Struan Farm

Here's the Dirt

Not gossip but topsoil, actually! This past week I've been shoveling it into my wheel barrel and replenishing good soil in the rock gardens along the Homestead roadside at Struan Farm. (Must confess it's not easy to photograph a pile of dirt, pretty impossible to have it look pretty, but it is beautiful soil.)

Our friend Aaron was back with his small digger to tackle a number of infrastructure projects at both the new house and the Homestead. At the Homestead he removed a pile of gravel deposited after the front entrance project, scraped out an area for the next installment of our tulip planting, and brought me down two loads of topsoil.

Not easy work, I must say, but the beds are looking better. Next comes a few hundred daffodil bulbs....and I'm thinking about creating a new rock garden on the extension of the woodsy garden we're just planting so there's a consistent look in this area over time, also to use up the remainder of this soil.

Weekend Flowers, in Consideration of Orange

It was opulent orange for the table arrangement at Struan Farm this weekend.

Last year when Lisa Cruse was here for her embellishment workshops (and I can't believe it's already been a year!) we all had a debate about orange. It's not a color that usually comes to mind as anyone's favorite. Friend Cathy incorporated it to great effect in her embellishment project, it made things pop, so we were all forced to reconsider our reluctance about using it.

I'm also reminded of Mel Clark's glorious "Tangerine Tights," and my version of her "Aran Scarf" from "Knitting Everyday Finery" in kumara possum merino yarn.

So consider orange won't you? Even if you use a more exotic version (tangerine, persimmon, kumara, sweet potato, paprika, etc.). I'm finding myself wanting more orange flowers in the gardens at Struan Farm.

Roast Quince for Dessert

Some would say "pudding" rather than "dessert" here in New Zealand, but I made Nigel Slater's Roast Quince this week, using my beautiful first quince plus others supplied by Anna.

I know, I've raved on about this dish previously, it's seriously yum. The quinces are halved, peeled, rubbed with lemon, then simmered in a sugar syrup with star anise and cloves. Once soft they are then baked in some of the syrup, the aromatics and maple syrup.

Now that Anna has tipped me off that whole quince freeze reasonably well, I've got a stash put away to make this dessert during the winter. It's one of my all time favorites!

More Gathering

And yes, in addition to the pine cones, the walnuts are starting to fall at Struan Farm. It's early days, and I don't think we'll have a bumper crop this year, but they're happening:

Will gather and dry them before shelling, after which I store them in ziplock bags in the freezer.

Seasonal Gathering

I'm a bit in denial right now, since I'm not really ready for summer to be over, but it's autumn at Struan Farm. John and I were down at the river this past weekend, and after seeing pine cones littering the ground realised that it's time to gather them up. So we grabbed some empty sacks from the back of the truck and hopped to it.

They make great fire starters, and I love the rustic look of pine cones in baskets and trugs in the meantime. And fortunately my dear husband humors me about all this!

Update on The Stones

No, not the Rolling Stones but the stone masons from StoneWerx arrived at Struan Farm this past week and got cracking on our chimney, gate posts to follow.  Here they are at work:

Thinking the chimney should be done this next week and then it's on to the posts for our entrance gate.

Beauty is Where You Find It

Doing another major clean up along our roadside at Struan Farm, this time behind the tractor shed. And I was struck by how beautiful the mossy corrugated iron, post, and side of the shed looked once I'd managed to remove all the weeds. It made me appreciate, yet again, that beauty can be found and seen just about anywhere.

Of course this isn't to say that this shed isn't coming down at some point, hopefully before it falls down! And guess what I uncovered next? Something a certain dog misplaced several years ago, that required both a new collar AND license....

It must have slipped off when he was backing himself out from under the shed, in pursuit of rabbits. Made me smile.

 

Karen's First Quince

Ella recently had her first Bramley apple, and now I have my first quince, TA DA!

 

We have three quince trees at Struan Farm (so far...), and this is the first one to fruit. The other two don't seem very happy, we may need to move them, perhaps another site with less competition around their roots might be better, the ferns seem dominate where they are. Anna advises to try manure, I have fed them with sulfate of potash last spring and fall but will give it a go. 

