Struan Farm

Back to Mum

There's more to the story of my first pet lambs at Struan Farm (and apologies for looking farm-y above, but I've been a bit too occupied for makeup, brushing my hair, etc.).

Turns out mum, who had been motionless lying by the fence after giving birth, was still alive, barely. When I went back after rescuing the lambs to try to find out what had happened to her, I saw that her eyes were now open, she was still breathing but couldn't get up. So I went over, got under her and lifted her up, after which she promptly walked off to munch some grass.

Of course I then had to try returning her lambs. So the lambs and I got back into John's car (really glad I had John's car this particular week...!) and drove to mum's paddock. I got the lambs out of the car and we went over to see if mum would baa then they baa-ed. No deal, mum wasn't interested (none of the ewes were, truth be told I wasn't sure which one was mum). And so my little lambs and I got back into John's car and returned home. (For a fun time, try driving with two lambs in the car--they get stuck, baa, baa, baa....) Bottle feeding resumed every three hours.

After all this I rang Farmer John, to make him aware of the situation and to ask for advice. He said he'd come by and assess whether or not he could manage a family reconciliation, which would be for the best.

And so my wee lads have gone back to mum, they're all off to Mahoenui. I was basically their foster mum for a day. In this picture below they seem to be starting to reconnect?...

I'm a bit sad but a bit relieved at the same time. And l know that I saved three lives, by some mystery of the universe.

 

My First Pet Lambs

Yesterday I went down to the Homestead at Struan Farm to spread some paddock grass seed in the Old Orchard, where we'd taken down the old chicken coop last autumn. No grass seed happened however, since I found two little lambs running around baa-ing in the garden. Mum had given birth beside the fence and was not moving.

And so I scooped them up, got the bottles, powdered lamb's milk and wire netting, and threw everyone and thing into John's car. We journeyed along the farm track up to the new house, at one point I had a lamb in my lap. 

Must confess that I am a rank amateur at this, but don't tell them! I did manage to get some warm colostrum into them, have now read the instructions on feeding amounts and frequency. They're sounding healthy, hopefully they will survive. No names as yet.

First Official Farmstay Brochures!

I was very excited to have a box deposited on the doorstep at Struan Farm with our official farmstay brochure, hot off the press. We've worked with Sheena Smith at Redimpressions Design on all of the design work, logo, brochure (hard copy and electronic versions), signage and website. Latter is in the final stages of design and then "the technical stuff" happens, which is being overseen by Sarah Cornes.

Must say that I had to be convinced that we needed a paper brochure at all. I'm much more focused on electronic media myself, and I expect most of our guests will be the same. But I'll do a mass mailing to friends, former colleagues and business associates to get the word out about Struan Farm, and our friends at Piopio Berry Orchard and Hairy Feet Waitomo have said they'll take a supply to pass along to customers. These won't go to waste!

If you'd like to receive the electronic version, please email me at [email protected] with "brochure request" and I'll get one out to you. Our official opening is the end of October, you'll undoubtedly be hearing more about that between now and then.

 

Rocks of Ages

You may remember that I went through an extended period of de-constructing (and re-constructing) rock gardens at Struan Farm, wondering whatever possessed John's parents to have built them to such an extent in the first place. Well, this initiative left us with piles of limestone rocks of all different sizes, waiting to be redeployed.

We've decided to reuse some to make a rock wall at the edge of the new parking space at the Homestead:

John has had to become a bit of a puzzle master (in addition to weight lifter), figuring out how to place them. The bottom row has been much easier than the top, but then it's easy for me to say that!

Once John has finished his thing the contractors will come to metal/gravel the drive and parking space. I also get to plant a new garden up above the wall (flowering and other shrubs-- we're trying to keep things as easy as possible given the size of the gardens).

Boxing In & On

Yes, more hedges at Struan Farm, we're boxing on. This time 150 English box planted on each side of the decks at the new house. Spaced at approximately 15-18 cm apart, I didn't get overly pedantic about it. At John's direction I've closed off a small area with hedging where we'll plant a dwarf Meyer lemon tree, since it's too fiddly to mow here. (I did get somewhat pendantic about that, using a string to mark the line to plant across the area.)

Now the lemon tree, lawn and planning the gardens, bring it on!

Magic Moment

It was yet another glorious weekend here at Struan Farm, with warm, sunny weather, and we were outside working away. I raked topsoil, planted plants, finished painting the wool shed, and decided to live dangerously, take a chance, and toss out some paddock grass seed. (May still be just a wee bit early....)

While I was painting the wool shed I had an amazing encounter with a beautiful pair of twin lambs.

