Struan Farm

Winter Salad Greens

I realised that it's time to plant some winter salad greens in the glasshouse here at Struan Farm while it's still warm during the days. So after nephew Mike knocked out a few planter boxes I'd commissioned from recycled timber, and our heap of potting soil was restocked, I was on the job. 

I planted out red lettuce, rocket/arugula and italian parsley seeds last weekend. And guess what? They've already germinated!

Now just to remember to keep everything moist. I also brought in a planter from the garden area that had flowering eggplants I'd grown from seed. Apparently it's hard to grow eggplant here in NZ because it's not hot enough for long enough. Right now I've got three small fruit on the plant and several more flowers, so bringing them inside might prove to be successful.

I've also taken cuttings of some salvia and daisies that won't survive a winter of heavy frosts to see if I can avoid having to buy new ones next season. We'll see how I go with those.

Pondering Pests

Life at Struan Farm involves contending with many things, including various pests. And no, I'm certainly not talking about John, Clifford, or the pet lambs!

At certain times of the year things happen with bugs and rodents in particular. I could almost diarise some of them. We need to be on top of it, particularly having the farmstay. I don't want our guests to be inconvenienced or grossed out by anything too "rural," so we do our best to shelter them as much as possible from pests.

In spring and autumn mice try to invade the Cottage, particularly if people leave the outside doors open and/or food out on the kitchen bench. It's warm and dry and comfy.

Things happen with ants and flies. It gets warm or dry and they are on the move. You will know that I don't like using chemical sprays at all on the gardens or in the house. But when a seasonal invasion happens sometimes that's the only viable option to stop a swarm of insects quickly.

We stumble upon non-native wasp nests in the ground working around the place in summer, usually around tree stumps or roots. John's dad used to pour petrol down them, now we go out at night and spread a specialised dust down the hole that kills them.

I used to be grossed out by all this, but now I take it (more or less) in stride. I can deal with mice and mousetraps without flinching. Mice just happen at certain times of the year. Traps need to be put out when evidence is seen that they are about. They normally travel in twos, so if you've got one you will have at least one more to catch. Peanut butter is much easier to use than cheese and apparently more appetising too, especially Pic's Chunky!

We continue to trap rats in our native bush and around the compost bins. I leave that job to Mike, although I do put rat poison out under the Homestead, Cottage and house every few months as a deterrent (nailed to a board or in a "rat motel" so they're forced to nibble the poison rather than drag it away). Mike also sets possum traps every so often to make sure we don't have possums, and our Regional Council has had regular poisoning programmes in our area to help with that too (not air drops but bait stations that work well, thankfully). 

I don't mean to imply that we're overrun by anything, nothing of biblical proportions here at Struan Farm! But pests happen and we just need to be onto them. I've just read that our Waikato Regional Council is encouraging landowners to apply for grants for bait and traps via their "Small Scale Community Initiatives Fund," so I'm looking into getting a grant for some GoodNature rat traps for our two stands of protected QEII native bush reserves. Every little bit helps the native bush and birdlife.

Apples for Arbor Camp

The third annual Asplundh Arbor Camp is happening this week at Struan Farm. Men up on ropes in our huge feature trees in the Pet Paddock, practicing the finer points of pruning. What's not to like about that? The trees are useful for this purpose because they're 50-60 years old and have grown unpruned for years. There are also many different varieties to learn about, including oaks, Dawn Redwoods, Liriodendron (tulip), Copper Beech, walnuts, poplars, maples, planes, ginko, chestnut, Cedrus Atlantica Glauca, etc. etc. The first year the paddock was mapped for us, with identification of all of the trees planted by John's father, Maurie. 

John and I are hosting a BBQ at the house one evening for everyone, including the contractors staying in our Cottage. Since they also work on ropes for commercial purposes, we thought everyone would have that in common. Asplundh is bringing the protein, we're supplying drinks, nibbles, salads and dessert.

For dessert I'm making apple crumble and ice cream. I've been saving most of the crop of Monty's Surprise apples in our orchard for this, venturing out yesterday with my long handled apple picker to scoop them off the tree.

As previously reported, these are HUGE apples. I've put a NZ$2 coin in for gauge (this coin is the size of a US quarter). The biggest one came in at a hefty 614 grams (1 lb. 5 1/2 ounces)! Quite a few have been left on the tree, since what I've picked should be more than enough for two big pans of crumble.

More on Arbor Camp in due course.