I love roasted quince, so want these trees to be happy and prolific. In the meantime Anna has quince coming out of her ears, and is happy to share the wealth.

Reading, Again

I have time to read again, hooray! I still read proper hardcopy books, not e-books. It used to be that I only had time to do so when I traveled, sitting in airports and on planes. Now that I'm at Struan Farm I have time in the evenings for knitting, needlepoint, and reading. 

This past week I stayed up until all hours one night starting (and finishing) Mister Pip by New Zealand author Lloyd Jones.

I could not put it down, it's well written with a storyline that captures you, at least it did me.

And while I'm at it, here's a link to the BBC's Big Read, a list of the top 100 favorite reads. How many have you read? (I'm at 45, thinking I need to check out "His Dark Materials" by Philip Pullman.)

On Weeds, Rocks, & Projects

I'd like to report that I'm done with both weeding and de-constructing rock gardens at Struan Farm, but that's not the case, even though I'm definitely "over" both!

I've been slaving away for the past two weeks in the roadside wooded garden near the Homestead, weeding, pruning (with John's help), and redesigning the rock gardens. There were number of paths to nowhere and small beds that didn't make sense. 

I'm bruised and sore, but it's looking much, much better. There are a few recalcitrant rocks to be moved when John is available to help. I find it hard to fathom how my in-laws managed to dig in all of these huge limestone rocks. It would have been hard work, it's major work trying to de- and reconstruct them!

Once it starts to rain again I will fill in the gaps and plant some low native shrubs along the front fence line under the big feature trees. 

Next? Finishing up a major clean up of the other areas of the Homestead gardens that aren't quite so obvious, but that need a clean out.

And p.s. I'm closing in on the pond, and we've got over 200 tulip bulbs coming to plant in April. Ella, Livvy and Daniel are already contracted to help with that project.

Black Wattle is the New Barley Grass

Awhile ago we had a number of non-native, large Black Wattle (Acacia mearnsii) trees cut down to make way for our power lines to the new house at Struan Farm. The other reason John decided to take these down is because they self seed and are rampantly invasive, are designated a noxious weed in several countries. At Kai Iwi Lakes in the Kaipara District they have become a huge problem.

While we are happy to have an abundant supply of great firewood, the reason my father-in-law Maurie planted them in the first place, we can now see why they are noxious weeds:

 

Seedlings are sprouting out of control everywhere in the area where the trees were cut down. The stumps are also regrowing. EEEK! 

So I'm adding control and clean up of all this to my list of work projects. I will try to pull the seedlings out and/or chop them off and use a poison gel to see if this will stop them. I'll also do some research, consult some experts about how best to get this under control. We definitely don't want them spreading into our QEII Trust covenant area nearby. And since the seeds remain in the soil for up to 30 years, this could become a long term project...

I'm thinking Black Wattle is the new barley grass....

On Becoming a Country Girl

John has been watching my transformation since moving to Struan Farm full time with considerable bemusement. There are days when I don't even put on makeup (shock, horror!), just sunscreen. He has taken to calling me "a country girl." And while I don't want to let myself go to the pack, I see this as a badge of honor. 

Even more so after yesterday. Each morning I go out to unlock the gates and feed Clifford before I have my coffee and breakfast. Yesterday when I did so several ewes feeding by the roadside fence decided to escape under the fence, something that's not easy to do. And they bolted out onto busy State Highway 3. They were dodged by a truck and disappeared. I ran inside to ring Farmer John (vs. hubby John) to make him aware of the situation, but then realised I had to try to do something without creating a bigger problem.

I walked down the road and found them at the road entrance to the new house. Clifford sat at the end of the drive as a deterrent while I opened the gate into that paddock. It took a little convincing but the four sheep finally ran through. What a team--Clifford and Karen!

I went back and put posts on the bottom of the fence so this won't happen again.

All this before coffee and breakfast. Wait until I tell both Johns...

Singing in the Rain, Thanks Lusi

John and I may not exactly be Gene Kelly or Judy Garland, but we were definitely singing in the rain this past weekend. Tropical storm/cyclone Lusi hit New Zealand, delivering much needed rain to our area.