It was the kind of Struan Farm moment that makes me deliriously happy, can you understand why seeing these innocent, little faces?

Pfeffernusse to the Rescue

Continuing this saga, the pfeffernusse/pfefferneusse I ordered from Global Foods Direct arrived by courier post in Piopio, so I was able to make the Caramel Gingerbread Trifles from Donna Hay's most recent magazine.

These are spicy, iced gingerbread cookies, apparently readily available in Australia but shall we say "mostly unavailable" here in NZ. I managed to prevail, buying the last bag in stock at Global Foods Direct so I could test out this recipe. Caramel is poured into the bottom of a glass, followed by vanilla ice cream and then broken pfeffernusse. I then drizzled a bit of caramel over the top.

 Pretty good, but fortunately the Amaretti Tiramisu Trifles are still our favorite!

 

WIP: Kiwi Aise

It's been raining and I've been knitting. Aise (forgive me, I can't figure out how to do the proper french accent over the "e") is an easy shawl pattern that I'm working up in Zealana's Kiwi yarn,  colorway #13. It's a lovely, soft yarn with great drape, made with 40% merino, 30% possum, and 30% cotton. Think I purchased it at Cruella's in Nelson a year or so ago.

This is a great project for watching MKR: My Kitchen Rules!

Let the Veggie Gardens Begin

I've had time over the last few days to start the seeds that require transplanting for our veggie and herb gardens at Struan Farm. 

I will (of course) eventually have a proper green/glass house, but right now I've started these with two little plastic greenhouses in the garage. What have I started? Tomatoes, corn, celery, pumpkin, squash, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, cavolo nero, cukes, bell peppers, basil, cumin, oregano, thyme, tarragon and italian parsley off the top of my head. (Also an entire tray of zinneas for the garden beside the Pet Paddock at the Homestead.) Seeds are from Kings Seeds, Italian Seeds Pronto, and Egmont Seed Company.  The 60 cell seed trays are also from Egmont Seed Company, I haven't used them before but they seem quite handy.

And I'm "chitting" some seedling Agria potatoes from Country Trading. This is so they can develop sprouts ahead of planting, and something new for me, but John is an old hand at planting potatoes. He's announced that this year they are going beside the Workshop, we'll see! May need to order some Jersey Bennes so we have new potatoes for Christmas....

Making an Entrance

John and I were fortunate, privileged really, to witness the birth of two lambs at Struan Farm over the weekend. I saw the first, he saw the second. It was bloody and messy but basically pretty special seeing new life enter this world. Parents everywhere can relate!

I've spared you the gore, here's the happy family:

The Next Installment, Day Two

The next day Aaron turned his sights to projects at the Homestead at Struan Farm. While we've been having guests (mostly friends and family) on an ad hoc basis every now and then, we're opening the farmstay formally/officially on a full time basis at the end of October (God willin' and the creek don't rise?!).

So we're upgrading the driveway, parking, and landscaping at the Homestead entrance, which will be our main entrance. Visitors staying at the Homestead, Cottage, and Jim's Hut will follow signs through the property up to our new house, which will be "reception" for checking in, such as it is, this is a farmstay after all!  All our accommodation is self-contained, we'll provide breakfast, other meals by advance arrangement if desired or required. Maybe fresh organic veggies from the garden?

We've recycled slabs of concrete from the old drive to make a rustic wall. Once topsoil gets dumped behind the wall I will be onto landscaping, planting a few flowering shrubs to fill the gaps. The driveway project is next, I suspect...

The Next Installment, Day One

It was a glorious weekend at Struan Farm, with warm, sunny weather. Hard to believe it's still winter! Our friend Aaron showed up with one of his sons to do the grading and top soil work in front of the new house. Now that this is done, and the weather warms up consistently (conventional wisdom is September?), we can start to grass the lawn.

 

 

 

And I'm now onto 25 meters of box hedging around the sides of the front deck, once I figure out how many plants I need....

Trifles & the Great Pfeffernusse Quest

Given some rainy weather this week, I've been playing around with trifle recipes from the current Donna Hay Magazine, issue 76. They are served in glass cups, are meant to be quick and easy desserts.

First I tested out the Lemon Curd Trifles given our love for all things lemon curd. Too creamy for me, not enough lemon curd (at least using our homemade curd), so I'd change the recipe somewhat to adjust for that when making it again.

