Balsamic Glaze. It looked easy but sufficiently different with balsamic vinegar as well as orange zest, something a little more than simple roasted beets. The method used for roasting the beets, between layers of tin foil, worked really well and is something I would do again.

They were really good. The only thing left to be harvested from my winter garden are the leeks, I'll wait a little on those.

Fruit Trees in Flower

Despite quite a cold snap this week the fruit trees in the orchard at Struan Farm are starting to flower, especially the plums and peaches/nectarines. Little or no sign of life as yet from the apples.

Can't wait to see what fruits this year, we're into year three on a number of the trees.

Word du Jour: Moreish

Awhile ago I posted about the word "bespoke," and how I was starting to see it used everywhere.

My latest word discovery is "moreish." I stumbled across it again in Annabel Langbein's newest cookbook "Simple Pleasures." She was waxing lyrical about a "Sunshine Carrot Dip" being incredibly "moreish." 

So what does this word mean? The definition is "so pleasant that you want to eat more." Okay, we've all learned something today, right? At least I have.

I recently took a cooking class at The Fat Pigeon Cafe in Piopio taught by visiting chef Wayne Good from Cambridge. One of the desserts featured was for easy Banofi tartlets. A simple crust is made of crushed digestive biscuits and melted butter, which is then pressed into little tart pans and chilled. The tarts are filled with caramel (from a can/tin!), sliced ripe banana, and topped with whipped cream. The tart is then garnished with grated dark chocolate and dried banana slices.

Couldn't be easier, and definitely "moreish!" Here's the tart showcased on my beautiful new antique cake stand:

 

(Not sure that something antique can technically be new, but it's new to me.)

Black Sheep in the Family

This was one of those special moments at Struan Farm, the kind that make me so happy to be alive and in Piopio!

On Saturday I went for a walk in the Cottage Paddock amongst the ewes and lambs, slowly and quietly with camera in hand. I wanted to try to capture the lambs playing, since they do silly things. As I walked down a slope toward the pond, this is what I saw:

Twin lambs, cuddling, one white and one black! I know, it sounds like a Michael Jackson song, doesn't it? We haven't had black lambs on the farm before, so I'm seriously excited about this.

We don't usually name the non-pet lambs, but we may need to make an exception for this one. I'm thinking maybe Oreo Cookie, or Chocolate Chip, what do you think?

And when I looked around the paddocks a bit more, I saw that we have two black lambs:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Lamb

Posing amidst the snow drops at Struan Farm....

Special Trees for Special Girls

John and I continue to plant trees, lots and lots of trees, around Struan Farm. I expect this will continue over our respective lifetimes, it's what we do. We both feel that this honors and continues the legacy of John's parents.

Over Easter we planted two more heirloom apple trees, a Bramley for Ella and a Cox's Orange Pippin for Livvy, part of our cunning plan to make sure they have a strong connection to the Robertson family farm.

Think it's working?! Livvy looks a little unsure about being dropped inside the fence near her tree, she was happy once back outside, but then Ella wanted us to drop her over. It will be fun to make applesauce and pie with the girls once the trees start fruiting....

The Reincarnation of Jim's Hut

Exciting news: Heidi, my penpal from grammar school days, is coming to New Zealand and to Struan Farm for Christmas. Her son Niklas will be in New Zealand for the next year, and she's decided to make the journey down over the holidays.

It's been over 20 years since we've seen each other last, although we remain in periodic touch. She stayed with my family in New Jersey one summer during our high school days, I also visited her family in Bad Schonborn, Germany one summer. While the volume of correspondence has waned over the years, there is a connection between us that endures.

Readers of this blog will know that Christmas and Boxing Day at the farm involve visitors and lots of them: kids, grandkids, extended Robertson family, etc. So while all of the beds are pretty much spoken for, we have lots of floor space in the Homestead and are able to improvise on sleeping arrangements when need be. 

However, the news of Heidi's impending visit has prompted John to think that now may be the time to accelerate the reincarnation of Jim's Hut. He's been wanting to convert it into a fisherman's cabin and relocate it to a site overlooking the Mangaotaki River.

The builder's recently been on the scene to assess the project. Work will commence shortly. There will be a loft upstairs with a double bed, two twin beds in the main room. Essentially it will be a "sleep out" for the foreseeable future, so no power, water or toilet. (No problem on that score with the Homestead nearby, but when it's moved down overlooking the river we will need to re-assess the amenities and infrastructure required. But think basic cabin or tent cabin for fishermen either way.)

I'm already plotting the decor-- it will need to stay rustic but will have a few high end touches like nice bed linens and braided rug (I know myself). The good news is that Heidi and Niklas will have proper beds to sleep in for Christmas if all goes according to plan!

 

How Much Wood

Do you remember this rhyme from childhood: "How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"

Not sure why this floated into my memory banks as I'm mulling over a blog post on our recently milled redwood timber at Struan Farm, but it did. I know, the mind does curious things, at least mine does.

Here's the stack of logs before our timber specialist got to work with his portable mill:

Here's what it looks like now:

Predicably, the hearts of the trees yielded the most beautiful, red, wood:

For those readers who don't know, redwood is a non-native timber in NZ. It grows fast here, as opposed to the U.S., where it is a protected species. So don't stress out and think we're doing terrible things, please! We are serious tree people at Struan Farm. These particular trees were planted years ago by my father-in-law, Maurie. We've left quite a number in the grove at the entrance to our new house site, and are planting rhododendron and azalea beneath those currently as we start to landscape the entrance.

John intends to use some of this timber stash to construct a garage for the new house, probably also a new workshop adjacent to the garage. We'll most likely convert Maurie's workshop down by the Homestead into a spare bedroom--hooray, another renovation project, just what we love. We've got yet another renovation about to commence that I'll blog about in the next day or so too.

Child Labor

Just kidding!

This past weekend Ella and Livvy came down to Struan Farm with father Daniel. We are happy to have workers as willing as these, particularly when they are eager to get out with pink pails in hand to help spread grass seed.

John drove us all up to our work site, the new track, in the tractor and trailer:

Note the flashy little girl gumboots! Initially there was an element of distress about getting them dirty, but we quickly moved beyond that with the understanding that "this is the farm, dirt happens, and we can clean them off later."

Now to watch the grass grow... 

 

Magnolia Moment

This weekend our largest magnolia tree near the Homestead at Struan Farm was in full bloom. Given the weather forecast, I decided to capture the moment:

Random Farmscape

Can't resist sharing the late afternoon light on the hills at Struan Farm this past week: