Struan Farm

Sharing the Bounty

After planting out our seedling heirloom tomato plants in the veggie gardens at Struan Farm for this season I realised I had just a few to spare. More like 100+ excess plants growing away vigorously in pots in the glasshouse. I knew I'd grown way more than we needed; in gardening an insurance policy is always a good thing, just in case the seeds don't germinate well. But this was silly, and I just couldn't let all these beautiful plants go to waste.

I'd distributed them to friends and family, however the sheer volume involved necessitated more effort on my part. These plants now needed to get into the ground somewhere. I took some to the Piopio Mustard Seed Anglican OpShop, while John's cousin Marg took some for her family plus gave out a big box to the ladies golfing at the Christmas tournament at Piopio Aria Golf Course this past Friday.

I tried to ring the local food bank, but for some reason their number was disconnected. By mistake I connected with a Maniapoto trust, where a lady told me about a community garden that would be very happy to have some tomato plants. Obviously that twist of fate was meant to happen. I delivered about 30 plants to the garden, which is hidden away down a residential neighbourhood in town. It isn't sign posted; when I got in the vicinity I actually had to wave down a passing car to ask where it was. The ladies directed me down a drive I wouldn't have ventured down without knowing to go there. People in the community have raised beds and plots to grow their own veggies.  The guys who were there knew I was meant to be coming that day, and were happy to have the plants. I saw silver beet (swiss chard) and broad beans growing away amongst lots of other things. I suspect this American lady with all the tomato plants was a bit of a curiosity, but no one asked any questions. I was wanting to know if they were going to distribute the plants to each community gardener, or just plant them all out and then share the crop, but decided it was best not to get too nosy and leave them to it.

While my surplus stash is now considerably reduced I've still got (precisely) 43 plants to give away to good homes, after planting out five more in one of our raised troughs. Spread the word!

Weekend Flowers: Bit & Pieces

It was a full house on the farmstay front here at Struan Farm over the weekend, so I had to come up with three flower arrangements for the tables at the Homestead, Cottage and Jim's Hut, along with one for our dinner table. It's a funny time of the year in the gardens. Lots is starting to bloom, but there isn't much variety for arrangements, particularly flowers.

I ended up liking the one I did for the Homestead the best. It had Margaret's purple roses and dark hued snap dragons, along with a budding nigella or two, an early hydrangea, and a budding spirea with yellow and pinkish leaves (seems this is also called "bridal wreath"). Bits and pieces, basically.

Margaret's Purple Rose

Dargaville friend Margaret Bell sent a rose down to Struan Farm for our new house a year or so ago, right before John finished his governance gig up in the Kaipara. At that point we were really just starting the gardens, and I was on the hunt for different things (which I still am!). I think it was grown from a cutting of a rose in her gardens. She advised it was a vigorous grower, and to pop it against a fence somewhere and give it plenty of room, which I did.

But I was still surprised a few days ago when I walked out to find a lovely, old fashioned looking, purple rose in bloom in our large bed that runs along two fences at the back end of the lawn. It has heaps of flowers and buds in a beautiful, unusual magenta colour. I remembered that this was "Margaret's Purple Rose."

 

Margaret's Purple Rose is happy and thriving in Piopio, phew! She joins Madame Leonie and Paddy Stevens as a much welcomed early bloomer.

My New/Old Garden Shed

I've now officially settled into my new/old garden shed at the Homestead here at Struan Farm. While there wasn't an official ribbon cutting ceremony it is now in use.

You may recall I'd been ordered out of my old garden shed, which is next door, and the old mower shed/garage underwent extensive renovation for my use. Still not sure why, and what's happening with my old garden shed, but I'm very happy with the new one. I was able to design bins at the back for garden stakes and standards, as well as racks and shelves. It was re-lined and painted, made mouse proof (or so they say). There are tidy bins for storage. The exterior even got a fresh coat of paint, with the roof to come. Mike installed french doors recycled from Maurie's old workshop, now the Garden Cottage bedroom at the Homestead. Fortunately I had saved the keys!

