Struan Farm

Hunkering Down

It's been a rough few weeks weather-wise here at Struan Farm: rain, rain and more rain. Even the lambs, who are otherwise pretty staunch under most circumstances, have had enough. They were recently moved into the house paddock, during a particularly heavy downpour.

At one point I felt there were eyes upon me, and sure enough there were! I looked out into the paddock and they were all huddled under the trees, waiting for the rain to calm down before kicking back into nibbling grass. In the meantime they were staring up at me.

 

Clearly there was something I was meant to do about it, and I've dropped the ball. You will also note that one of these trees bit the dust in the next storm (I took this pic during one of the previous storms), so is no longer available for shelter.

The Winter Blues Begin

I know I've got to stop moaning about the rain and the wind, but we were really hammered Saturday night here at Struan Farm. High winds, heavy rains, house creaks and noises we haven't heard before really. I was very glad John was here before, during, and after and not away on travels!

We surveyed the resulting damage on Sunday morning. Here's the bad news:

 

The beautiful, old, sculptural, mossy tree we looked out on from the new(ish) house got taken out entirely by this storm. It had lost a dead branch a few days earlier in high winds, but now it's gone. We loved this tree, it provided colour, texture and character to the landscape. 

And then we discovered this:

One of the big tulip trees in the Pet Paddock fell over (John is in that top photo for scale). Fortunately not the biggest one we are in the process of registering with the Notable Trees Trusts, but a rather big tree nonetheless. It was right along the fence bordering our neighbour's farm, luckily it fell inward and didn't damage the fence. There is also a wee bit of collateral damage to one other tree.

These are major clean ups, with weeks of work, mostly for dear old Mike.

And while I know that life is about learning to accept loss, the impermanence and all that, we're very sad to lose trees. I'm just glad this was all that happened.

Out of It in Piopio

I found myself laughing a few days ago, after reading a news article about a trending starlet/model at Cannes. Laughing at myself.

I can safely say that I am well and truly out of it in Piopio, at least with respect to most current trends and popular culture. Used to be that I could translate for my husband, who is more hopeless than I am, but that is no longer the case. Some of this is due to the fact that I'm outside working around Struan Farm all the time, but some of it must be--gulp--due to age, as much as I'm reluctant to admit it.

The article ended by saying that this girl and her sister were "post-basic." I had no idea what that meant, had to look it up. This led me to the whole "basic" discussion, something I'd missed, at least when applied to girls who follow trends with boring predicability. I'm assuming "post" means they don't follow the obvious brand/designer trends.

In the same article there was also a reference to "duck facing" on Instagram, another term I didn't know. I was relieved that once I saw the explanation I recognised it immediately: people puckering up their lips for social media pics. Not attractive, but what lots of young people do right now. Guess it's easier than trying to look good all the time for social media pics, just to make a face?

I can safely say you won't find me duck facing any time soon, despite not being particularly photogenic. It's back to the gardens before I figure out how much more hopelessly out of date I really am!

Perhaps I should just "reboot" that last bit to say that I am "classic" or "vintage."

 

 

 

Seasonal Salad Experiment

Recently saw this Nadia Lim recipe for Roast beetroot, rocket and spiced haloumi salad with tamarillo dressing. I've got heaps of beetroot and spinach growing in the veggie gardens here at Struan Farm, so decided to give it a try, substituting spinach for the rocket.

Tamarillos (also called "tree tomatoes") are in season right now. I tried growing one many years ago when we lived further north in Papakura, but it died after getting zapped by frost. So we definitely can't grow them in frosty Piopio, I won't even try!  It's a fruit I'm not so sure about, but then I've started to like feijoas, so think I need to keep trying with these too.

The beetroot is cut into pieces and roasted with olive oil, maple syrup, salt & pepper (I peeled the beets, although Nadia says that's not essential). The dressing is made in a jar with peeled and diced tamarillo, liquid honey, olive oil, and dijon mustard. Slices of haloumi are dusted with ground cumin, turmeric, salt & pepper then pan fried in a bit of olive oil.  The salad is assembled, drizzled with dressing, then toasted sunflower seeds are sprinkled on top.

