Struan Farm

Please Don't Eat the Daisies

I wanted to show you the beautiful daisy plants I've grown from cuttings here at Struan Farm, and this title came to mind. "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" was the title of a television show that aired in the US during my childhood. It was based on a movie starring Doris Day and David Niven, which was based on a book by Jean Kerr. All that being said, this has no relevance to my daisies, except for the fact that I would appreciate it if you didn't eat them!

Last year family friend Mary Spellman hosted a garden party as a fundraiser for the local rural women's group. She'd grown daisies to have in pots around the entrance tent to the party, and gave me a few afterwards, cautioning me to take cuttings inside before winter since the plants in the garden would most likely die from heavy frost. I heeded that advice, and have ended up with quite a few new plants for the gardens. They are coming out of the glasshouse for planting this week, along with some purple salvias. Salvias are meant to be perennial but I can never get them to survive Piopio winters, so use the same approach of taking cuttings and growing some plants in the glasshouse for the next season.

p.s. And wouldn't you know it, the daisy I planted out in the garden last year didn't die over winter. It did get hit and needs a good cutback, but looks like it will come again.  But I'm sure if I hadn't taken cuttings it would have been dead, that's just the way the universe works.

Time to Consolidate

Sorry I'm late with today's post, but things happened this morning here at Struan Farm. Yes, lambs. The "little darlings." Yesterday when I returned from food shopping in town there were only two pet lambs, Trixie and Daisy, in the front paddock. I asked nephew Mike, who feeds them while I'm out, where Alfie was. It seems he got through the fence and was running with the main pet mob. As a result, he'd missed his lunch. Mike doesn't know the pets well enough to figure out who was who, he figured I would do that when I got home.

So we found Alfie, baaing very loudly, and airlifted him back to the paddock with Trixie and Daisy. Gave him a big bottle to calm him down.

This morning I went out to feed the pet mob of six at the back gate and counted seven. Hmmm. Sometimes one from the main flock gets confused and hangs with the pets, but that wasn't the case here. TRIXIE had somehow gotten through the fence and rejoined her sisters. Since I only had six bottles with me, I decided to heave her over the paddock fence and put her in the Pet Pen with TimTam, temporarily. We're trying to get TimTam used to other lambs so she can join them out in the paddock without being butted around, so this was my opportunity to have her make friends with Trixie. Seems to be going okay.

Then I went to the front paddock to feed Alfie and Daisy. I heard baas but they weren't at the front gate where they normally stand to be fed. It turns out they had also gone through the fence into the adjacent paddock, but were staying close to that fence by their "home" paddock, knowing it was bottle time. It dawned on me that these lambs were now going to get through the fence all the time, so it was best to lure them around the corner with bottles and have them join the rest of the pet "mob." The pets have decided it's time to consolidate.

At the moment Alfie and Daisy are staying close to each other at the back gate and everyone else is keeping their distance. The situation may require a midday bottle for all everyone to settle down. Eventually Trixie and TimTam will join them. 

John tells me these things happen in large families. I'm sure I'll agree once I've had my coffee.

Everything's Coming Up Tomatoes

The expression is meant to be roses rather than tomatoes, but here at Struan Farm it's getting to be tomato and veggie gardening time! Tomato seedlings and most veggie seeds are planted out Labour Weekend at the end of October, at which point we're past the risk of major frost.

This year in the glasshouse tomato plants have germinated from last season's heirloom seeds (ancestors of Mr. V's Dargaville tomatoes) and Oxheart, Purple Cherokee and Black Cherry seeds. I've also started a few zucchini and kamo kamo (a type of acorn-like squash) plants. Lately it's been so warm that it's been tempting to plant some seeds outside, but best to heed conventional wisdom. Eight to ten plants of each tomato variety have been potted up in recycled pots and are growing away in the warm environment. This should mean a sufficient number and variety of healthy plants for our beds. At some point I'll pot up more to give away, since we can't have beautiful tomatoes going to waste, can we? 

I have planted out marigold and cornflower seedlings in the flower gardens, protected from both snails and rabbits. Those are hardier so should be okay if the weather were to take one last wintery turn. We're still getting heaps of rain, but it hasn't been terribly cold. 

Roaming Romeo & The Girls

The bigger pet lambs (Matilda, Clover, Dixie, Mixie, Romeo and Scout) have started to roam the paddocks here at Struan Farm, getting just that bit more adventurous. They always manage to come back in time for bottles, but they're wandering further exploring the farm. They're also starting to eat grass. What this means for me is that when I go out to walking on a particular mission, like taking photos of the new bee hives, I need to be as sneaky as possible to avoid attracting the mob's attention.

Of course that strategy doesn't always work.

In this instance I was found out, and they came barrelling down the bowl to cluster around me for pats. They can be quite clingy, which is cute to a point. My main challenge is making sure I don't trip over them and fall or hurt them.

But it's a joy for me to see them growing up and learning the lay of the land here at Struan Farm.

In the other paddock Trixie, Alfie and Daisy are also doing well, on three bottles per day. They're a much gentler, quieter lot and we'd like to keep them that way! TimTam is still in the Pet Pen being fed four times each day. Once she's down to three bottles we will put her out with Trixie's crew since she's also quite quiet and gentle. 

A Hive of Activity

Very exciting development over the weekend here at Struan Farm--we now have honey bee hives on the property! Friend Alan Bush asked us awhile ago if we wouldn't mind having them, and we are happy to do so. It's great for the gardens, fruit trees and the bees.

Alan arrived, donned his white suit and put the hives in place in the old Bull Paddock, giving the bees a good feed of sugar water to settle them in.

 

More boxes are coming in a week or so.

On top of having extra pollinators around the place doing their essential work, we'll get a bucket or two of honey to share with farmstay guests. Now just to keep the more inquisitive of the pet lambs (Scout?!) away from them!

A Spring Foodie Experiment

I've been wanting to try a few more recipes from "Real Food by Mike," the new cookbook by Australia chef Mike McEnearney. A recent issue of MindFood magazine had a few sample recipes--one involved brussels sprouts, chick peas and a buttermilk, olive oil and dijon mustard dressing, the second kumara (sweet potato), pomegranate, coriander, coconut yogurt and a dressing made with tamarind paste and soy sauce. Unusual but very flavoursome taste combinations; we enjoyed them so much that I ordered the book to discover more! 

Now that asparagus is back in season I decided to test out "Spring Tabouleh." Ingredients include bulgur wheat and just about anything green you might think of, except perhaps Kermit the Frog: asparagus, peas, spring onions, snow peas, broccoli, fennel, parsley and savoy cabbage. Also tomatoes, lemon zest and sumac. Many of the veggies are meant to be finely "shaved." I scratched my head a wee bit on that one, ended up using a combination of my vegetable peeler and trusty Zyliss mandolin. Shaving asparagus lengthwise and a bunch of broccoli proved interesting, but I'm sure it was good for my brain.

The salad is dressed right before serving with a simple mixture of good extra virgin olive oil (we are devotees of River Estate) and lemon juice. I've still got a decent stash of our organic Meyer lemons to work with. While it's raw and crunchy, so possibly not for everyone, John and I thought it was delicious. We do eat a lot of salads, with or without accompanying protein.

 

Lighter food, it's spring after all!