I'm hoping I'll be able to avoid having John others use this as a dumping ground for "stuff." I suspect that's what will now happen with my now former garden shed, although there was discussion initially that it might be dragged down to the river for more guest accommodation. 

So yes, sheds have at least nine lives at Struan Farm: they get recycled, reborn, redefined. Signs are involved, and here are my new ones for the new/old Garden Shed, repurposed table/placemats:

 

p.s. please don't confuse this garden shed with my new/old recycled tool shed up in the backyard near the veggie gardens at the house. That one is still a work-in-progress. I'm not so sure about either its location or the real need for it, aside from John wanting to move the old wash house down to the farm from Papakura and reuse it for "something." It has the feel of a white elephant and may very well end up storing "stuff."

 

 

Roma's Madame Leonie Leads Off the Show

It's lovely to see the rose over the Homestead's pergola burst into bloom, heralding summer. "Souvenir de Madame Leonie Vientot," also called New Zealand "dunny rose" by the Auckland Botanic Gardens, is usually the first to bloom each year here at Struan Farm. This year is no exception, although she's getting a bit of a challenge from "Paddy Stevens," a new rose I've planted up at the new(ish) house which is also starting to bloom.

John's family simply called this rose "Roma's Rose," after friend Roma Ronaldson, from whom it came. This one I grew from a cutting of a rose up in Auckland John grew from a cutting from home. The rose is obviously very happy to be back in Piopio.  A few years ago I learned its proper name, then saw it in the rose garden at the Auckland Botanic Gardens featured as one of NZ's heirloom roses. As a prolific grower, it was the rose of choice to plant over long drop toilets to disguise them!

Leg of Lamb

You may recall that pet lamb Trixie has been this season's "problem child" here at Struan Farm; there always seems to be at least one! She is one of three triplets, along with Dixie and Mixie, all of whom were abandoned at birth. Trixie was the one I didn't think was going to survive, but she managed to pull through those first few days when things can go either way.

When the first round of pet lambs was put out into the paddock Trixie stopped drinking her bottles any time anyone bumped her. Which was often. We were reduced to catching and force feeding her until the decision was made to airlift her back into the Pet Pen with younger lambs Alfie and Daisy. Fortunately she settled happily into a routine with them, drinking her bottles. This trio was put into the front paddock a few weeks ago, recently joined by youngest pet lamb TimTam. 

Last week the gang of four decided to wander and explore the pond below the Cottage, which is part of their official territory. Midday bottle time came and three muddy lambs showed up at the front gate. Nephew Mike, on bottle duty that day, found Trixie mired in the muck at the pond, unable to pull herself out. He went to her rescue.

One afternoon this week I noticed that she had started to limp, wasn't putting any weight at all on one of her back legs. This usually means something is broken. John told me to give her some time to see if the injury might right itself. The next day she was still hopping around on three legs, an intervention was clearly required. I remembered that a few years ago sister-in-law Anna had a pet lamb named Wooly Joe, who broke his leg climbing up and jumping down from her plum tree. Anna splinted his leg with chicken wire and wood sticks and he recovered. Trixie might need something similar.

And so John, farmstay guest Sandra from Munich, and I ventured out and rounded up Trixie. (Note: Sandra had a good time with the whole pet lamb experience, she'd never been this up close and personal with lambs before, let alone ones with personality or wonky legs.) John sat down on a tree stump with Trixie and checked out her leg. She sat calmly while this went on, I think she knew we were trying to help. The problem was with the bottom half of her leg, below the knee joint. John couldn't feel a break and she didn't cry or baa at all, so didn't seem to be in any pain. The decision was made to wrap the bottom part of her leg with elastic bandage for additional support (I would call this an "ace" bandage, here in NZ I think it's called "elastic crepe"). We had a splint on standby but didn't use it.

