Struan Farm

Catch Up with The Pets

Enroute to the Cottage at Struan Farm the other day I had quite the catch up with several of our pet lambs. I can't call them "former" pets when they still follow me, come when I call, want apples, etc. They all still recognise my voice, I get "baas" in response to varying degrees. But everyone is now running with the mob. The fact that the pets interact with me calms everybody down, the mob doesn't know quite what to make of me but they don't get themselves into a panic mode.

I was able to pat and talk to Cookie, Tootsie, Mickey, Minnie, Pip, and Rosie (of course). Rosie remains the most socialised, although she does get herself into a snit when I share apples with anyone else, stalking off. I avoid Ruby when I don't have apples since she is such a huge sheep that she'd knock me over in her enthusiasm for all things apple. Pepper will come nearby me to graze but she rarely if ever wants a pat absent the days when she has the odd flashback. 

They seem to enjoy hanging around us, still. And while they'll come to me and follow me, they also follow John, who just rolls his eyes. But when he doesn't know I'm watching, I have caught him talking to them, especially his special girls Rosie and Cookie. 

We use Rosie to lead the sheep when we change paddocks. She'll do just about anything for a crisp, cut apple!

Right now I'm counting the days until this year's lambing. It looks like Rosie, Ruby, Pip and Pepper will lamb, not sure about either Tootsie or Cookie given their limited exposures to the rams and relatively young ages. Minnie is way too young being late season, and Mickey, well, he's a wether and is just an observer at this stage.

 

Ottolenghi at Struan Farm

"Ottolenghi: The Cookbook" has made its way to Struan Farm. It arrived last week, and I've been having fun browsing through the book in the evenings, mulling over what to try first. Decision made: the "apple and olive oil cake with maple icing." The cake is dairy free, not so the icing.  And while there is sweetness in both, neither is terribly sweet. The icing is sweetened only with maple syrup; it's flavoursome but without that over-the-top, sick-y sweetness usually associated with cream cheese icing.

This is very much an "adult" dessert. 

 

This was a great first choice. Onward!

Down the Old Road

John and I went for a walk a few days ago down the old road at Struan Farm after all of the recent rain.  Things happen on the property during storms, and this time was no exception. A few slips will need to be cleaned up. 

Rather too bad about that huge ponga/tree fern, but perhaps we can get it rightside up and it might grow again....

But the big news is that walking along I noticed a native "Kawakawa" plant growing by the side of the track, Macropiper excelsum. I have never come across it in our bush before, so was very excited! The heart shaped leaves are quite distinctive.

I dug out our native field guides to learn more: "A Field Guide to the Native Edible Plants of New Zealand," and "The Reed Field Guide to New Zealand Native Trees." While we have a few other books on native plants and trees, as you might suspect, these two had the best information. Turns out there are male and female trees. I won't know what gender we have until summer, when the male grows clusters of phallic looking spikes, and the female grows berries. The berries are edible and were a food source for Maori, while the leaves are sometimes made into tea.  

It's great to see more variety of native plants regenerating here at Struan Farm!

Another Early Riser

Happy to see our first tulip of the season blooming at Struan Farm's front entrance gate.

She's very early, her sisters are just starting to poke their heads out of the mulch. As they say, Fortune favours the bold, "audentes Fortuna iuvat!"

 

New/Old Garden Shed

I'm being evicted from my garden shed at the Homestead! John has decided he's going to try to move yet another hut down the river track at Struan Farm, for more guest accommodation overlooking the Mangaotaki River on the border of our property. He's eyed up my existing garden shed and decided that it could be converted into a nice bunkroom. (Historical note: at one time this shed was called "John's Hut," and he actually slept there. He used Time Magazine covers for wallpaper.) Whether this major move happens remains to be seen, the digger will undoubtedly be back on the scene to do the job when/if. 

But as a result, the adjacent shed, known until recently as the "mower shed" is getting a major remodel for my gardening "stuff." In a previous life this shed was the garage, housing the family Studebaker. 

Nephew Mike has been working away. He's removed the existing plywood doors, which didn't lock, and installed recycled french doors that we saved from Maurie's old workshop, now the "Garden Cottage" guest accommodation. Fortunately I'd saved the key. The inside is getting lined with plywood and then varnished before racks and shelves of my design get installed. 

Sheds like cats have at least nine lives here at Struan Farm! 

First Sign of Spring

She's quite shy and hesitant, this daffodil in the orchard here at Struan Farm. She knows she's the first to make an appearance, she told me so, and is thinking that perhaps she's just a bit premature. So she's drooping down and not reaching up for the sky just yet.

It's heartening to look out and see that pop of brilliant yellow on the hill. It gives one hope that there are many more to come. And I've told her so, thanking her for her courage.