This was really good-- the tartness of the tamarillo really made a difference to the overall flavour of the salad. Next time I will try it with rocket, I'm curious to see how the different taste of that compares to the spinach version.
 

 

The Quest for Kowhai

Thanks to friend Jenny I went out a few days ago to gather up kowhai seeds around Struan Farm. After reading my recent update on "The Next Big Thing," in which I expressed my desire to grow our own native trees from seed for planting out, she contacted me to say that now is the time to gather kowhai.

I went down to the Homestead gardens, where a large, old kowhai flowers each year and self seeds lots of new trees, a number of which we have transplanted.  I could see seed pods quite high up in the tree, at first I thought I wouldn't be able to get them. That was until I looked down! There were heaps on the ground, I'd just never seen or recognised them before:

The seed pod clusters are rather cool, aren't they? Rather like a Calder sculpture or other modern art. The seeds themselves,a brilliant yellow like the flowers, are encased inside:

Jenny advised that it's good to chew or abrade the seeds somewhat before planting. Makes me suspect that in the bush they are probably picked up, digested then eliminated by wood pigeons, our only seed disperser here in NZ.

Next comes potting up, (hopefully) followed by germinating trees. Will keep you posted.

 

 

Baking with Beetroot on a Rainy Day

We've had some wild weather here recently at Struan Farm. Definitely not outside-in-the-garden-weeding weather, so time for more baking experiments: Chocolate Beetroot Muffins from Donna Hay's "Fresh & Light" magazine, issue #4. We've got heaps of beets in the veggie garden right now, so why not?

Ingredients include eggs, brown sugar, grated beetroot, raw cacao powder, buckwheat flour, buttermilk, baking powder, and almond meal. The syrup poured on top after the muffins are cooled is made with raw cacao powder, maple syrup, vanilla and water. Aside from the mess of grating beets and dealing with purple hands, everything else is quick and easy.

As I was making these I worried just a tad that this gluten free "trend du jour" is being taken to an extreme, and these might taste rather like damp wood chips. I was heartened by the brown sugar and buttermilk, hoping they might save the day. (BTW, did you know that buckwheat is related to rhubarb?)

The good news is that the muffins definitely taste "normal." The bad news, if there is any, is that you can taste that earthy, beet flavour. The chocolate syrup topping goes a long way to offset that, so the beets aren't overpowering or dominant.

The verdict: these are interesting--probably more for the chocoholics in the house-- they're a bit rich and not early morning fare!

The Voices in My Head

Have you ever felt that you were channelling your mother? It doesn't happen all that often with me, but when it does I give myself a rather strong shake, since I recognise the tone as not my own!

Monday mornings I usually head into Piopio from Struan Farm to take our farmstay and household recycling and rubbish to the local dump. It's only open four half days per week, so some semblance of routine is required or the garage starts to take on a particular perfume (okay, stench), much as we compost and use the worm farm. (People from town are often surprised to learn that those of us in rural areas do not have curbside rubbish service, but in this area we definitely don't.)

I usually also stop for coffee and/or breakfast at our award winning local cafe, The Fat Pigeon. This particular week I sat near the door, and was struck by the fact that several people (coincidentally they were all men) who came in opened the door to enter but then didn't close it after themselves. Leaving those of us sitting inside to get quite chilly. Each time this happened I got up and closed the door.

But as I was doing this a voice in my head was saying "DO YOU THINK YOU LIVE IN A BARN? CLOSE THE DOOR!" This was not Karen, this was my mother, telling us kids to close the cellar door when we went outside to play. We usually didn't.

This prompted me to think about when else I channel my mother. I know when I screw up on anything I call myself "KAREN ANNE." Okay, yep, that's her. I otherwise don't use my middle name or even the first initial.

And then there are meal times with the grandkids, a testing time. I grew up in the era when you didn't leave the table unless you cleaned your plate, you ate what you were served, and you didn't get dessert if you hadn't eaten your meal. I remember chewing steak until it was white, heading to the toilet to flush a wad stuffed in my cheek down the loo, and slipping stuff to the dog underneath the table. Kids today are different. There are no power struggles since they make the rules, mostly have parents wrapped around their little fingers when it comes to food (at least in my view). They eat what they like and nothing else.