 

The good news is that the next morning she was putting a wee bit of weight on that leg. Hopefully the extra support is helping her heal. I'm not sure what drama is next for Trixie. But I do know there will be one.

 

Tomato Time

It's been the Labour holiday weekend here at Struan Farm, and the heirloom tomato plants have gone in on schedule, woo hoo! I managed to plant out seedling plants from the trays in the glasshouse in the new bed in the backyard and the raised bed out front. Surplus plants, of which there are many, are going to local op shops and friends.

 

I couldn't resist this beautiful tomato-inspired tea towel at Wallace Cotton while up in Auckland last week. Had visions of it hanging from the tomato structure in the backyard at Struan Farm, it had to come home! 

Labouring Labour Weekend

I'm assuming most people relaxed and had a good time over the NZ Labour holiday this long weekend. While we may have had a good time (in certain respects), we certainly didn't relax here at Struan Farm. We laboured, big time!

This week we have four lots of farmstay guests booked (kiwis and a visitor from Germany), plus a bus arriving with 40 ladies from the Waitara Garden Circle for a visit to our Homestead gardens. They're bringing their cut lunches to eat on the Homestead deck; I'm serving coffee, tea and rosemary shortbread to the group, just because we like visitors who enjoy the place.

As you will know the spring weather gods weren't terribly kind of us. There haven't been many days to crack into the annual big spring clean up of the gardens, so it just hadn't been done. I managed to get the new and older gardens up at our house cleaned out a week or so ago, so it was onto the Homestead's established gardens over Labour weekend with John's help given the short time frame required. The weather forecast was so-so. 

Friday was beautiful. John mowed the lawns and pruned the magnolia, Mike painted the garden shed, and I cracked into the walk and garden edges (messy edges drive me nuts) and started the weeding. I cleaned up the wee raised veggie garden we have down there and planted out granddaughter Livvy's "Little Garden" seedling plants I've been looking after in the glasshouse for her. I dug out the old woody rhubarb that had gone to seed and planted new plants. At the end of the day I was feeling both my posterior region and my hands, but things were starting to look better.

Saturday the parsley hedge in the rose garden got a major haircut and the rose garden weeded and dug. We cut out the dead wisteria that died mysteriously last summer; while we'd hoped it might recover from whatever caused the problem, it turns out it was well and truly dead. There's still one healthy wisteria over the pergola, along with our Souvenir de Madame Leonie rose, probably more than enough over the long term.

I then tackled weeding two more garden beds and associated edges while John did the same. By the end of the day we decided that we'd done a sufficient amount of work that the gardens look acceptable, in fact, quite beautiful. So we wouldn't be embarrassed if the weather packed in and this was all we were able to get done before the visitors landed. Phew!

 

Good thing too, since it rained Sunday! Which gave me time to make up beds, catch up on my housecleaning, and do the baking. Holiday weekends?

Sticks in the Mud

Or rather stuck in the mud!

I returned home to Struan Farm from a quick trip to Auckland this week to learn from nephew Mike that the four pet lambs in the front paddock had decided to explore the pond. He arrived to give them their morning bottle and had to round them up from down there, muddy and messy. We haven't refilled it as yet after John pulled the plug for the big winter clean out. Mike also had to rescue Trixie, who'd gotten stuck in the muck and couldn't get herself out. Oh dear!

Alfie, Daisy, Trixie and TimTam are all definitely looking worse for wear after this little episode. I'm glad I managed to get some Struan Farm Christmas card photos taken before their adventure into the muck. I just hope they've gotten that out of their system now. Not sure I really want to be pulling pet lambs out of the mud; but as you know, I will if I have to.

It was lovely having clean pet lambs at the front gate while it lasted!

 

Lambs on the Log, Pets on the Poplar

The larger pet lamb mob has been wandering here at Struan Farm! It was fun to see Matilda, Clover, Romeo, Mixie, Dixie and Scout play around the huge poplar tree recently felled. I couldn't decide whether to call this post "Lambs on the Log" or "Pets on the Poplar," so you decide which one you like best. Although I didn't get a good picture of them, five lambs managed to get up there together at one time, only Scout was a bit hesitant to follow the crowd.

