Struan Farm

Love Undiminished by Adversity

The dogwood trees in the Homestead gardens here at Struan Farm are coming into full flower at the moment. And they look simply glorious! A few years ago ahead of a wedding under the one beside the Pet Paddock I read that dogwood is a symbol of "love undiminished by adversity" in Victorian flower language. I thought it was quite fitting and special for couples to be married under this flowering tree, and got goosebumps about it all at the time. Silly me.

 

We have three dogwoods in the centre of the main gardens and two at the front entrance gate that are starting to become more established. And then at last year's "Arbor Camp" our friends from Asplundh planted another on the side of the Pet Paddock as a gift to us. I've planted two up in the gardens at the new(ish) house as well.

So yes, lots of symbolism (and love) around the place at Struan Farm!

 

Let the Boxing Day Baking Begin...

We have 40+ extended family coming to our annual Boxing Day celebration this year at Struan Farm. I've started baking goodies well in advance to put in the freezer, since the day or so before I'll be focused on cooking turkeys, hams and making salads. At the moment I'm also trialling side dish recipes for my official taste tester, John.  I need dishes that are delicious but also relatively easy to make in advance and deliver in quantity.  (I've learned this the hard way, as I do with most things.) But as hostess I also like making different, interesting things rather than the same old, same old. This next weekend we'll test out "New Potato Salad with Fresh Herbs" from The 5+ A Day Charitable Trust, and "Spiced Kumara and Hummus Salad" from the December issue of NZ House & Garden Magazine.

I've kicked off the season by making the Barrett family's traditional cream cheese Christmas cookies, which are made using a cookie press. My mother made these every year, and only at Christmas, topped with sprinkles, chocolate chips or glace cherries. We all had our favourite shapes and toppings. The main "pressure point" in making these is that it can't be too hot on baking day or everything gets way too sticky. This is often a challenge in NZ summer weather (yet another thing I have learned the hard way.) The day I picked to bake this first batch was perfect, I knocked it off in record time.  Only two more batches to go!

The recipe: 8 oz. butter, 8 oz. cream cheese (both softened at room temperature), 2/3 cup sugar, 1/4 tsp. vanilla. Cream well then add 2 cups of flour. Chill the dough before putting it into the cookie press and pressing out onto ungreased baking trays. Bake about 12 minutes at 180C, until the edges start to brown slightly. In my ovens this is usually longer.

 

So the lead up to the Christmas holidays has officially begun, along with the Boxing Day baking!

Wind Wands in the Veggie Gardens

Several of my garlic plants look like they are coming into flower here at Struan Farm. I'm struck by how much they look like wind wands. What do you think?

The flower bulbs are called "scapes," and one is meant to pick them before they bloom into flowers to allow energy to go into growing larger garlic bulbs. The scapes themselves are edible, so I may test that out.

Fish & Flowers

Not your usual duo, is it?

This weekend I tested out another recipe from the latest issue of Dish Magazine, "Harissa Roasted Salmon with Walnut Dukkah." This is one of those dishes that is made ahead and served cold or room temperature, perfect for summer dining. The salmon is coated with an harissa and olive oil mixture before roasting, then topped with store bought or homemade dukkah, chopped coriander, chopped roasted walnuts, and pomegranate arils.

It was delicious. John and I can get a bit overwhelmed by rich, oily salmon, and often find it better cold when leftover the next day.  The topping works to offset that too. I will definitely make this again.

For our table I couldn't get past the roses, which are in full bloom, mixed with scabiosa starball (before it morphs into a "starball" it has delicate lavender-coloured flowers), nigella, some poppy seed pods and snapdragons. Our new Matthews' "Platinum" roses have started to flower, they're pink but with more of a blueish tinge when compared to "Compassion." I used both, as well as "Frill Jilly," which is a lovely soft orange.

Weaning Woes

Struan Farm's pet lambs Matilda, Clover, Trixie, Dixie, Mixie, Scout, Romeo, Alfie, Daisy and TimTam only have themselves to blame. With all ten lambs back together in one mob in the house paddock after Alfie and Daisy learned to waltz across the cattle stops, bottle times were complete chaos. The lambs just wouldn't settle down into a revised routine and behave, it was "Lord of the Flies" at the back gate. I'd had enough after three days. Trying to feed them by myself when John or Mike wasn't around was simply too hard, and this time of year there's too much other work to be done around the property to mess around.

So you know what this means, right? Time for the little darlings to be weaned. They aren't happy about it, but they are eating grass and will eat more now as a result.  (I thought it was better for you to see them munching away in the paddock rather than wailing at the back gate. While pathos would have been more photogenic, it wouldn't have been good for them or me.)

