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Yes, go ahead and laugh! Yet another one of my tidy up projects at Struan Farm. This one involves a piece of string and my spade. We've closed off the new house site to the sheep this week so we can start landscaping. This also means we can take off the protective fencing around our fruit and other trees, and I can tidy them all up.
Eleven down, seven to go. But they look great, don't they? Next comes the hedging...
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I finally had a chance to test out friend Laura's Rosemary Shortbread recipe this past weekend at Struan Farm. A visitor was coming for morning tea, and something home baked had to be served, this is the country after all!
Butter, honey and confectioners/icing sugar is mixed with an electric mixer, then combined with flour, salt, baking powder and chopped fresh rosemary. This is mixed until it resembles a coarse meal with pea sized lumps of butter, then gathered into a ball and put onto a floured board. I really wasn't too sure as I did this, since the "dough" is very loose and hard to get it into anything resembling a ball without considerable pressure. After that it's kneaded as best you can, then pressed into a 9 inch/26 cm baking pan and scored into wedges.
Clearly I hadn't made shortbread before given this existential crisis-- it turned out beautifully!
Although it is fantastic with rosemary, I'd like to test this same recipe out with lemon verbena, lavender might also be interesting. Thanks Laura!
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Are you familiar with the expression "spoilt for choice?" It's common here in New Zealand, think it's English in origin, and means "to be unable to choose because there are so many possible good choices."
It came to mind the other day when I was reporting to John about my various potential work projects for the day and week. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, I told him that there's so much work to do at Struan Farm I am spoilt for choice!
On any given day, what I end up getting stuck into is a function of both my mood and the weather. I don't crack into major gardening or a big clean up in the cold, driving rain, for example.
The good news is that I've still got lots of options for work projects, and that makes me happy as Larry! Just don't ask me who Larry is (yet another kiwi expression), or about the pond clean up, okay?....
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There's a time for being old school, and when it comes to farm gumboots there's pretty much one tradition here in New Zealand: Skellerup Red Bands. We have a pretty decent supply on hand at Struan Farm, for our use and for use by visitors. These would be (some of) them:
Boots of some sort are really needed for walking around a farm. Don't understand people who show up in jandals or heels, but guess they don't know any better or haven't thought about it sufficiently.
We gave Ella a pair of her own gumboots for Christmas, while Livy got bright pink boots on the theory that pink works better for a three year old. Ella recently lost hers up in Auckland, so was without boots during a recent visit.
And so John decided the time had come for them both to have proper farm gumboots (and socks) that they can leave here so they don't go missing in Aotea Square at the ice skating rink, e.g.
Seeing them both put them on was quite a moment, and one for Livy in particular. Something about trading in those bright pink boots for "proper gumboots," and leaving them here at the farm. It was a rite of passage.
p.s. these are not Wellies, that's an English thing. The story is that they're called "gumboots" either because they were worn by the Kauri gum diggers, OR that they were made of gum rubber, you choose.
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Hooray, time to think about the veggie gardens at Struan Farm and order seeds!
The Kings Seeds catalog arrived in the mail the same week I got an email reminder from Italian Seeds Pronto. The latter sells Franchi Sementi, Italian and French heirloom seed varieties that will grow in NZ, while the former has a huge offering. While I don't want to go too far overboard, of course, you know me, I will. Previously I haven't had a big enough veggie garden to experiment, so now I will.
Orders have been sent for herbs, tomatoes, beans, peas, beets, silverbeet/swiss chard, kale, fennel, lettuces, carrots, cauliflower, peppers, radishes, spinach, pumpkins, cucumbers.........no corn, broccoli, brussel sprouts, artichokes, cabbage or potatoes as yet. We'll see how we get on.
Oh, and of course I didn't forget the zinneas and sunflowers for the Homestead garden by the Pet Paddock.
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We had guests for dinner this weekend at Struan Farm. And yes, there was more to the meal than dessert, it was pretty darned good if I do say so myself: lamb rumps with roasted carrot salad with mint and almonds.
But the Sticky Date was the big hit. This recipe is from Annabel Langbein's first Free Range Cook cookbook. It's lighter than more traditional versions of sticky date pudding, a rather classic Kiwi dessert, and the upside down pear effect is different too. Served with lightly whipped cream and caramel sauce the plates were licked clean. (Truth be told I did cheat and buy a bottle of The Dollop Kitchen's salted caramel sauce, since making caramel sauce from scratch can sometimes be a harrowing experience I decided to avoid in this instance.)
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You'll need to hang with me and have a bit of vision on this one.
At the top picture a three metre high Rhododendron Cornubia, with bright red flowers, beside Camellia japonica Katherine Nuccio, a camellia of about the same size with rose-red double blooms. On "the shelf" below, a native cedar called a Kawaka, a pink Camellia Transpink, covered with lots of little flowers, and a California Redwood, all surrounded by hellebores to provide evergreen ground color (also flowers in winter). Last but not least, at the bottom, are three Filifera Aurea, golden conifers. These will get reasonably big over time and cover across the base. So picture this hillside covered.
This past weekend I was out planting those hellebores, and did just that.
Clearly clean up yet to do at the top (we'll be taking out that fence), and a lot of growing to be done by the plants involved. But it's on the way, everyone just needs vision (and time).