Installation

We've finally managed to get a break in the weather and work projects to get to the installation of the rusted steel sculpture John and I purchased in Nelson from Brendon & Jane Harley earlier this year. It's now out in the paddock here at Struan Farm, set on a concrete pad and into a huge concrete pipe with (what else?) concrete. John spent quite a bit of time pondering the perfect location and what to use for the base. We ended up getting a drainage pipe from Hynds in Te Kuiti. Thankfully nephew Mike has the strength to help us with this sort of heavy work.

The site is just out from the garden gate of our house, on the top of a rise not far from where the huge poplar was recently felled. It looks amazing, doesn't it? What's interesting is that it can be seen well from various angles, including our bedroom and different points around the gardens. (I was joking with John that it was almost like the Mona Lisa, with that smile following you around the room.) John's favourite vantage point is from below, looking up to the sculpture from the Old Road. I prefer the view from the gardens with our native QEII bush in the background, since the shape of the sculpture mirrors the shapes of the trees.

 

Once the concrete is set and dry I will be painting the base with special Porter's Paints to achieve the same rusted look. If the weather cooperates, that might be next week.

She's a Big Girl Now

The time had come for pet lamb TimTam to leave the confines of the Pet Pen in the backyard here at Struan Farm and move into the paddock with Alfie, Trixie, and Daisy. She's now down to three bottles a day as are they. The last time we tried this Alfie kept butting TimTam and it wasn't pleasant for any of us. I put TimTam back into the Pet Pen for her own emotional well being. Since then Alfie, Trixie and Daisy have had their own experience with an attempted integration into the larger pet mob; they've been exposed to how other lambs can treat outsiders. I was hoping this would make them more empathetic. Trixie also spent a few days in the Pet Pen getting to know TimTam and educating her on proper lamb protocol.

So I was optimistic as I carried her over to the front paddock at midday bottle time. John helped me feed the other three as we settled her in. Guess what: it went well!

Everyone is behaving and reasonably friendly, even Alfie. He wouldn't look at TimTam to start, completely ignored her. (Much better than head butts!) She hasn't exactly been accepted into the trio, but that's okay. For her part TimTam is revelling in the wide open space of the paddock, running and hopping around.

One recent bottle time found me tracking her down at the pond when she wasn't at the front gate with the other three. I kept calling for her and none other than Rosie, Queen Bee of the former pet lambs, led her up to me along the farm track. I had to laugh that Rosie was helping me out, I'd raised her well!

 

Cleaning Bottles: Memories of the Fuller Brush Man

A few weeks into the pet lamb season here at Struan Farm I decided there had to be a better way to clean out ten bottles.

I remembered that "back in the day" we had a particular style of brush to clean bottles, one with a long wire handle and stiff bristles. Growing up in the US we used to have a door-to-door salesman called the "Fuller Brush man" arrive at our house on a regular basis, from whom my mother purchased cleaning brushes and products. The Wikipedia link is an interesting read--the company was founded in 1906 and survives to this day owned by private equity. It pioneered door-to-door sales in the country, taking the issue to the Supreme Court, was well known. In 1948 comedian Red Skelton starred in a movie called "The Fuller Brush Man." Apparently their hair brushes were sold with life time guarantees.

And so I went off in search of a bottle brush. I couldn't find one at either the grocery stores or Mitre 10, my source for most useful products in life these days. But I ended up finding exactly what I wanted at Fishpond. In fact, they offer many different bottle brush options, so now you know where to go for this essential product. No household should be without one.

It works really well. At a certain point, no matter how much scalding water one uses, the milk starts to coat the insides of the lamb bottles and a good stint of brushing is required. We have standards to maintain here at Struan Farm!