 

There hasn't been too much pathetic baaing outside the bedroom window, so they were obviously ready for the umbilical cord to be cut. I try not to have them hear my voice or see me around much during this sensitive period, although every so often they do need pats. But everyone needs to move forward now, myself included. The good news is that I've just regained two hours in my day!

Flax Flower Feed

The past few evenings when I've been out watering the gardens here at Struan Farm I've bumped into a tui, feeding on the flax flowers that border part of our driveway at the house. I always say hello, and he hasn't been fussed with me moving around doing my work in the vicinity, or with Clifford. He's been much more interested in a feed! 

Last evening I arrived home from grocery shopping to find him perched on the flax munching away yet again. I decided to see if I had time to grab my camera to get his picture. I did.

I'd been thinking about photographing the flax flowers when they bloom, hopefully the tui will leave some for me to do so.

Absent Without Leave

A few days ago Farmer John rounded up the ewes and the lambs here at Struan Farm for crutching and dosing. Worms and fly seem to be bad this season, and a "dag" or two was apparent as well as long worms in the poo. Ahead of his mustering we herded our ten pet lambs, Matilda, Clover, Mixie, Dixie, Scout, Romeo, Alfie, Trixie, Daisy and TimTam, down to the woolshed where they had their evening bottle and spent the night in the yards. Pet lambs are notoriously hard to manage for farm dogs (basically they ignore them), so mum usually needs to intervene to get the job done, with help from "dad" if he's around.

After their beauty and health therapy treatments they were released back into the Cottage Paddock the next morning. Alfie, Trixie and TimTam made their way back up to their paddock gate for the evening feed, but we had to go round up the rest of the mob. We managed to get find everyone except Clover. Daisy had decided to join this group, so we put six lambs into the house paddock and scratched our heads over where Clover might be. We did check the pond to make sure she wasn't stuck in the muck down there. She's eating grass now, so wouldn't starve, but usually a lamb would "baa" when left alone and was going without her bottle. They have finely tuned internal clocks and know when they're meant to be fed. Clover might have been recovering from the whole crutching and dosing thing and needed some time to herself, I wasn't sure.

The next morning John went out and found her in the front paddock with Alfie, Trixie and TimTam. He also noticed some sheep poop at our front entrance gate, so the theory is that she walked across the cattle stop into the main Homestead gardens and went for a wander around. Thankfully she didn't wander out on the road.

 

As I was writing this I heard baaing outside the house that sounded a bit unusual. Seems Alfie had also figured out a way to walk across the cattle stop, the one that leads up to our driveway. Clover might have clued him in. He wandered up the driveway and into the orchard, where he happily munched grass and apple tree. Lydia and I managed to wrangle him and get him back into the paddock, but I was concerned that now that he had found the Garden of Eden up the driveway he would lead others astray, across the cattle stop. As a result, John made the executive decision to consolidate the two mobs of pet lambs in our house paddock. We've mustered Alfie, Clover and TimTam into the house paddock with the other six to avoid any more cattle stop incidents and risk that someone would end up on the road. Trixie has stayed in the front paddock for the time being. She's hobbling with her hip problem and I didn't see any sense in trying to force her to move unless she gets lonely and wants that. 

I'm not looking forward to bottle time with this number jostling and bunting, it could be time to wean. The joys of pet lambs, eh?

Ravishing Radishes

My lettuces are languishing, and the corn, tomatoes, zucchini, edible flowers and broad beans are doing their best in the veggie gardens here at Struan Farm. But they're struggling along with the weird weather. There is one bright spot: my radishes. They are absolutely RAVISHING!

 

The Finer Points of Weeding Technique

John stepped in to help me with the gardens a few weekends ago here at Struan Farm, ahead of the Waitara Garden Circle visit. The weather has been such that I was way behind where I needed to be. He's continued to help me with the next round of the gardens up top, finishing the recycled brick edges and weeding those new beds at the same time.

In my experience there are pluses and minuses to receiving assistance. Advice can be offered and instructions given, even when you might not particularly want or need it. I was advised that there was a "proper Robertson way to weed," a methodology I clearly had not adopted despite my professional weeding status, filling trailer loads annually. According to John my assistant, a trowel must be used to dig up the soil. I use a Japanese gardening tool called a Niwashi, without which I would be completely lost. I do dig up the soil with it when I weed, but apparently my technique is different to that of my assistant.

