Struan Farm

Taking Off for Christmas

This turkey at Struan Farm has the right idea: it's time to take off for Christmas!

I will be taking a break from blogging, most likely back on deck January 7th. Have a great holiday.

New Zealand Quote of the Year

This just in, NZ's quote of the year for 2012 is "Zip it Sweetie," a phrase tossed out in Parliament by beleaguered Social Development Minister Paula Bennett to Jacinda Ardern, an opposition MP. It probably got press due to the circumstances being a bit of a cat fight, but it's a great line nonetheless.

Read about the others in the New Zealand Herald here.

Peas in the Pod

Freshly picked peas from the garden. Can't you just taste the crunch?!

Special Christmas Gifts

John M., the farmer who runs sheep at Struan Farm, arrived this past weekend with a very special gift for me: two black ewe lambs. He knew that I'd loved seeing them on the property, and that I was also keen to have the fleece for spinning/knitting, which he keeps separate when he shears the rest of the mob anyway.

So we have welcomed "Oreo" and "Sooty" to the family. Sooty has a tail while Oreo has been docked, which makes it easy to tell them apart.

They aren't pet sheep currently, so a process will ensue to try to domesticate them somewhat. I've been advised this entails getting a supply of "sheep nuts," basically feeding them so they'll come to you and get used to being around humans. It's too late for bottle feeding.

Currently they want nothing to do with humans. In fact, both lambs, who were in the process of being weaned, busted out of their paddock and returned to their mums. Some mustering to be required next weekend. These things take time!

Hobbit Hubbub

I was down in Wellington last week and had lunch at a restaurant nearby Sir Peter Jackson's Weta Workshop in Miramar:

Absolutely a kick to walk around and see overseas visitors excitedly touring the "Weta Cave." Several were rigged out in Hobbit tee shirts and hats (okay, I'll confess they were Americans, but I can say this since I'm American?!). Their enthusiasm was contagious--they advised me that the hats had been purchased at Hobbiton in Matamata, so these tourists are definitely making the Hobbit rounds and supporting the NZ economy. I know, I should have told them about Piopio!

Upon leaving I was hissed off by Gollum looking for his Precious, suspended from the ceiling in the domestic terminal:

Tidy for Heidi

Almost there. The weather cooperated and Noel was able to get one base coat of paint on Jim's Hut at Struan Farm this past week ahead of our Christmas visitors (wreath with pohutukawa courtesy of moi):

The floor sander arrives Tuesday and will work Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, assures us the floors can be walked on in stocking feet Saturday. Just in time, phew!

Learned Something New: Nostepinne

I was reading the Yarn Harlot's recent post with Christmas gift suggestions for knitters here. One of the gifts she recommends is a "nostepinne" for winding yarn into balls. This was a new one on me! Of course I was immediately intrigued, promptly clicked the link to the Etsy site and ordered a beautiful hand crafted wooden version made from recycled maple, now on its way to New Zealand.

This then resulted in a search to learn more about the tool itself and how it is used. It's clearly much more low tech than a ball winder and swift, but potentially better than winding entirely by hand with the skein wrapped over a chair (my coventional approach when I'm too lazy to dig out the ball winder and swift, which is most of the time). Could be that middle ground, but may require a wee bit of practice.

Turns out it was invented in Scandinavia. The term means "nest stick." 

 

There are so many wood turners here in NZ, I'm thinking I should see if we can get some made out of wood from Struan Farm.

 

Mrs. Tiggy Winkle in Piopio?

This past weekend when we were out wandering at Struan Farm with Charlie I looked across the Pet Paddock and saw a dark, flurry ball motoring across the grass. We decided to take Charlie to see his first hedgehog. Normally they get frightened and curl up in a ball when anyone gets near, but this one was quite inquisitive, if shy:

I remembered that there is a Beatrix Potter character who is a hedgehog. Her name is Mrs. Tiggy Winkle, and you can read about her here. She is a hedgehog and washerwoman for the animals and birds in the Lake District in England.

But perhaps Mrs. Tiggy has emigrated to New Zealand like so many other Brits?

Making an Entrance

While Hollywood starlets do come to mind, and we've had at least one famous actor stay at Struan Farm (so far), there's no red carpet here. Lately it's been about infrastructure and re-landscaping. You will know that extreme weeding is always on my agenda, and necessarily so.

But now we're onto the main front entrance:

Still a major work in process. Next step will be to build a fence on the left side in mirror image of the right for a short distance, then install gates. Once that is done we'll address sealing or concrete, then landscaping/hedging on both sides.  Thinking maybe the fencing part of this will get done before Christmas, if we're lucky!