The Stakes Are High

At least they're higher than last year, the tomato stakes that is. John designed, and nephew Mike constructed, a support structure for some of my heirloom tomatoes this season in the new bed in the backyard here at Struan Farm. Since we rotate our veggie and tomato beds, it's meant to be taken down at the end of the season, put away in shed somewhere and then moved elsewhere next summer (perhaps the other side of this bed).

The raised bed in the front has been refilled with fresh soil, mulch and organic matter, so is good for tomatoes again this year.

I've pledged to stake properly this year and cut off the shooters. I will try my best, I truly will. I'm just not sure if sixteen plants is going to cut it for me. Last year we maxed out at 30 in beds and pots, but then it wasn't the best of seasons either. I guess I'll know when the sixteen are planted and I've still got heaps of excess seedling plants to use or give away!

A Tree Falls in Piopio

Sticking with yesterday's tree theme, John and nephew Mike are working on taking out some trees around the edges of our house at Struan Farm, basically to improve the outlook, when time, weather and other projects permit. They've started with the side where this work involves individual trees rather than the forest of macrocarpas at the bottom of the bowl. Those will come in due course.

This week while I was off food shopping a large poplar tree came down. I'd forgotten this was going to happen, or I would have taken a "before" shot. I went through my photos and realised that I'd always managed to avoid showing this tree since it was damaged and pretty unsightly. Now it's down and the view through to one of our QEII bush reserves and the hillsides beyond is clear.

The clean up work of the associated mess and firewood below the line of sight here now begins. 

Mike and John are also working on the installation of the big rusty metal leaf sculpture we purchased not too long ago in Nelson. A concrete pad has been made. Next a huge concrete pipe will be put on end, and filled with concrete, into which the sculpture's stand will be inserted. After everything is dry I am meant to treat the concrete base with a rusty paint from Porter's Paints, which basically matches the colour of the rusted sculpture. The finished sculpture should be visible from the gardens and house if all goes to plan.

More to come as the sculpture installation continues. In the meantime the lambs like hiding out and sheltering in the concrete pipe!

A Tree Grows in Piopio

Not in Brooklyn in this instance. John and I have been working to finish the gardens up at the new(ish) house at Struan Farm, and we're almost done. A few days ago we decided that we needed one more tree smallish tree for the front of the lawn area, and found a beautiful "Acer 'Shindeshojo'" at nearby Smart Plants.

The brilliant red colour of the foliage pops, and the shape of the tree is fantastic.

 

I'm also pretty happy with how the gardens are looking at the moment. I haven't quite finished weeding the big bed around the back and the right edge, but I'm on the home stretch.  Now to keep those rabbits at bay. Next comes the Homestead.

Another Close Call for Clifford

You may recall that Struan Farm's resident dog Clifford, an elder statesman at age 13, loves to live life on the edge. Several months ago he blew a ligament in his right rear leg chasing turkeys, something that destined him to a life of long term inflammatories each month. He hasn't been in pain, and has been walking around more normally with this medication. 

I've been keeping an eye on him. He goes for walks, but doesn't have the energy anymore to barrel around the farm all day accompanying John. My biggest fear has been that he jumps off a retaining wall or goes on another tear after turkeys or rabbits and hurts himself. They're around. Try as I might to protect him, I've had to surrender and leave this in the hands of the universe.

This past week Clifford and John went out for a morning walk and Clifford went after a rabbit. John heard him yelp in pain, and saw him stop and lift his back leg. They arrived back at the house and I was seriously worried at first that he'd blown out his other leg. He wouldn't sit or lie down and I could see it in his face (I'm sure you can too below).  I thought we might have to make a trip to the vet to end his pain. It was raining so we closed him inside in the garage, where he finally laid down to rest and recover. A little roast chicken seemed to help.

 

Fortunately for him and for us after resting he is fine, or rather back to his previous condition. A bit of a limp with that right leg but nothing else injured. I'm happy and relieved to say that this dog has nine lives!

Back Home

I need to report that the consolidation of the two mobs of pet lambs didn't really work out here at Struan Farm over the past week. Bottle times were chaos with nine at the back gate, and the lambs stayed together in their original groups, didn't mix. Just like high school.

