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Actually, the largest Monty's Surprise heirloom apple on our tree at Struan Farm fell to the ground, we didn't pick it. So sampling had to happen:
What surprised me when I dropped a section was who was interested in doing so!
At least he's had some antioxidants now.
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This is what happens when I don't pay attention to the veggie garden at Struan Farm:
I've been so busy running around the past few weeks that I hadn't had time to go digging through the vines. But when I did I came up with this motherload of heirloom black cherry tomatoes. Unfortunately almost half as much splitting on the vine, too, which was rather unfortunate. These will be put to good use this week!
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I've been watching this vivid green bug have fun in the zinneas at Struan Farm over the past several weeks. Love the contrast in color between the bug and the flowers. And I actually think it's been the same bug each week...
Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one out there happy to watch little green bugs munching flowers in the garden? I AM letting him have at my zinneas in peaceful coexistence, but then it's the end of the season!
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During my recent visit to Nelson with friend Lisa we had fun poking around the various antique shops in town, several of which have great vintage textiles.
My favorite haunts include "Eclectic," "Richmond Antiques & Collectables" and now "Vintage Antiques & Collectables," where I scored two cute hand embroidered aprons, "Two Little Girls in Blue" and "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree."
Special, aren't they?
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Recently while down in Nelson with Lisa we travelled over the Takaka Hill into beautiful Golden Bay. The drive has spectacular views, and the Bay has lots of artists, so is an inspiring place to wander around for several reasons.
We stumbled upon Lesley McIver's Glitz Art Glass Gallery and had an good time looking at her creations, which are crafted from Italian glass. I came home with some "Chakra Meditation Beads." I'm wanting to get back into meditating, and hope these brilliant colors might help the case:
The beads were accompanied with an explanation of the different chakras and their significance:
RED = Root Chakra (material security)
ORANGE=Sacral Chakra (work, passion, creativity)
YELLOW=Solar Plexus Chakra (personal power)
GREEN=Heart Chakra (love, healing)
BLUE=Throat Chakra (communication)
INDIGO=Third Eye (intuition)
VIOLET=Crown Chakra (connection to the universe)
It seems that glass reached out to me this trip and asked to be taken home. I also purchased this amazing glass landscape by Bruce Hamlin of Estuary Arts as well:
I can visualize this piece in our new house in due course, and know it will be right at home!
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They're back, oh dear. Wild turkeys running through the gardens at Struan Farm. I'm okay when they stick to the paddocks, within reason, but when they start to wander the lawns, eating my flowers and pooping on the decks that's where I draw the line and call in my secret weapon:
He definitely skedaddles them along. They end up in trees for a time.
Hopefully they will now remember that this isn't the place to stop and smell the roses!
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Our friends Theresa and Malcolm visited Struan Farm for the first time over the Easter holiday, bringing their 11 year old labrador Duke along as well. It was a bit of a play date for Clifford.
However, when we decided to journey down to the river for drinks and nibbles before dinner, a decision had to be made as to whether Duke could walk that far, especially back up the hill. It's over 1k and reasonably steep coming back up. So instead he rode in the trailer with us, it was quite cozy. He enjoyed a good swim too.
The sheep thought that it was a bit silly!
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Friends came down to visit us at Struan Farm over the Easter Weekend, so I amped up our weekend flowers accordingly.
Here's our dinner table arrangement, with the farm's massive orange dahlias and some orange zinneas and small sunflowers for variety:
For the Cottage it was a pink, blue and purple theme, with roses, delphinium and sweet peas on the table, hydrangea in the main bedroom (these always work well with the blue and white decor). For the table on the Homestead deck there was a little vase with zinnea, sweet peas, and this and that:
I don't know, maybe I'm the only one who loves our flowers at Struan Farm?!
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Recently I was reading about the upcoming LA County Yarn Crawl happening in Los Angeles in April. It's a great idea, I'm wondering if something similar might be organized for the Auckland region here in New Zealand, hmmmm?
Media articles have included mention of this cute new mobile yarn shop called the "Yarn Over Truck."
Cool, eh? It's just about big enough for my stash, but we don't need to go there, do we?
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