I've tried "no dessert if you don't eat your dinner," which is way softer than that strict maternal voice. I've asked them to try foods they haven't eaten before (largely vegetables), dishes I've slaved over after working outside all day in the garden. Foods that John and I eat regularly.

But as much as I'd like to say "EAT WHAT'S ON YOUR PLATE" that just doesn't happen. I now make things I know they like or try to make new foods "fun," involving them in the preparation if possible now that they are old enough for that, a strategic solution.

The bottom line here is that I am able to ignore the voice, even when I don't particularly agree that it should be turned down!

 

Another Random Event

I've said it before and I'll say it again, things happen on SH3!

A few days ago after a relatively big rain and wind storm I went down to check the Homestead at Struan Farm. Good thing I did, because one of the windows had blown open during the storm and the power was out. After checking fuse boxes (yes, John has trained me well...), Mike and I went to look at the power poles near the house. We discovered one had a dangling line and wire on a shrub that someone had coiled up. Hmmmm, the plot was thickening.

So I rang our local lines company to report the outage. Our new(ish) house had power, so it was just the rest of the property that had a problem.

They advised that a tree from the farm across the road had fallen a day or so ago and damaged our line. No one is still sure who rolled up what possibly was a live wire, which would have been dangling across SH3.  

A director of the farm came over eventually and we discussed the situation. Seems since it's our line we are meant to organise and be invoiced by the lines company for the repair. But the damage was caused by their tree, so discussions will ensue for reimbursement, with or without involvement by respective insurance companies.

The good news is that the next day the repair people came out and fixed the line, power is back. The job also entailed "traffic management," which equals $$$, since speeding traffic had to be stopped around the work as it went over the road.

 

Of course I've taken photographs, but I'm glad I can leave the next stage of discussions to John, after we get the bill for all this. He gets the hard jobs!

Quite a Few Quince

Friend Glen Davenport at Doone Cottage in Motueka has had a bumper crop of quince this year, lucky lady! You will recall that our quince trees have yet to fruit at Struan Farm, despite flowering this past spring. I'm trying to be optimistic but am seriously considering moving them after this next year if nothing happens. 

The good news is that Glen sent up two huge boxes of quince for us via her son and daughter-in-law, who live nearby. Being (almost) at the point of recognising my own limitations, I kept one box and bequeathed the other to our local cafe, The Fat Pigeon.  There were mixed feelings in the kitchen about this fruit, it seems some people don't like them or know how to use them, but the bottom line is that they would be put to use so I left them.

On the Struan Farm front I poached up several batches in sugar syrup with aromatics and also stewed chunks in butter, brown sugar and spices, all for the freezer. I think I will try roasting the former with maple syrup when I go to use them, and maybe make a crumble with the latter.

Happy quince campers here! 

Message from the Universe

I had to laugh when I walked into the glasshouse at Struan Farm and saw this in one of my planters full of winter lettuces:

Yep, a weed. A pretty, flowering weed but a weed nonetheless. I'd mixed compost into potting soil when we filled these, and this is the thanks I get from Mother Nature.

She's obviously telling me to take things one step at a time with my marathon weeding in the big garden and stop and smell the flowers! So I've put away my trusty Niwashi and am taking Clifford for a walk.

End of the Line

I've managed to finish the griselinia hedge down the drive here at Struan Farm. I planted it in "installments" rather than doing the entire 80 plants in one day. It looks great, don't you think?

What I've really been doing is procrastinating about digging into some rather major weeding of the main garden up here. Now that this is finished I really have nowhere to hide on that now, do I?...

Veggie World, Redefined

Truth be told the seasonal clean up of the veggie gardens at Struan Farm didn't start in the backyard, aka "Veggie World," but rather in the bed near the John's workshop at the front of the house, the area that was converted from a landscaping project yet-to-happen into our corn and tomato patch this past summer.