The Return of Porgy and Bess

Of course we enjoy having returning farmstay guests here at Struan Farm. But it seems the naughty little pigs across the road, the ones I've christened "Porgy" and "Bess," can't stay away from Struan Farm either! Nephew Mike reported seeing them in our front Pet Paddock, so I went down to say hello. Apparently they can't resist all the acorns, walnuts and chestnuts on the ground. Our neighbours left their front gate open, and Porgy and Bess made their escape, running across the main road.

It was lovely to see them back again, briefly, they are quite entertaining. But I am a bit worried that they keep running across that busy road, they need to stay home for their own safety!

ANZACs for the Boys

As advertised, I've made ANZAC biscuits this week for the contractors staying in the Cottage here at Struan Farm. New Zealand's ANZAC commemorations are today. 

 

I make ANZAC biscuits that are soft rather than hard and crunchy by undercooking them slightly. My recipe is calls for one cup wholegrain oats, 1 cup flour, 1 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup desiccated coconut, 125 grams butter, 2 Tbs. golden syrup, 1 tsp. baking soda, and 2 Tbs. boiling water. Mix the dry ingredients (except the baking soda). Melt butter and golden syrup over low heat then remove from heat. Dissolve the baking soda with the boiling water than add to the butter/golden syrup. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients. Pop large spoonfuls of the dough onto greased baking trays, allowing sufficient room for the cookies to spread. Bake at 150C/300F for 15-17 minutes. I find in making most cookies that baking time really depends on your oven and personal preference, i.e., whether you prefer crunchy or soft cookies. So keep an eye on them and adjust your baking time accordingly.

Lastly and most importantly: please spare a moment in prayer or silence today to honour the ANZACs, including my late father-in-law Maurie. We will remember them.

Birthday Happiness

Yep, had a birthday this past weekend. No major milestone, except perhaps to acknowledge that I'm still alive, happy, and gardening. "Milestones" used to be stone markers along the roadside to indicate how far one had travelled. Today "milestones" refer to our journey through life's significant events.

As for me, I continue to have lots for which to be grateful. Granddaughters Ella and Livvy came to Struan Farm to celebrate and surprised me with THIS CAKE! 

A beautiful organic carrot cake with cream cheese icing and walnuts. Perfect.

Great Pumpkins

This year my pumpkin patch took over quite a bit of the back lawn and area around the water tank. It just kept going and going. Since we're nearing the end of the season I did start to cut it back so John could mow and so the plants would stop flowering. Happy to see we have some good sized pumpkins! I'm not ready to pick them just yet, I've been told to wait until the stems get woody looking, but in any event to pick them before the first heavy frost.

I'd planted Musquee de Provence and an Australian blue. I think the dark green one is Musquee, that's meant to turn orange as it ripens. I'm just not sure about the others! Time will tell. We've got 5-6 on the vines.

Planting Mrs. Preston's Peaches

Since we're having so much rain this autumn at Struan Farm John and I decided it was time to plant out the two seedling peach trees Mrs. Preston from Ruawai had given us last year. They were quite small when we got them, so I've been growing them on in pots, making sure they were watered through summer and they've taken off. We have a bit of a gap in the new orchard, not far from where the bank started to slide onto the road and where a plum we'd planted hadn't survived. A perfect sunny spot for peaches.

So I grabbed the pots and enlisted my helper:

Now it's over to Mother Nature!

Baking for the Boys

We've had a team of contractors staying at the Cottage during the week for a number of weeks now. They're working to reinforce an unstable cliff face in Paemako, just up the main road. Struan Farm ended up being the most convenient accommodation to the work project, plus we let them store their gear on weekends when they're back home.

We had a chat beforehand about them trying to be as tidy as possible, and they bring their own towels as agreed. I venture down each day to collect rubbish and execute a bit of a clean up in the kitchen. 

On Monday each week I leave a plate of home baking as a treat. Originally it was my not-so-subtle way of rewarding tidiness, but we've moved beyond that. They work hard outside in terrible conditions, and are away from home and family most of the week. It's the least I can do.

So far they've had chocolate chip cookies, Chewy Fudgy Brownies, That 70's Slice, Ripe's ANZAC Caramel Slice (from the green book), Nadia Lim's Caramel Coffee Walnut slice, and The Tin Goose Cafe's Wholemeal Ginger Crunch. I'm trying to bake something different each week they're here. I've been asked for three recipes so far.

This week I've made Pecan Squares from The Barefoot Contessa.

 

Next week it will be ANZAC biscuits, of course!

Glamming Up the Garlic

I must give credit where credit is due on this. My friends at Country Trading posted a beautiful updated profile photograph last week of clean, trimmed garlic on their Facebook page. I was impressed, and it gave me pause. I'd dropped the ball--I was meant to clean and trim the roots of my harvested garlic, which has been drying out in the garage here at Struan Farm!