After a few days I lifted Trixie out of the Pet Pen, where she was familiarising TimTam with lamb protocols, and put her back into the paddock. She ran straight over to her mates Alfie and Daisy. It was quite touching to watch them run up to her baaing welcome back. John saw it and couldn't believe what we saw happen, even though he knows Karen and her pet lambs operate in a parallel universe.

After a few days I started to think that maybe Alfie, Daisy and Trixie would be happier back in their own paddock. They'd had a taste of running with the larger pet mob and now understood the associated pluses and minuses. From my vantage point the larger group was much harder for John and/or me to feed. So I got everyone to follow me down to the fence dividing the two paddocks to see if I could get the trio back to their home paddock. I picked up and heaved Daisy over the fence first, then Alfie, then Trixie. No one protested, no one even wriggled while I lifted them up and over, no one tried to get back through the fence. They were happy to be back home. They'd had enough of that social experiment.

 

Once TimTam is down to three bottles at the end of this week she's going out to join them in the front paddock. She can't stay in the Pet Pen forever, will need to toughen up. She's spent time with Trixie now and Daisy won't be a problem. She and Alfie will need to come to terms. TimTam and I haven't had a heart to heart about this just yet, but we will. I will also have a wee chat with Alfie, appealing to his softer, gentler side. You see lamb diplomacy has its challenges. Not quite on the scale of North Korea, but an understanding of the personalities involved is required.

Blossoming Forth, Remembering Yogi

The apples, quince, nashi, crab apple and pear trees have come into flower recently here at Struan Farm. The plums and peaches are done with their show, having opened the season.

The good news is that there are heaps of pollinators working away with the new hives on the property. Having more of a good thing is a good thing in my view. Writing this last line brings to mind baseball coach Yogi Berra, known for quotes like "it ain't over til it's over" and "if you get to a fork in the road, take it." Yogi said things that either stated a keen sense of the obvious or were complete muddles that left everyone scratching their heads.

Of the two heirloom apple trees in the orchard area by our house Monty's Surprise is in bloom while Peasgood Nonsuch is starting to bud. Here's Monty:

Two of the three quince trees are thriving. I'm still hopeful the third will adjust to the move a year ago prompted by the roadside slip, but it's much smaller and struggling. We originally planted "Giant of Gascony" and "Smyrna," I'm just not sure at this point who is who. I suspect we may have lost the Smyrna. We had our first real fruiting last year so I'm optimistic the quince corner has (mostly) been turned.

Our nashi has two cross-pollinating varieties grafted into one tree, in this instance "Nijiseki/Hosui." The Nijiseki side fruits and flowers better than the Hosui, but perhaps that's what is meant to happen with one helping the other to thrive.

To quote Yogi, in the fruit orchard here at Struan Farm "it's like deja vu all over again!"

Piopio's Next Top Model: Shoot #1

We had the first shoot for the annual Struan Farm Christmas card this past weekend. Experience over the past few years has established that it's best to photograph the pet lambs before they get too big and stroppy, while there's still an element of innocence and willingness to wear the headgear. Some people seem to think our cards are "photoshopped," and I can attest that they certainly ARE NOT!

There was some primping at the back fence to start:

And then the real work started. I've learned to forget it with certain lambs, they're either meant for the catwalk, or they aren't. Clover has potential but is a bit skittish. I'd though Scout or Trixie would be the star, and while they get an "A" for effort, Alfie is the winner of this round. I tested TimTam, but she is perhaps too young and jumpy at this stage of the competition.

Here's Clover, a bit too forced:

Here's Trixie:

Here's Scout:

 

And here are two of Alfie:

The shots of Trixie, Scout and Alfie all have that innocence that I'm looking for. They have't been stressed out by Karen's annual Christmas pageant, aren't looking tortured by having to participate. That last one of Alfie, which also shows complete trust in me, is my favourite so far.