It turns out this "landscaping project yet-to-happen" is a good place to grow veggies. And since we still can't decide what else (if anything) to do with this space, I've planted broad beans, peas, winter lettuce, kale, and silver beet (swiss chard), along with some "green manure" seeds to help with nitrogen in the soil over winter. It's completely unsightly, with warped chicken wire supported by standards around the perimeter to stop Clifford from romping through, and to deter the rabbits. Which is why I still refer to it as a "landscaping project yet-to-happen." 

I finally had a chance to take the chicken wire down briefly to do a complete weed, so it's looking better at this point in time. 

 

Next I tackled the veggie troughs and beds in the backyard, which were cleaned out and weeded, at least those that don't have vegetables remaining. I do still have italian parsley, beets, Maori potatoes, lettuce, spinach and carrots growing, plus a chile plant that is like the Energizer Bunny. The troughs/beds were then refreshed with compost, sheep pellets, and blood and bone before their winter's nap. I planted green manure seeds where our potatoes grew to help that soil recharge a wee bit too, since I'm not going to plant quite so many potatoes next year.

Last but not least I tackled the glasshouse, where I removed and washed all of the racks, swept and tidied. I have yet to clean the glass properly, need to wait for fair weather to tackle the roof with the hose and a cleaner. But it's looking much better!

I'm realising that the "landscaping project yet-to-happen" needs to be welcomed into "Veggie World." It has found a purpose. Maybe it just needs a proper, low fence, and I could put grape vines in along one side to dress it up a little? Food for thought over winter (and well before next season's veggies...).

Update: The Next Big Thing

John's rather ambitious project to extend the native bush reserve at Struan Farm along the stream to the Mangaotaki River, the one I've christened "The Next Big Thing," continues to progress. Mike is doing the hard yards on the fencing, while the lambs have been put in the paddock to eat the grass down before we begin planting trees this winter. Once we start to plant this area the sheep will be closed out entirely, since they would eat everything otherwise (the alternative, fencing thousands of trees individually, is simply too much work). But this also means that we need to get things planted and growing quickly.

Meanwhile, the native tree nursery under the tawa grove in our backyard grows.

 

And the flax seeds I planted in seed trays and little pots have germinated:

The kahikateas are still too small to see in a photograph, but they're also germinating. At first I thought I was seeing things, but now there are quite a few green sprouts (six!) breaking through the soil of the seed trays.

We would like to to grow as many native plants and trees as we are can for this project-- that will be my main contribution, and I'm learning and finding my way. I'll try tea tree next, and maybe kowhai when they flower in spring. Stay tuned!

Good Deed for the Weekend

I've never been able to get close enough to photograph a kingfisher well here at Struan Farm. At least I hadn't until this weekend, when one got stuck in the back corner of the garage! We have windows at that end, and when the door is open birds sometimes get confused and fly in and around. I've had to help the odd fantail back out, but this is the first time it's been a kingfisher.

After tying up Clifford and moving a few bits and pieces away from the corner, I opened the window above and grabbed a broom. I eventually convinced "Freddy" to hop on board, and lifted him up to the window so he could fly out and away.  I'm glad he decided to cooperate, since I wasn't relishing the prospect of trying to grab him with a towel, phew!

Yep, this is everyday life here at Struan Farm....

 

 

Peanut Butter Projects

Awhile ago I purchased two jars of Fix & Fogg artisanal peanut butter, "Smoke and Fire" and "Dark Chocolate." While the former (which also has chiles, smoked paprika and natural manuka smoke) should make a great dressing for satay chicken, what I really had in the back of my mind was using them to make peanut butter cookies. I just hadn't had any time until this week, when rain descended on Struan Farm. It was time for improvisation in the kitchen!

I found a recipe in my files (yep, still have binders of paper recipes going back years...) for "Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies." From the font it looks like one from "Bon Appetit" magazine, dating back at least 15 years.

They turned out well. I like the chocolate version more than "smoke and fire," but then this was meant to be an experiment!

Once the cookies were finished I almost went off the peanut butter cliff. Aaron Brunet of NZ Master Chef fame published a recipe for homemade peanut butter in Bite.  I'd purchased the ingredients to make some, but decided I'd had enough time in the kitchen.

It was time to get outside--the rain was clearing and the weeds were calling my name, rather loudly!