The Mad Mower Trains his Successors

Sarah, Matt and grandson Charlie visited Struan Farm this past weekend. John is quite keen to train up at least one successor on jobs around the farm, first and foremost the ride-on mower.

Charlie's on the way!

We're Blue

We're blue at Struan Farm, and that's not a bad thing! The season's first blueberries have arrived at Piopio Orchard. They're huge and delicious, can't you just taste the antioxidants?!

We've been eating them by the handful....

First, EVER

Thrilling to look up on Hydrangea Hill at Struan Farm this past week and see a burst of shocking bright pink. It meant one thing and one thing only: my peony had FINALLY flowered!

"They" said it couldn't be done. "They" said I'd need to put ice on the ground, manually, during winter. (I've always forgotten to do this.) I've had buds before but no flowers, and was beginning to wonder if I'd ever see any flowers myself. Maybe our heavy frosts in Piopio really weren't cold enough for them to flower after all.

"They" and I clearly underestimated the magic of Struan Farm!

A Happy Ending

Sometimes sad things happen on farms. When I came across this situation this past week I was afraid it was going to be one of those times.

Clifford and I mustered a group of ewes out of the Pet Paddock at Struan Farm so Aaron could work with his bobcat and truck in the area nearby without having to close and open the gates. All of the sheep cooperated but for one ewe with a lamb. Now I'm not the best at mustering, so Clifford and I went back to try to get them to move along with the rest of the mob. He was instructed to "come behind," which means to stay behind me.

The lamb was huddled at the base of a tree with mum nearby. As I approached she stamped her hoof but they didn't move, the lamb didn't get up. Oh. Oh. I think mum knew that I was concerned about the situation, she let me get quite close, and I kept the silly dog well away.

  

So we left them alone in the paddock, she wasn't going to leave her lamb. Awhile later I began to worry that perhaps the lamb couldn't stand up to get a feed, so grabbed the powdered lamb's milk and a bottle. When I walked out to see them, the lamb was up and they were walking around. We were able to muster them up and out into the next paddock. 

I'll never really know what happened there, why they didn't move. But I'm thankful everyone was okay.

In Remembrance of Sam

As I was picking up the debris left from the fencers at Struan Farm this past weekend, I came across a post topped with this little hand nailed, copper sign:

Sam was a much loved black labrador retriever, I remember Maurie telling me that he had run out onto the road and been killed. After that he wasn't keen about having dogs as pets, really only wanted working dogs on the farm. 

John remembers that Sam had been buried under a tree near where the new fence has been installed. So we'll put this sign back where it belongs, after a cleaning.

Sam was clearly a special dog. 

Everyone Has a Hobbit Name!

Big excitement around New Zealand last week with the world premiere in Wellington of Peter Jackson's first Hobbit movie, An Unexpected Journey.  NZ Post is printing postage stamps, Air NZ, "the airline of Middle-earth," has a special issue of their inflight magazine with a foldout cover with many of the movie's lead characters:

John watched several clips about the making of the movie on an international Air NZ flight this past week, and Piopio is mentioned!

Did you know that everyone can have a Hobbit name? Check out The Hobbit Name Generator.

So henceforth, I am "Esmerelda Deepdelver" and John is "Olo Bumbleroot of Haysend." There's some sense in those names!

Fencing, Continued

The work at Struan Farm has continued over the past week. New fencing is now done around the old tennis court, the side of the Pet Paddock, and in the front on the other side of our main entrance gate (the latter section of fence is two boards instead of three).

John will reinstall the green wooden gate along the side fence to the Pet Paddock (have to keep that, it's been there for so long it's "iconic" in my mind!). The front gate area is being redesigned completely, Aaron and his bobcat are back at work. Once the area is widened, gravel will be put down initially to consolidate the area. After everything settles, we'll re-landscape the sides and seal the widened roadside entrance. This should make the turn into the drive off SH3 less harrowing, particularly for first time visitors to Struan Farm.

Weekend Flowers

I'm really posting to show off both my new/old Depression Glass vase, which has its own glass frog to hold the flowers in place, along with Struan Farm's amazing roses.

 

I can't get over the colors. I just love staring at them, they make me happy.

A Word, Please

Oxford University Press has announced its 2012 (British) Word of the Year, the one that is meant to best reflect the current mood: Omnishambles.

It means "a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged, characterised by a string of blunders and miscalculations."  

Also mentioned was "Mommy Porn," although that looks to be two words.

Two thoughts from me in response to this: (i) yikes, and (ii) what exactly is this world coming to? Could be time to lock the gate at Struan Farm, pull the covers over our heads and take some cleansing breaths!

We're definitely not into omnishambles or mommy porn, this is not our mood at all.