Struan Farm

Bandana Cowl: Fini!

I managed to finish the Jade Sapphire cashmere Bandana Cowl I've been knitting for my friend Heidi for Christmas. She's coming to New Zealand from Germany to visit her son, who is here studying English, and to see us at Struan Farm.

As previously posted, this free Purl Soho pattern can be found here. It's easy and quick. If you're intimidated about short rows don't miss the link to the tutorial, which explains what can be a confusing technique quite well. The Cowl looks great on, I'm wanting to make one for myself now!

Capturing Koru at Struan Farm

Further to my recent post about photographing the koru or native fernheads when I was down in Nelson, I had a nosy around the gardens at Struan Farm:

These are quite a bit hairier, but symbols of creation nonetheless!

First Tastes of Summer

Summer has been happening very slowly this year. But I realized when I went out to pick my flowers for the table at Struan Farm this past weekend that it is here, at last. The roses are blooming, finally! So I actually was able to assemble our first proper summer flower arrangement:

And in the spirit of summer I also decided to make a pavlova for our Saturday night dessert. I'd read recently that brown sugar meringues were really, really good. I managed to uncover a few recipes searching the internet, but decided to make Bill Granger's "Pavlova with Brown Sugar and Strawberries"  with, of course, freshly picked strawberries from Piopio Orchard.

Despite the blurry foreground above, which the photographer attributes to a glass of pinot gris, this pav is seriously delicious. The recipe can be found here. Rather than whipped cream on top, it's cream and greek yogurt, softly whipped. The strawberries are tossed with a tablespoon or two of honey. Definitely a keeper for the recipe file!

Jim's Hut: Hurried Happenings

This past week our painting expert Noel and his wife Deanna were busy at Struan Farm. Noel worked on the interior of Jim's Hut while Deanna kept Clifford exhausted with morning walks to the river, amongst other things.

I've discovered it's not easy to get a decent shot of the Hut interior given the small space and high ceilings. This is as good as it got:

The linen walls and merino ceiling and trim help make the space look light and airy. John has been in touch with the floor sander to see if a quick job before Christmas is possible, otherwise we'll clean it as best we can and put the braided rug down as an interim measure. Noel is going to try to get back before Christmas to start the exterior, provided the weather cooperates. He did get a first coat on the door:

My Jim's Hut sign looks great just above the door. We've got four single mattresses and associated bedding paraphenalia piled in the Homestead sitting room, ready to go. Countdown to Christmas!

Reprieve

I'm learning that roses are sneaky things. They must have a sixth sense when you are thinking about cutting them out and jump into survival mode accordingly.

In the back reaches of what used to be garden at Struan Farm we have a wild area. I've decided to try to keep it from getting entirely overgrown, but it's not really meant to be part of the tended garden. That being said, there are trees, shrubs and plants that are interesting and should/will be looked after if time permits.

A particular thorny, huge old rosebush would not have been one of them previously in my book. Its long, thorny arms reach up into trees and scratch out at innocent passersby. Last winter I took to it in a spirit of retaliation and severely chopped it back. During our last tour of this part of the garden, John and I were thinking about removing the rickety old trellis along with the rose itself. (John is not a fan of roses.)

But then this is what happened:

Cunning, isn't it? It's saved itself by bursting into such a profusion of lovely blooms there is no way I'll cut it out now. Do you think I'm a sucker?

Recycled Rickshaw

Mapua Country Trading is one of my favorite internet resources and shops. Heather definitely has a finger on the pulses of those of us keen to grow our own food, live sustainably and support local artisans as much as possible.  

On my recent visit I couldn't help but snap this photo of her recycled rickshaw with the crocheted granny square blanket, used to make trips to the post local post office:

She tells me she gets a few comments, can't imagine why?!

Finding Irises

Recently I posted about our irises at Struan Farm, how irises are the floral "messengers." Iris, goddess of the rainbow, carried messages from the gods to mortals. They were also my mother's favorite flower.

Before leaving Nelson I made a flying visit to the "Nelson Growables Garden Fair" being held that day in Founders Heritage Park. Information on what was available can be found here, I found out about it from Heather at Maupua Country Trading who was also a vendor.

I was sorry that I didn't have time to stay and attend some of the workshops and have more of a leisurely look at the stalls, but I was lucky enough to come across this:

So I returned home with iris tubers in my suitcase: Dusky Dancer (dark, dark purple, almost black) and Voltage (orange). Coincidence after I'd posted about wanting to get more irises? I think not!

Politically Incorrect?

Had to laugh when I saw this in Nelson:

I'm assuming that the "Old Folks" who hang out here are okay being called that, since this looks like fresh stucco and paint!

Capturing Koru

Had a bit of a field day photographing the native fernheads or "koru" one evening during my recent visit to Doone Cottage in Motueka. The koru is meant to be a symbol of creation, perpetual movement. Iconic New Zealand, really. I like the idea of capturing these fleeting moments of creation, think they're beautiful and rather special:

Around Doone Cottage

I was in Nelson on business last week so stayed on over the weekend to visit with my friend Glen at Doone Cottage in the nearby Motueka River Valley. 

Perhaps you can see why these visits always restore me:

Yes, I even had a nap!