Although we'd had a great Christmas period, beautiful weather interspersed with decent rain every few days (much to the delight of all the farmers), this weather pattern stopped in February. I was surprised to see how quickly the land dries up at Struan Farm without any real rain for a week or two. Scary, really. I've been spot watering in the gardens in the evenings, giving anything that looked a bit stressed a decent drink. The sheep are being moved around the paddocks where there is still some feed. But we've needed to get rain and hopefully some grass growth before winter sets in.

Although Struan Farm hasn't been as dry as some of our surrounding areas, we were very thankful to Lusi!

Ella's First Apple

We've planted apple trees for each of the grandchildren in the Old Orchard Paddock at Struan Farm. Bramley for Ella, Cox's Orange Pippin for Livvy, Akane for Charlie, and Granny Smith for Freya. We've also got a Liberty eating apple up there as well. (As an aside, Freya's Granny got ravaged by some misbehaving lambs this year, so we may need to start over on that or declare that Liberty is really her tree.)

But good news, and appropriately so for the eldest of the lot: Ella's Bramley is the first to bear fruit.

We also planted a Malus Jack Humm crab apple nearby on the recommendation of Heather from Country Trading. While apples don't need cross pollinators, apparently crab apples help them and are used by commercial orchardists for this purpose as well.

Jack is very, very happy in the Old Orchard Paddock as you can see:

Hopefully the turkeys will leave him alone. These crab apples look really lovely, don't they?

In Triplicate

This recent discovery at Struan Farm reminded me of my late father-in-law, Maurie. He was consistent to say the least. Also quite creative about recycling and repurposing various materials he was able to acquire for free around the district.

Remember my bright blue bench?

Well, I've recently noticed that two other benches around the place are the same in design and construction:

 

Maurie built these, as John recalls from wood recycled from shipping crates from motorcycles shipped from Japan to New Zealand. The local garage put the wood out for anyone who wanted it, and the ever opportunistic Maurie picked it up for projects around Struan Farm. 

I haven't decided as yet if they will also be painted bright blue, but they're both definitely getting a rehab!

On Time

Days and weeks have flown by since I moved to Struan Farm full time at Christmas. This past week it dawned on me that I don't worry about the days, whether it's a weekend or weekday. I used to dread Monday mornings and count the days (sometimes the hours) to the weekends.

No more. I'm happy with each day as it comes, and happy with what I'm doing (okay, maybe not when I'm pulling out barley grass!). 

Time has been transformed, and we have changed; it has advanced and set us in motion; it has unveiled its face, inspiring us with bewilderment and exhilaration. 

--Khalil Gibran

Stone Age

The stone masons are due to arrive this week at Struan Farm, to finish the top of the stone faced chimney on the new house, also to construct stone posts for our entrance gate.

The Kaimai stone has already been delivered:

This should be interesting to watch, will report back in due course!

Special Breakfast Traditions: Uncle Earl's Pancakes

John started this tradition at Struan Farm, so he only has himself to blame: Sunday pancake breakfasts when the kids visit. He has been perfecting both his recipe and technique, enlisting the help of family friend "Uncle Earl" from Seattle, who was kind enough to share both his recipe and technique. This is particularly special since both adult children remember pancake breakfasts at Uncle Earl's cabin when they lived in Seattle.

We can't share his recipe, since it's top secret, but I think I can divulge that it involves Bisquick, an American product. Of course this isn't widely available here in New Zealand, but I was able to find a great internet source Uncle Sam's American Food Products. (I need to add that their service is amazing, we had this at our relatively remote rural location in two days from ordering.)

John is training his sous chefs, so the next generation knows how to make them too.

My only challenge is keeping sufficient maple syrup in stock, since these people seem to drink it, while John's is getting the pancakes as thin as Uncle Earl's, something he has yet to do!

p.s. Appropriately enough, it seems last week was International Pancake Week...

The Tree Hut, Continued

The Tree Hut Troops landed for a visit again at Struan Farm, so work continued on the Hut:

The window got washed and the back wall built, all hands were on deck, including me! Next (I think) it's the roof, but that will be another weekend.

Flowers du Jour

Here's one of this week's arrangements from the gardens at Struan Farm. Lovely pink roses, dahlias and some sedum that hasn't flowered quite yet. I actually prefer it before it flowers!