 

 

Feels Like Thanksgiving

Last week I read an interesting article by Heather Cole in NZ Gardener magazine about a couple growing cranberries on the West Coast of the South Island. Real "American-type" cranberries, Vaccinium macrocarpon, not the NZ type that is actually a guava. I was seriously intrigued!

Wanting to support people blazing this sort of horticultural frontier, I went onto the Wild Ruby Cranberries website and ordered some--the 2016 harvest is happening right now.

Cranberries freeze well and can be used for sauces and baking. You will know of course that they are traditionally served in the USA at Thanksgiving and Christmas with roast turkey, and are an important component of those holiday celebrations. Americans also use them in all kinds of baked products throughout the year, including muffins, quick breads and scones. Cranberry juice is meant to help bladder infections and generally cleanse your system. So lots of reasons to use cranberries if you can get them, and now we can too here in NZ.

In Victorian Flower language, cranberries were considered to be a cure for heartache.  No heartache to be found here at Struan Farm, and with thanks to Wild Ruby Cranberries it sure does feel like Thanksgiving!

I even had time to do some baking with them: "Old Fashioned Cranberry Bread," a recipe I used to make in the USA, and "Orange Cranberry Muffins," one I found on the internet.

The recipe for the (quick) bread came off the back of a bag of fresh cranberries over 20 years ago, and it's a classic, with orange and Struan Farm walnuts! 

Getting Cracking

My latest ploy for avoiding the ironing and housecleaning here at Struan Farm is instead to crack into the walnut harvest. Literally! While I can only postpone the inevitable for so long, it is productive, and there's so much cracking to be done....

Ziplock bags of the cracked walnuts are then put into the freezer, where they last for months and months.

My other challenge right now is to keep an eye on Clifford, goes into the garage pretending he's on official business, but sneaks back to the trays of walnuts to swipe a few for snacks! 

Purple Carrots & A Rainy Day

No Prince analogy, okay? It was going to be too far fetched, even for me.

A few days ago we had a rainy day here at Struan Farm, and I've got heaps of purple carrots in the veggie garden, ready to be used.

Once a modest degree of house cleaning was accomplished I decided to make the "carrot and citrus relish" from Kylee Newton's new book "the modern preserver." Everything I've tried from this book so far has been easy and delicious, so fingers crossed for this too. Ingredients include grated carrot, onion, ginger, lemon, lime and orange juices and zests, brown sugar, lemon thyme, water and apple cider vinegar.

Yep, okay, the deep purple carrots look like beets/beetroot, but they do taste like carrots....and we won't talk about the stains on my fingers from grating 800 grams of deep purple carrots either, will we?!  The relish will keep in the fridge for months.

p.s. I'm liking the new "Simon Gault" jars from Briscoes. I've used them for pickled beetroot and now this. They seal well. Hoping they start to offer some spare lids in due course.

Fall Fungi

Regular readers of this blog will know that I often get caught up with unusual fungi found around Struan Farm. Recently I came across two groupings of the same orange fungus, both were rather large colonies and visually striking.  I've decided that they're most likely "Giant flamecap" or "Gymnopilus junonius" after looking at my field guide. 

Pretty, aren't they?
 

Haircuts for the Dahlias & Weekend Flowers

This past weekend I cut back the dahlias in the gardens at the new(ish) house at Struan Farm. It's been so warm that there were still a few blooms here and there, but the plants were falling over and mostly brown. So it was time for their seasonal haircuts. Sixteen huge plants, three trailer loads, with thanks to John and Mike for carting all that away for me.

Next comes long overdue weeding (not quite as easy as cutting back....), then I'll move to the Homestead gardens to do exactly the same exercise. Collateral damage included two bee stings (one on my lower eye lid, yuck!) and sore muscles, but it was good to be alive and outside in the gardens on beautiful autumn days.

And here's the bonus: I noticed that there were still enough flowers blooming to come up with an arrangement for the weekend dinner table:

Hooray! 

p.s. It's time to plant delphinium seeds, so I've ordered some special seeds from Dowdeswell's Delphiniums, a specialist nursery in Wanganui. I'm thinking I might plant a line of them along the largest of our new garden beds in blue, white and purple.