Pond in the Pet Paddock

We had quite a bit of rain at the end of last week and over the weekend here at Struan Farm. I think the same could be said for most of New Zealand. There was flooding in the usual areas of Piopio, and the back end of our Pet Paddock turned into a pond. Fortunately the Swamp Cypress and willow tree planted at that end of the paddock aren't fussed about having wet feet, in fact I think they rather enjoy it.

But I'm not so sure I can say the same for our "experimental" almond trees, one of which is getting a pretty good soak!

 

 

 

 

 

Shallots & Garlic & Almost Beans

My shallots and garlic have decided to reward me for planting them a bit early this year. I put them in almost two weeks before the shortest day of the year here at Struan Farm. We've dug a new bed in the backyard for veggies and I wanted to get the soil turned, fed and working.

The shallots started to grow almost straight away. They are not covered with soil, rather are "embedded."

The garlic took awhile longer, but there are now rows of sprouts visible too. (Look closer!)

A week or so ago I popped in some "Hughey Crimson Flowered" broad beans, available from Egmont Seeds. I'd read about them in NZ Gardener magazine, in an article about Denis Hughes of Blue Mountain Nurseries, who developed them after admiring pink-flowering broad beans in Europe.

I might be imagining it, but they are ALMOST starting to come up too....stay tuned.

 

The Pet Palace, Perfected

We had some helpers here at Struan Farm a few days ago, who painted and assembled the "Pet Palace" John had started to construct out of recycled timber for the pet lambs. The lambs are due to arrive August/September, starting to count down now! 

The palace will be installed in the backyard, I'm sure they'll love it.

Peachy Goop

A few days ago I was out wandering around the fruit orchard here at Struan Farm (as you do, or at least as I do). It pays to pay attention to the trees and gardens, one never knows what one will find. In this instance it was a transparent, jelly-like "goop" on several of the peach trees, yuck!

I decided to send a query to NZ Gardener Magazine's "Ask an Expert." They came back to indicate that it could be several things, but to send a photo.  I'd plucked it off a number of the branches on the first peach tree I'd found it on, but later that day was out with my macro lens and found it on our Black Boy peach tree too, which is the photo above. I really just wanted to make sure it wasn't anything to be concerned about. While I do spray copper on the young peach trees in an effort to reduce leaf curl, we don't use any other chemicals on the fruit trees to be as organic as practically possible.

So at the moment this remains a mystery. Will keep you posted when/if we get to the bottom of what might be causing this!

Welcoming Princess Rosemary

I'm at the point with our gardens at Struan Farm where I'm mostly filling gaps, moving things around, or looking for unusual plants or flowers to mix things up. Even with this year's new gardens, the "bones" of which are now planted. (Not sure "bones" is a technical gardening term, but think you'll get what I mean--the core plants/shrubs.)

Lately I've been wanting to pop some more hellebores around the place. They are starting to flower right about now, at a time when not much else does. There are heaps that self-seed down at the Homestead's roadside wooded garden, they flower before the woods transform our front entrance into a bluebell dell each spring. While seedlings could be transplanted up from there, I'm wanting a mix of newer hybrids in the interest of variety, so have placed an order with a specialist NZ grower, "Clifton House."   Once those arrive I'll report back, but I found our latest addition at a garden centre that is part of my normal flight path.

Behold, Princess Rosemary!

John's mum was named Rosemary. As soon as I saw her I knew she belonged in the gardens at Struan Farm. No more to say, really, she's come home.

Hidden Hooch

Nephew Mike has been working to renovate the old mower shed down at the Homestead at Struan Farm into a new and improved garden shed for me. Not to be confused with my recycled tool shed out in the backyard, we've got a few shed projects happening at the moment.

A few days ago he came up with an object in his hand and a smile on his face. Look what he'd found under the Garden Shed:

It was a bottle of Chivas Regal Scotch Whiskey, still in the box, cobwebs and all! My father-in-law Maurie enjoyed his nightly glass of whiskey, and we figure he stashed some surplus and forgot about it.  Maurie used to tell us about hiding the local RSA's liquor in caves with neighbour Syd Davies during a spate of robberies in Piopio, so he must have decided to hide some of his own here at the farm too.

Who knows what other treasures we'll unearth from time to time? It's always an adventure here at Struan Farm...

Homemade Soup on the Hearth

John's mum Rosemary used to make soup and leave it simmering on the top of the woodburning stove some years ago now at Struan Farm. But that's still a vivid memory for John, along with his recollection of the aromas wafting through the house. So we decided to test it out this past weekend with some of my homemade "BBC Tomato Soup."

With homemade "Lazy Ladies" ciabatta (their error on the punctuation, not mine...) it was rather good! (However it's politically correct to say that nothing is as good as mum's.)

Word du Jour: Hack

I'm tardy on this one, since "hack" and "life hack" were added to the Oxford Dictionary in 2011. Be that as it may, a "hack" is an inelegant but effective solution to a computer problem. A "life hack" is a trick, shortcut, skill or method to increase productivity or efficiency. "Life hack" seems to get shortened to "hack" at the moment in popular lingo.

