Struan Farm

Merry Christmas from Struan Farm

Best wishes from our family to your family for a wonderful Christmas, holiday, summer/winter! I'll be taking a wee blogging break, back on and off for a week or so.

p.s. this is pet lamb Ruby

Maori Potatoes, Take 2

Another bag of Maori potatoes made its way to Struan Farm from Dargaville last week. This time they did get planted out in the veggie garden rather than eaten.

I've saved some for planting out in last year's potato bed too. So we'll try some in one of the troughs and some in the ground. We've been told they tend to spread, so we're putting them where that can either be controlled, or doesn't matter!

Boxing Day Baking

Apologies that today's blog post is late. I had a helper here at Struan Farm this weekend, recruited to assist with the baking for our annual family Boxing Day celebration.

We made some serious progress: cream cheese Christmas cookies, two batches of chocolate chip cookies, That 70's Slice, Chewy Fudge Brownies, and Nadia Lim's Caramel Coffee Walnut Slice.

The challenge occurred trying to melt white chocolate in the microwave for our White Chocolate Rocky Road. Despite zapping just 30 seconds at a time, I managed to burn two batches of chocolate! Not sure why, perhaps we were at the end of the shelf life. So we're regrouping with new chocolate this week for that.

Otherwise only one more batch of brownies to make. With a huge bowl of Piopio Berry Orchard strawberries, blueberries and raspberries served with whip cream, the dessert table will be ready to rock and roll. We don't go too far overboard, do we?

Hip, Hip Hydrangea Hill!

I'm very happy that I didn't do a ruthless cutback of Hydrangea Hill at Struan Farm this past winter, since this is the payback:

Pretty spectacular, isn't it? Plenty of flowers for cuttings, and it looks just amazing along the driveway. This will give the secaturs and loppers some food for thought next winter for sure.

 

Creativity Fostered & Flourishing in Piopio

This year the Project Piopio Trust conducted a children's art competition in conjunction with the Aria Toy Library. The original idea behind this was to come up with artwork illustrating our rural life, and to foster creativity and talent within the younger members of the community.  Winning entries would be displayed on the Toy Library's exterior wall in Piopio.

Three local artists worked with children from pre-school up to Year 6 in a number of sessions. A total of 85 entries were received. The quality of submissions was deemed to be so high that an additional number of paintings were reproduced and are now hung on two other buildings. The remainder have been printed onto banners for display at the schools, with prizes and certificates awarded to all entrants.

The artwork has just been hung on the buildings in the past week, and looks fantastic, below is a sample. So take a break in Piopio and see all this firsthand!

 

Special Spuds

Our friend Margaret from Dargaville sent through some special Maori potatoes called "Kawiniwini" with John over the weekend. Instructions were to eat them when freshly picked, crush them after boiling. We did, and they were absolutely delicious!

They weren't floury or waxy, terms normally used to describe potatoes. It's hard to describe the consistency really, but they had more flavour than potatoes.  

Now here's the funny bit: she'd sent them down for me to plant in the veggie gardens at Struan Farm! Oops--we're getting more so I can do so....!

Greens from the Garden

It's a pleasure for me to be able to step out the backdoor here at Struan Farm with scissors and colander in hand to snip a mix of organic salad greens for lunch: baby beetroot leaves, baby kale, baby rocket, red lettuce, parsley, and an edible flower or two for colour. 

Okay, I do jazz it up a bit with avocado, cherry toms and slivered almonds. Dressing is my easy vinaigrette of fresh Meyer lemon juice (one), fruity olive oil (3T), a dollop of honey, salt & pepper. I make it in a jam jar, so it's simple to mix and enough for two salads. 

Blue Now Too

We're blue now, but not unhappy about it in the least! The blueberries have also landed at Piopio Berry Orchard, so we've got a fantastic seasonal mix of strawberries, raspberries AND blueberries happening. A veritable berry trifecta.

 

You can't see me, but I'm doing my happy dance (probably just as well on that one!).

Married at Struan Farm

It was a busy weekend here at Struan Farm. Our farmstay was completely booked out Friday and Saturday nights for the wedding of Kristin and Jeff on Saturday. While there were rain showers the day of the wedding, the weather held for the ceremony and most if not all of the related festivities. There was a bagpiper and a haka, along with high tea catered by Piopio's award winning cafe The Fat Pigeon. 