My favorite was the Amaretti Tiramisu Trifles:

I have yet to make the Caramel Gingerbread Trifles since I couldn't find the "Pfeffernusse" cookies called for, a type of iced soft gingerbread cookie. They must be available at every corner dairy in Australia, but cannot be found at mainstream food or gourmet stores here in New Zealand. (I hate it when this happens!) Not one to be thwarted easily, I found an internet source, Global Foods Direct, and have a box on its way to Piopio. There's a recipe for Pfeffernusse cookies at AllRecipes.com here, but the time involved in making them defeats the notion of a quick, easy dessert from my vantage point.

So hoping this won't be my favorite trifle of the lot when I do make it, or I'll need to learn how to make (and pronounce) "Pfeffernusse" for sure! 

Daffy

The hundreds and hundreds of daffodil bulbs I planted in the roadside wooded garden at Struan Farm this past autumn are starting to do their thing.

Not in profusion as yet, but rather as vivid, yellow exclamation marks making their presence known. Bring it on!

And here's the requisite hellebore shot, this time one of the new varieties I planted this past autumn, flowering for the first time. Quite pretty...

The Texture of the Trees

I get captured by things, I know. Right now it's the texture of the trees in the winter landscape at Struan Farm. Love the lines and the contrasts.

Just Ducky

Very excited to discover that all four of the family duck decoys have returned to the pond at Struan Farm. For awhile we thought that several had flown the coop, they couldn't be found.

For years Huey, Dewey, Louie and Tui swam in the old swimming pool at the farm. We eventually relocated them to the pond, thinking they'd be happier in a natural setting. But several went missing when the big poplar tree crashed into the pond during a major storm. We thought they'd moved on or been buried.

(Think this last one just above was having a bit of a feed....)

The other good news is that we have two pairs of REAL ducks nesting at the pond right now-- a pair of mallards and a pair of paradise ducks. Things really are just ducky at Struan Farm!

 

"Lake Field" Arrives at the Farm

Thrilled to take delivery at Struan Farm yesterday of "Lake Field," a painting by our niece, Canadian artist Rosanna Marmont (she's a kiwi really).

The work was on exhibition recently at the Calgary Stampede. At 4x8 feet, I'll be waiting for John or the builders to uncrate it when they have the time. As you might expect, the suspense is killing me! It will be hung on a large, high wall in the new house, I will post about that when it gets there.

Rosanna lived in the Cottage for a wee while with her family when she was young. Her grandmother Rosemary (whom everyone called "Mil") encouraged her art, knew she would be an artist eventually. So it's very special to bring a work of Rosanna's back to Struan Farm.

p.s. We actually can't wait for her to visit to paint some New Zealand landscapes!

Maintenance Work

We're gradually getting around to parts of Struan Farm that need to be cleaned up and otherwise looked after, but as you might expect it's ongoing. The property really can take as much (or more) than we can give, even with occasional help from outside contractors. As previously reported, we're "spoilt for choice!"

This weekend John, Clifford and I went down to the river to put protection around 15 Claret Ash trees we planted about a month ago. Fortunately none had been ring barked by the sheep, although we did see evidence of a nibble or two. Phew!

On the journey back up, John stopped with the tractor to unblock his drain along the side of the track. This area slips all the time; we're waiting for the trees above to crash down one day across the track and into the fence, but that will be a story for another day...

And yes, it's fair to say that John did all of the work on this particular outing. Clifford supervised and I photographed. But then Clifford and I got our exercise walking down and back up, while John was on the tractor, so we thought that was fair enough.

Identity Crisis over Bob Hope

Several years before she passed away, we asked John's mum Rosemary to tell us the names of the various rhodos and camellias planted in the gardens at Struan Farm. John's parents were avid gardeners, and loved to search out unusual trees and shrubs from nurserymen around the country to plant at the farm.

I remember her telling us that the large, brilliant red rhodo at the front entrance was called "Bob Hope." This is a name I would remember.

Fast forward eight years or so. Anna advises that she thinks the rhodo is in fact "Cornubia." I then discover a red camellia called "Bob Hope" at Wairere Nursery, one that looks suspiciously like one of the camellias in the Homestead gardens.

Now I'm thinking that perhaps Rosemary and I got our flowering red trees muddled, she was talking about one, I was thinking it was the other. We've planted both Bob and Cornubia up at the new house, under the redwoods. We now know who's who.

Here's "New Bob":

Here's "Old Bob":

And here's "Cornubia":

Deploying the Lemon Curd

I found myself needing a quick dessert idea this past weekend, and ideally also wanted to use some of the lemon curd made last week. 

"Lemon curd krummeltorte" from Sophie Gray's cookbook "Fill the Tins" has turned out to be a great discovery. It's really easy to make and keeps for several days. And while John isn't a huge lemon fan (he dislikes anything sour/tart), he really loves this!