I was prompted to look up the definition after seeing an article entitled "Productivity Hacks" in this week's NZ Herald "Bite" magazine. But since a hack is meant to increase productivity or efficiency, one would think "productivity hack" is a redundant term. There I go, splitting hairs, but perhaps I'm not the only one out there needing to understand what this word means.

Happy now? I am, I kept seeing this word and didn't really know what it meant. Now I do!

More Cloud Illusions

Another magical sky at sunset tonight here at Struan Farm:

Delving into the Stash

Most farms and farmers are pretty well known for having stockpiles of spare stuff that can be reused or deployed as/when needed, and we're no exception. We have done some rather extensive shed clean outs and whittled down or consolidated the piles around the place since we moved to Piopio full time, but we're not silly. We still have a decent supply of old and new fence posts, battens, gates, etc., they come in handy for various jobs and projects.

John and I went for a walk a few days ago and had a poke around the fence post and gate stockpiles to see what we could find. (Okay, be amused, this is the kind of thing we do to relax....) The stashes are kept protected outside under two large kahikatea trees. I sometimes use old totara posts in the gardens as supports for large rose bushes. We're also discussing using a gate or two to stake tomatoes this summer, although I'm not convinced about that just yet. Not sure either wood or metal will be high enough, and a mossy wooden gate, while rustic, can't exactly be good for the toms. While John begs to differ, I suspect my view on this as the veggie gardener will ultimately prevail.

 

While we were browsing through the gates we came across two more of the old paddock signs: "Cottage Pad," and "Bush 1."

Happy to have rescued these pieces of Struan Farm history!
 

 

The Ancient Survivor

John and I have been reading a book by Peter Wohlleben called "The Hidden Life of Trees." It's about how trees feel and communicate, so isn't a book for everyone but is definitely for us.

Wohlleben talks about discovering an ancient stump in a forest with roots that were still alive, being supported by the neighbouring trees sending sugar to help and support it. Turns out we have something similar here at Struan Farm, up behind the Cottage! John remembers this stump ring and roots from his days as a young boy. Given the size of the stump it would have been milled on the property in the early 1900s, well before John's parents arrived in Piopio.

While we're busy uncovering limestone rock formations around the place, we won't uncover this. We don't want to do anything to harm this ancient survivor.

Dairy Free Experiment: Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

Next in my sights on the dairy free baking front were chocolate chip cookies. These are pretty much our "signature welcome" for farmstay guests here at Struan Farm, I like to have a plate on the table for guests when they arrive. I also make them for the grandkids (and big kids) in our family. 

I use Nestle's iconic "Toll House Cookie" recipe, the one I grew up baking. To make it dairy free I had to replace the butter called for with something that could be creamed with the sugars and not change the taste too much. Here in NZ there aren't heaps of options. Many margarines advertised as buttery have buttermilk as an ingredient, so it pays to read the labels! I decided upon Olivani, a spread that is made with olive oil and advertised as suitable for baking. For the chocolate chips Pam's Chocolate Drops (available at New World Markets) are dairy free; unfortunately Nestle's semi-sweet chocolate chips have some traces of milk fat so I couldn't use those. 

They turned out well. Not the same rich, buttery taste that we know and love, and a cakier consistency, but they're edible and tasty. School holidays, here we come!
 

What Lies Beneath

We'll admit it, John and I got a little carried away on this one. We're wanting to uncover a number of the major limestone rock formations around Struan Farm so they can be seen for the amazing natural sculptures they are. We started this project up behind the Cottage, where there's a grove of trees and several large rocks.

I've always thought of this place as a rather peaceful cathedral. This particular rock (or rocks) looks almost like a pagan altarpiece, doesn't it?

Excuse me briefly while I get carried away with the curves and shapes of the rocks that are hidden in this grove of trees, I'll get back to the main story shortly:

What drew us up here was the desire to remove vegetation growing on top and around this major rock:

John was keen to remove a cotoneaster, a rather invasive, weedy, non-native shrub, while I was keen to uncover the whole rock.

As we worked to remove the dirt and stuff literally strangling this rock we uncovered all sort of shapes, including a turtle!

John managed to climb up on top, and we both realised that it was a much bigger formation that we had first imagined!

We decided we'd made enough of a dent here and called it a day. To be continued when the grandchildren are here over the upcoming school holidays--John has already had them learning about limestone.

Charlie, Phew!

I've been working my little fingers to the bone at night here at Struan Farm. Thank heavens for MasterChef Australia airing five nights each week! Grandson Charlie's needlepoint Christmas stocking is done.

 

He'll be here for Christmas this year from England, so it will be nice to deliver it to him in person. Now it's off to Needle Nook of La Jolla for the velvet backing, satin lining and twisted cord edge with tassels and bells. 

Next comes sister Freya, then Violet. But I can't really manage more than one of these per year, I don't think I have that in me...