The couple decided to have the actual ceremony beneath one of our flowering dogwoods, which are looking pretty spectacular at the moment. Of course the bride looked beautiful.

 

I learned afterward from my flower dictionary that dogwood symbolises "love undiminished by adversity." So rather special that they chose this particular spot!

2015 Quotes of the Year

Interesting to see this year's Massey University contenders for (NZ) Quote of the Year:

“That’s a very tantalising ponytail.” – Waitress Amanda Bailey’s recollection of Prime Minister John Key’s statement before pulling her ponytail.

“The French love the coq.”  – ACT Leader David Seymour when answering a question about whether his silver fern pin would be replaced with a red peak flag.

“Just my arm.” – Steven Hansen when asked what else he had up his sleeve during the Rugby World Cup tournament.

"I started here aged 27 in a suit I borrowed from my Dad. I could never have dreamed what would happen in the next 24 years.” – John Campbell speaking to viewers on the final Campbell Live show.

“We’ve been asked to vote for the tallest dwarf.”  – Marketing expert Mike Hutcheson discussing the chosen four flag designs on TVNZ’s Breakfast show.

“Squeaky sand, eh!” – Bachelor Art Green after contestant Poppy Salter passes wind on their televised first date in what became known internationally as “the fart that stopped the nation”.

“I survived the Kills!” – Tweet of X factor contestant Joe Irvine after being bullied by Natalia Kills and Willy Moon on live television. Kills and Moon were sacked from the show following a public outcry.

 "No man should have his wife's brain on his shirt.” – A point made repeatedly by Queen's Counsel Philip Morgan in the Mark Lundy murder case retrial.

"Here's the thing – none of us get out of life alive. So be gallant, be great, be gracious, and be grateful for the opportunities that you have." – Student Jake Bailey in a speech at his senior prize-giving ceremony a week after he was told if he did not get cancer treatment he would not be alive to give the speech. 

"I used to make fun of him, I said no one could catch him because whenever the nostrils flared up he took all the oxygen." – Former All Black Eric Rush paying tribute to Jonah Lomu at his memorial. 

 

You can vote for your favourite here.

More Berries!

Good news, Piopio Berry Orchard is now growing summer raspberries as well as their autumn varieties. And those have just landed, hooray! So we are now enjoying both strawberries and raspberries. Word is the blueberries aren't too far away either.

I feel a Nigella Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova coming on!

A Different Sort of Tulip

A few days ago I noticed that the huge Liriodendron tulipfera, or Tulip Tree, up at our new(ish) house at Struan Farm was covered with flowers. The tuis were also croaking away, sipping its nectar.

Turns out this tree, a member of the magnolia family, is the largest of native trees in the Eastern USA. It can grow as high as 58 metres, with trunks up to 3 metres wide. Its pale green or yellow flowers have an orange stripe, they are quite pretty and also have a large quantity of nectar for the birds.

 

Wondering if the bees like these too? Further research required! 

First Haircuts

It was quite the eventful day at Struan Farm yesterday. When I took arriving farmstay guests down to the Cottage, I saw a somewhat scrawny little lamb in the Wool Shed yard. She had just been shorn, and was wearing a red collar--Rosie! She baaed and baaed. Next think I knew Pip popped out of the shed, barely recognisable but for her red collar and distinct spotted face.

I apologised to the guests, explaining the situation, and spent a minute trying to calm them down. I also popped my head into the shearing shed to talk to Farmer John, who was busy making sure he had rounded up the right lambs. Once identified they were finished up while I settled the guests into the Cottage.

After that I herded the little darlings back up to the house. Pepper and Ruby aren't coming near me, but they did follow me back. Everyone is now tidied up for Christmas, but looking like they need to drink more rather than less milk and munch lots of grass!

And as they say after a bad haircut, it will all grow back Rosie!

Ready for Prime Time Down at the River

As reported, it was all happening down at the river at Struan Farm this past weekend. I hadn't quite counted on the digger showing up, which added to the activity. We've got a wedding in the Homestead garden next weekend, with farmstay guests arriving to stay in the Homestead, Cottage and Jim's Hut. Several international visitors are booked to stay at Jim's Hut to have a unique "kiwi" experience.