So while the bread was baking for farmstay guests this weekend I grabbed scissors and trimmed roots and peeled and/or brushed off dried soil. With thanks to Country Trading, the garlic crop is now officially "glammed up!" 

p.s. remember that garlic gets planted on the shortest day of the year, June here in NZ, and harvested on the longest in December. So it's time to start thinking about fertilising those beds for the crop....

A Facelift for Gandalf

Struan Farm's Gandalf has been stationed outside the Garden Cottage since he arrived at the farm almost two years ago in the passenger seat of John's car. He positioned himself in the Homestead gardens to make sure no trolls sneak up the Mangaotaki River valley from nearby Hairy Feet Waitomo, aka "Trollshaw Forest" and cause trouble for our farmstay guests.

But dear Gandalf managed to get himself worn out over this time by all that responsibility, with his face weathering considerably from all the stress and strain. So a facelift was called for to keep him looking his best. Artist Keith Bell from Dargaville shipped down supplies with instructions for John to undertake the procedure required. But John chickened out, and asked nephew Mike to step into the fray.

Mike has done a great job. Gandalf is resting comfortably in the workshop after the procedure but is definitely back to his old self!

Easter Hot Cross Bread & Butter Pudding

Of course most people have been eating far too many hot cross buns over the Easter period. But guess what--we haven't! So when I saw this recipe for Chocolate Hot Cross Bun Bread Pudding by Nadia Lim I decided Easter weekend was time for us to take the plunge.

She recommends serving the warm pudding with a bit of vanilla ice cream and baked pears (recipe for those included, they're quick and easy). The pears do cut the richness of the pudding and the chocolate, so I'd recommend making them as well if you try this. And slightly stale buns are even better, so it's a good way to make use of those leftover buns if you have any!

Cultural Concept du Jour: "Hygge"

Sometimes I'm a bit tardy on these trends, living as I do in rural New Zealand at Struan Farm. I'd been noticing references to "Hygge" for awhile, seeing books, etc. I was curious somewhat and finally took the bait on a rainy day in an effort to learn more.

 

I'm more than halfway through "Hygge: a celebration of simple pleasures, living the danish way" by charlotte abrahams (please note: lower case is author's own, not mine). Hygge, pronounced "hoo-ga," "hue-gah" or "hoo-guh" depending on which source is correct, is a Danish cultural concept of cosy contentment, about enjoying life's simple pleasures with family and friends. It permeates life and has been attributed to the need to adapt to long, dark winters. Since Danes are one of the happiest peoples on the planet (outside of Disneyland, of course), it's worth exploring further. Design concepts include warm light, cosy zones, modestly beautiful comfortable furniture, and comforting accessories (think throws and pillows). And candles, lots of candles. The author explores the concept in the context of food, family, the home, community, and "the soul." You get the idea. There is a good chapter on Danish Modern designers that I found particularly interesting, since hygge (along with craftmanship) is believed to have informed their design aesthetic of clean, functional lines.

So now you can add "hygge" to your list of cultural concepts that don't translate particularly well but are important to the quality of life and society in another country. Like the idea of "wabi-sabi" with the Japanese (finding beauty in imperfection), but obviously something quite different.

Walnuts, Continued

We've had so much rain of late here at Struan Farm that I haven't been on top of gathering walnuts from the Pet Paddock. I did suggest to some farmstay guests last week that they were welcome to grab a bucket to take some home, which they did. And of course the pigs that ran away from home (aka Porgy and Bess) munched on some too. But late one afternoon Clifford and I managed to get down to collect some off the ground before the next cyclone hits!

These will now dry on trays for a week or so before being shelled and frozen. I can't let these go to waste.

The View, Continued

Two more trees down this past week on the edge of the new(ish) house lawn at Struan Farm. There is definitely more of a view looking out to the hills now as a result. John is in charge of this project, but I think one-two more trees are meant to come down in this area on the right-hand side. Nephew Mike is onto the clean-up, and yes, just a wee bit more firewood for the sheds!

 

Feijoas at the Back Gate

A few years ago we decided to test growing feijoas here at Struan Farm, and planted two at the back gate of the Homestead. I'm happy to report they're thriving! The one with the larger fruit is a variety called "Kaiteri," while the other is currently called "Karen Forgot to Save the Tag." Either way, both are about ready to provide us with a reasonable harvest of fruit.

John, who has experience with feijoas, advises that the fruit is ripe when it falls off the tree. You don't actually pick it. So I'll need to keep an eye out over the next week or so.