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Yesterday I finally took some time to visit Hairy Feet Waitomo, the Piopio location used for filming part of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," just up the Mangaotaki River from Struan Farm.
(Of course) I've seen the film as well as the second installment, "The Desolation of Smaug," so was interested to learn more about the sheer scale of the production and see specific spots where particular scenes were filmed. Hobbit fans and movie buffs won't be disappointed, there's lots to see. Including Bilbo's sword Sting!
But what blew me away was the staggering beauty of this landscape: the cliffs, limestone rocks, and bush. I could have spent hours lost in the photo zone! Hairy Feet Waitomo is about a whole lot more than "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey." It is a working farm in a spectacular setting, where a movie also happened to be filmed.
It's really a must see, for locals and visitors alike, and we will tell our guests that. For me, this day was yet another reminder of the special beauty that surrounds us in Piopio, somewhat off the beaten track in New Zealand.
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I'll be happy when the builders finish up the baseboards around the bottom of the new house at Struan Farm, for a few reasons. The past few nights the sheep in the paddock below have taken to sleeping under the house, where it's warm and dry. They've woken us up at 2 a.m. with their snorting, grunting and bumping around.
While it might seem amusing to a point, I've taken a darker view of it all when my zonked out bliss has been interrupted in the middle of the night!
The builders are onto it today. The hotel is closing, girls, go back under the trees!
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I know the old saying says to make lemonade, but I'd much rather make lemon curd!
Our organic Meyer lemons are so lovely and juicy, and they just keep coming.
I was struck by how almost all of the ingredients are bright yellow: lemon juice, lemon zest, butter, eggs. The only one that isn't is caster sugar.
Ta dah!
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The first daffodil bloomed at Struan Farm this week! She's a prima donna, this one. The other three hundred or so I popped in this past autumn are still biding their time.
And while I was wandering in The Homestead's woodsy gardens, managed to notice some snow drops, hellebores and camellias. As you know I can get lost in the flowers....
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We've had clear, sunny, beautiful weather this week at Struan Farm. I've been able to get outside and work in the gardens, hooray. But it also means two things at this time of the year: frost, and frosty mornings.
Here's an interesting rather abstract shot of the iced car windscreen:
Was going to make you guess what it was, but decided that was way too hard! Oh, and I've just remembered that this weather means three things, not two. The third is amazing starry skies.
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Since our first twin lambs arrived (very early) last week at Struan Farm, we've realized that one is much, much smaller than the other, check this out:
Since no others have arrived as yet we are enjoying watching these two play together. The larger one actually jumps over the smaller!
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The first hellebores made their appearance this week at Struan Farm. We're very happy to see our "winter roses." There's not much else in the gardens right now except for the early camellias, and they aren't the best in arrangements for the table, while hellebores are.
I love these fragile, delicate blooms!
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We've finally moved into the new house at Struan Farm. Still some things to finish up on the house itself, mostly outside, and then there's the landscaping, etc. etc.
But the big news is that we're in and we love it. It's warm, quiet, comfortable, really everything we want and need in a house (and more!).
Enough wall space finally to display our larger pieces of art properly, and a high enough ceiling to hang my old Nelson bus blind, hooray!
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John decided that it would be a good thing to put "sheep nuts" out for the ewes grazing in the Pet Paddock at Struan Farm. This is supplementary feed, rather like dog kibble, good as grass starts to dwindle this time of year.
It took awhile for them to find the nuts, but now they're emptying the bin faster than I can refill it, yet another job to add to the list!
Looking forward to having pet lambs this year.....
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My baking efforts have fallen off the cliff lately, too much happening at Struan Farm with the new house, gardening, landscaping, etc. etc. But I decided to reverse this trend this past weekend and bake John a pumpkin pie.
Pumpkin pie is wonderful winter comfort food, and so easy now that Countdown stocks Libby's canned pumpkin in their international food section here in New Zealand. The recipe for the pie filling is on the can, includes pumpkin, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and evaporated milk.
I use Martha's Pate Brisee recipe from "Martha Stewart's Pies and Tarts," which is made in the food processor and rolled out on the bench/counter. Simple. The pastry does take about an hour to rest in the fridge before rolling out, so plan accordingly.
Warm from the oven served with softly whipped cream this was a winner!
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Just a wee bit of wet weather these past few weeks at Struan Farm. We know it's been really wet when a pond begins to form at the back of the Pet Paddock, something like this:
When/if the ducks appear we'll start constructing the ark!
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Sister-in-law Anna and I took a road trip one rainy day this past week to Wairere Nursery in Gordonton, Hamilton. Purpose of the journey was to pick up some special camellias, rhodos and hellebores to plant under the redwoods at the new house entrance at Struan Farm.
Anna and I get ourselves into trouble at garden centers! We returned with some beautiful, special plants. My favorite of the lot is this Mark Alan camellia japonica:
We're also starting to plan the landscaping and larger gardens around the new house. Believe it or not, the process starts with lengths of old hose! It is stretched out around where you think the beds might be, to make it easier to envision the different garden areas and amount of planting required. Watch this space....
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Over lunch at Struan Farm's Homestead yesterday John looked out to the Pet Paddock and announced that we had our first lambs, hooray! Twins. They've arrived quite early, but we're happy to see them.
I'll be paying more attention now...
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