Struan Farm

Seasonal Haircuts

It's the time of the year for the lambs to get shorn at Struan Farm, ahead of winter. And this includes (of course) our former pet lambs, Rosie, Ruby, Pip and Pepper. Being rounded up and put in the yards at the wool shed is always a bit traumatic for everyone, so I stopped by to have a quiet word of assurance with the girls. I knew they'd feel better afterwards and told them so!

Here are the before and after photos. 

Rosie:

Farmer John told me that after being shorn she promptly had a rub in a pile of sand, hence her dirty look!

Here's the elusive Pepper, who did permit me to give her a quick pat when she was in the yard:

Here's Pip:

 

And last but not least, Ruby:

The whole mob stayed together afterward in the Cottage and pond paddock, huddling under the trees. Think they were a bit chilly!

 

Arbor Camp 2016 & Notable Trees

The team from Asplundh New Zealand returned to Struan Farm for their annual "Arbor Camp" over the weekend. It was great to see men on ropes pruning away high up in the Pet Paddock's feature trees, despite some heavy rain for part of the day. We were pleased to have them back and think everyone had a good time. We had a BBQ dinner on the deck at the new(ish) house for everyone and their families, it was a fun night.

 

Big News: We have decided to register some of our trees with the New Zealand Tree Register/Notable Trees Trust. The team is helping us complete the necessary registration information on several trees in our front roadside Pet Paddock, including the two big Dawn Redwoods. There is some thought we should register several of the big oaks and the Liriodendron tulipifera as well.

 

Things are Just Peachy

I've managed to harvest twelve peaches from our oldest peach tree in the Orchard here at Struan Farm. First harvest, hooray! This is also more than I thought we had on the tree. Some are still quite green, they're now on the window sill in the sunlight to ripen.

And yes, I did share one with Clifford!
 

Native Tree Experiment

John and I stumbled upon our various female Kahikatea trees fruiting a few days ago. This prompted me to wonder if we could grow trees from their seeds here at Struan Farm, since we do see self-seeded Kahikatea trees sprouting up around the place. We'll be needing hundreds of trees for John's latest adventure, aka "The Next Big Thing." He is determined to have more native bush reserve on the property, in fact we both are.

And so Karen is now charged with trying to grow Kahikatea, Dacrycarpus dacrydioides, our native white pine. It's meant to be possible.

The seeds are black, growing on a juicy orange-red base. The fruit is popular with wood pigeon, kaka and tui (we don't have kaka in our area). The base was also an important food source for early Maori.

Kahikatea is NZ's tallest native tree, also our most ancient. It loves wet and swampy areas, which should be perfect for planting along the stream winding down to the river here at Struan Farm. Stay tuned!