The Quincely Coward

John headed off from Piopio for the day to dodge eating quince, I'm sure of it! Just kidding, but he isn't particularly fond of them, certainly not as much as I am. So I don't worry about having them when he's not around.

This is our first real harvest of quince here at Struan Farm, and I'm making the most of them with Nigel Slater's delicious Roasted Quince recipe. I post this recipe every year when the quince are in season. In previous years I've managed to score fruit from either sister-in-law Anna or friend Glen, but this is the first year we have enough fruit from our orchard here at Struan Farm. HOORAY! I'm dancing a little dance but just as well you can't see that.

The peeled and halved fruit is simmered in a sugar syrup with star anise and cloves until tender. The recipe says 25 minutes, mine usually take considerably less time than that; you don't want them disintegrating. After that they are roasted with some of the poaching liquid, the aromatics, and maple syrup.

The warm fruit is wonderfully fragrant from the oven, delicious with either softly whipped cream or yogurt. I've been known to eat them just as they come without any further embellishment whatsoever.

It seems people either like quince or they don't. Most have never tried them at all since the fresh fruit isn't available in conventional food stores. I'm not sure why this is the case, perhaps it isn't commercially grown here in NZ? Quince is an old fashioned fruit, native to Turkey, Armenia, Georgia and Iran. It was grown in the New England (US) colonies in the 1800's, and in England as early as 1275. It is hard as a rock raw, but when poached or baked/roasted it is magically transformed. Perhaps people don't know how to use the fruit. Often roast quince is served as an accompaniment to roast meats. While some rave about quince paste with cheese and crackers, the effort involved in making paste is beyond me, way too much stirring for way too long (hours). So I'll leave paste making to others, sticking with my roast quince at least for now.

I'm really not sure why John doesn't like quince. He thinks the trees are ugly, perhaps that's a factor. In fact, the blossoms are quite beautiful in spring, I need to point that out. Maybe he'll evolve as our three trees start to deliver an increased quantity of fruit (she says, the eternal optimist...). He hates wasting anything we grow here at the farm, plus he will normally eat anything that involves cream, so perhaps that's the hook! I'll capture him eventually, I will.

This Little Piggy

John came back from some wanderings around the property to report that he'd found two pigs in the front Pet Paddock here at Struan Farm. Pigs! What next? They'd been on the road and had come through our fence somehow. When he saw them on the road at first he was worried they were our sheep so went to check it out. But then his concern shifted to figuring out to whom these two pigs belonged!

One of our neighbours up the road has quite a menagerie that sometimes roves, so she was our first point of contact. But no, turns out they weren't hers. Next we went to the neighbours across the road and the wandering pigs were indeed theirs. The next challenge (for them) was going to be rounding them up and getting them home. In the meantime I went to say hello with my camera. The ewes were also in that paddock with the rams and watched on with considerable curiosity from a distance. Since there were fallen chestnuts and walnuts on the ground the pigs had quite a bit of food to snuffle around.

They were quite entertaining to watch, they can move really fast. The neighbour arrived shortly thereafter with his quad bike, dog and a bucket of food. The pigs came close but kept running away from him. At one point I had them following behind me in the paddock by going "c'mon, c'mon," but when they saw their owner approaching they fled the scene. (Seems I might be a pig whisperer in addition to a lamb whisperer, just not sure it's a talent I'm going to explore further.) Eventually both were captured with lots of squeals.

And so these two little piggies ended their big adventure at Struan Farm, going "wee, wee, wee all the way home." I've taken to calling them Porgy and Bess, not sure if they actually have names or not!





 

 

The Latest at the River

Ignoring this week's flood and raging river that is!

Improvements continue at Struan Farm. Nephew Mike has been working down at the ablution block near Jim's Hut at the river, making a wooden seat on the front deck and gate to the steps that lead down to the outdoor solar-heated shower. In addition to providing seating for people to enjoy the view of the river (when it's raging or not), it's meant to provide a barrier to keep naughty sheep from camping out and pooping on the deck.

The seating has yet to be stained to match the deck, but looks pretty good, eh?

Big News: Published!

Very excited (two blog posts in one day--can't you tell?) to report that my Lemon Verbena Shortbread recipe has been published in NZ Gardener magazine's latest special issue "Growing and Using Herbs & Superfoods." See the first section on p.42 "Fragrant Desserts." I had to look carefully, since there's another shortbread recipe in there that isn't mine.

I've just received my issue, and there is lots of useful info on growing and using herbs (and superfoods). Check it out!