So it was rather important that John finish up the privacy trellis for the outdoor shower, which he did:

I've now cleaned the concrete shower area as well as Jim's Hut, and made up the beds. Last week I cleaned and re-stained the decks, although I'm finding that the sheep leave dirty little hoof prints and the magpies deposit poop just to spite me. We also had our friends from King Country Cleaning Solutions down to clean the windows inside and out (some are so high we decided it was best to bring in the professionals).

I'll need to damp mop the decks right ahead of guests arriving to stay at Jim's Hut, trying to clean them in advance just won't work with the sheep and magpies colluding against me. This is the great outdoors on a farm, after all!

Infrastructure Happening, Yet Again

This past weekend it was all happening down at the river at Struan Farm.

Unbeknowst to me, John had arranged for the digger to arrive to put in two cattle stops. These impede the stock/sheep from crossing, allowing us to remove gates. You will recall that John loves having the digger here. (Sometimes he pesters the guys so much trying to watch their progress that I gently have to call him off or we and they wouldn't get anything done!) The driver this weekend did tell him that he had a reputation "on the street" as being a bit fussy. The good news about this is that that remark takes the pressure off me, who is usually the one being accused of that..

Cattle stops were put in on the track from the pond down to the river and further down on the river track. These will make it much easier for people driving or walking down the river track.

 

Once the digger was here working away they realised that they'd need a new track for him to get back up from the river, since he wasn't able to drive over the newly installed cattle stops! So we've now got a new track, albeit a relatively steep one, that can be used by heavy equipment and walkers alike as an alternative path up from the river.

 

John spent most of that next morning spreading paddock grass seed and rolling it with the tractor. Fingers crossed we get a bit of rain to get it all germinating/growing.

 

Sigh....

I came through the front gate at Struan Farm yesterday morning and was blown away by all this:

 

 

The gardens are giving us their all at the moment, aren't they? I know we live here, and I'm biased. But it's quite spectacular right now. The dogwoods are in full bloom. The white deutzia at the front gate, which John pruned rather ruthlessly two years ago, is flowering like we've never seen it. Hydrangea Hill is starting to pop, and the roses are having an unbelievable season (provided the gardener aka Karen keeps deadheading them!). Okay, there is the odd weed, my apologies for that.

Love living in paradise, at least it is so to us.

 

 

 

 

zzzzzzzz

Just picked the first zucchinis of the season from the veggie gardens at Struan Farm. I was tempted to leave them for another day, but then you know what happens, right? You forget and then the next thing you know they are HUGE.

These are Florence Ribbed, have wonderful flower shapes when sliced.

Tabled

Over the weekend John and I picked up the tables and benches commissioned from Otorohanga based woodworker extraordinaire, Noel Pearson. We'd taken him two cedar doors that John had scored from a friend in the demolition business, which Noel repurposed to make the table tops. He then used Japanese Cedar to make the table supports and benches.

These have been installed on the Homestead deck at Struan Farm, where we have our annual Boxing Day gathering of extended family, also where we hold events to the extent they get held.

 

They've turned out really well, don't you think? The tables can be used separately or joined into one long table. In time they will weather to a beautiful silver. 

Fill 'Er Up

We put the plug back into our main pond at Struan Farm a few weeks ago so that it could refill after its winter clean up. Since then mother ducks have been there with ducklings, and a trio look to have decided this may be their permanent home. I've enjoyed watching them mingle with our decoys Hughey, Dewey, Louie and Tui. Haven't been able to capture that with my camera just yet!

The big news is that we put the plug in Paradise Pond or "P2" this past weekend. It's filled up quickly. Can't wait for the ducks to discover it too.

 

Next we will finish landscaping the surrounds with native plants/trees. We've already planted some manuka/tea tree and flax, although the sheep did rip some of the smaller flax out on us. So the next installment will happen in winter when it's wet and John will fence things off from marauding sheep. There is some talk of putting limestone rocks to make more of a natural looking waterfall too, but we may be dreaming.

Farm Girl got onto the thistles in this part of the farm this past weekend. She'd dropped that ball and it was starting to look a bit atrocious. The Mad Mower, aka John, also went down to our new picnic area and the grass by the Mangaotaki rapids on his mower, it now looks like maintained lawn in both places, beautiful! He may be making a habit out of this, rather like what has happened with our front roadside Pet Paddock.

And this was a man who used to give me grief about picking up fallen branches in the paddocks; now he's mowing them....ahem.