First Rosebuds of the Season

The rosebuds are happening at Struan Farm:

Surely summer is almost here?

Naming Rights

I figured that Jim's Hut at Struan Farm will need a sign. And that I'm the person to make it. So I dug out the stencils, board and paints and set to it:

Of course the Hut itself isn't painted as yet, that's about to happen. I need to do one more coat on the letters with a small brush to get the edges perfect, or almost so.

The Mad Mower Returns

This past weekend the grass in the Pet Paddock at Struan Farm had grown so much that John was called into action:

He also deployed his mower to prep the topsoil on the old tennis court area for grass seed, and to roll it once the grass seed was sown.

You see the Mad Mower isn't so mad, really...

It's that Berry Good Time of the Year

Hooray, Piopio Orchard is now officially open! This past weekend we had the first strawberries of the season.

If you're in the area definitely stop in for freshly picked berries, fruit ice creams/frozen yogurts, smoothies or coffee. Right now there are strawberries with blueberries and raspberries to come.

Emotions of Love Aplenty

Stumbled on one of my little lilac bushes blooming on Hydrangea Hill at Struan Farm this past week. I never know if it's been cold enough over winter to coax the lilacs to come forth until they actually do so. This one seems happy on the Hill, with a cluster of flowers that looks to be heart shaped, if you're willing to squint and/or stretch your imagination just a tad.

Lilacs are special to me; I grew up with them flowering each spring outside my bedroom window. In Victorian flower terms they mark the first emotions of love. So I've planted two small bushes in the gardens at the farm. 

Later that day John and I were strolling around looking at what was blooming or about to bloom. At this time of year so much changes from week to week it's amazing, at least to us. Right now the azaleas and rhodos are stepping up (I've recented rabbited on about the rhodos, I know, so here are the azaleas instead).

We were looking at a particularly beautiful yellow rhodo up in the back, deciding that the viburnum hovering above it was cramping its style and really needed pruning back this next season.

I then looked up, further back into the far reaches of the gardens and saw this:

a large lilac tree in full flower! Neither John nor I had ever seen it before, didn't know it was up in the back reaches of the gardens.

So while at first I thought this post was going to be about a happy lilac bush on Hydrangea Hill, it turns out it is also about finding more surprises at Struan Farm when I least expect them.

Rabbiting on about Rhodos

I know I've been rabbiting on about the gardens at Struan Farm a bit much lately. ("Rabbiting on" is a verb here in New Zealand, assumingly it translates?)

I try to keep my blog posts reasonably varied in terms of topics, but sometimes there's so much going on in the gardens I can't help myself. Right now it's the rhodos that are on show:

We look out on a profusion of color at this time of the year, it's hard not to rabbit on but I'll try to contain myself....

Planting, Again

While down in New Plymouth recently I managed to get some interesting rhodos and azaleas at a fantastic garden centre called "Big Jim's." It looks to be a bit of a destination for gardeners, was the winner of New Zealand Garden Centre of the Year in 2010-2011. Find their website here. 

These plants are for the extended part of the garden near the old tennis court at Struan Farm, part of the area we re-graded a week or so ago. We're starting to run out of time to plant given the changing season, so we need to get things in now or wait until fall.

John had instructed me to get a "big" rhodo, which I decided was a bright pink one called "Alice." I also bought another rhodo "Lemon Mist," with beautiful bell shaped flowers in a soft yellow. 

And then there are two azaleas, "Yellow Ball" and "Orange Alarm."

Poor Yellow Ball needs to recover a wee bit from the car ride.

My favorite of them all is a vireya rhodo called "Dawn Chorus," with pastel pink and cream flowers:

It's a good start. Next to find some grass seed!

Bandana Cowl: Work in Progress

I've decided to start the Christmas knitting. First off the rank is this cute Bandana Cowl, an easy pattern by Purl Soho you can find here. I'm making it in a lush plum Jade Sapphire 8 ply cashmere (two skeins), yum! Will probably gift it to my German penpal Heidi, who's arriving to visit us at Struan Farm in time for Christmas and Boxing Day. She'll be heading back to winter in Germany after her short visit with us in the Southern Hemisphere so it should come in handy.

The Purl Soho website also has a very good tutorial on knitting short rows that I highly recommend. That can be found here. It's the most straightforward explanation of this technique I've found, and something I'm saving for future reference. There are explanations on how to do wraps  on both the knit and purl sides, as well as picking up the wrapped stitches on both the knit and purl sides. Accompanying photos clearly show what to do and how to do it.

 

The Link Between Heaven and Earth

The irises are in full bloom at Struan Farm at the moment. Their brilliant purple just sings out, doesn't it?

As I picked the vase below for our weekend table, I remembered that irises had been my mother's favorite flower. 

So I decided to check out their meaning in my trusty "Victorian Flower Dictionary" by Mandy Kirkby. It turns out that the iris is the floral herald, the bearer of good tidings and warm wishes. In classical mythology, Iris was the goddess of the rainbow, the link between heaven and earth carrying messages from the gods to mortals.

So maybe given my mother's recent passing there's a message for me here. It may be to plant more irises!

Weekend Table

John and I tend to work ourselves hard at Struan Farm. But I do try to keep the romance alive, at least until we fall sound asleep! (That hasn't happened over the dinner table as yet.)