This debate prompted a somewhat tongue-in-cheek family survey. For privacy reasons I am not at liberty to report who said what, but I will say that all of the women contacted said they used Niwashis primarily. One man said he used a fork and also his hands. So it seems in practice there isn't a "proper Robertson way to weed." A bluff had been called.

The moral of the story is to do whatever works for you, and only ask for help when you really, really need it. I do both!

An Unending Circle (of Pavlova!)

This past weekend at Struan Farm I made the pavlova wreath featured on the cover of this month's Dish Magazine. John and niece Lydia volunteered to be testers, they knew it would be a complete flier but most likely good. I'd picked up the edible gold stars they suggest as a bit of bling at Applewood Kitchen Shop in Queen's Arcade when recently up in Auckland getting my neck and back straightened out at Advanced Health Group.   Then I improvised the rest of the topping with fruit and edible flowers. Instead of cream mixed with mascarpone and vanilla I used softly whipped cream with coconut yogurt.

It looked gorgeous and tasted great! A different twist on a classic New Zealand summer favourite.

With no beginning and no end, wreaths symbolise eternity, the unending circle of life. 

Jamming at Struan Farm 2017/18

The strawberries have landed at Piopio Berry Orchard and there was a "three for" special this week, so it's time to get cracking on making homemade jam for our farmstay guests here at Struan Farm. I'd completely run out of what I made last season, so know more needs to be made this year, of both strawberry and blueberry. Maybe even some black currant if the currant crop delivers.

Batch #1 is now cooling on the kitchen bench, I'm waiting anxiously to hear those "pops" to know that the jars have sealed. If they don't seal we keep the jars in the fridge and use them first. I'd recently read not to screw the jars too tightly, so thought that was perhaps why I wasn't getting a 100% seal rate, since I'd been screwing them tight, tight. Testing that theory with this batch!

MaeMae's Delphiniums

The delphiniums (delphinia?) in the gardens here at Struan Farm are starting to bloom. It looks like it's going to be a good year for them. I grew these from seed; they've come again for a second year. One never knows about that, at least I don't, so I don't count my delphiniums until they're hatched. I've been good so far with the staking so the taller flowers haven't keeled over just yet!

These have been planted in honour of John's grandmother "MaeMae." Can you guess why?

That's a young Louise beside her. I also note some yellow dahlias in the foreground we also still have growing in the gardens!

Timber!

Yet another tree has come down to open up the view at the new(ish) house here at Struan Farm. John and Mike are taking their time-- the clean up effort is major, these are huge trees.

Our bees and their hive boxes have been taken on a working holiday to a kiwifruit farm in Te Puke, they're not due back until early December. While they're away it makes sense to get tree work done in their vicinity. Mike had been working down in the area of the hives recently one day and found himself on their flight path, copping a sting or two. They don't want anyone working near their Queen it seems. So with a bee-free window of time available the boys decided to crack into taking down a huge tulip tree. John's vision is to have the grove of conifers remaining on this point (we think they are either spruce or fir trees, we're waiting for the cones to appear to solve that mystery). 

Next (and last) to come down in this area will be a huge redwood. I'm not so sure about this but John is convinced. It's so big that some external assistance may be required for the felling. Then the clean up of this corner will be finished. Suffice it to say the firewood sheds will be replenished too.

Note: Most frequent readers know we continue to plant trees around the property on a regular basis. So while we are taking down some trees, we plant far more than we fell. I have rather robust discussions with John about the need to take down mature trees, especially when they seem to be shoring up hillsides. He isn't a fan of most of the poplars around the place planted by this father, while I argue on their behalf since the native woodpigeons/kereru love them. I am of the view that John's dad Maurie did certain (most) things for logical reasons, although he did tend to plant large trees too closely together, at least in a 75 year context. We're needing to have that longer term perspective with what we do now.

Getting Rusty

We finally had a long enough period of settled weather here at Struan Farm for John to paint the concrete base of our Grounded Art sculpture. He used Porter's Paints Liquid Iron and Instant Rust. It's a two step process--two coats of the iron paint are put on and then the "instant rust" liquid, which prompts a chemical reaction turning the iron to rust.

Here's step one:

And here's step two. It will continue to rust a bit further, but we're quite happy with how this has turned out!

Next will come a walkway to the sculpture from the garden, with fencing and hedging (we think). This is a John project, so while I'm consulted he will do the planning and associated work.

Peak Poppies

We seem to have reached "peak poppies" here at Struan Farm this week. I'm hoping we don't have heavy rain or wind for awhile or everyone will swoon over. At that point the gardener has to crack into action, saving seed heads and pulling out the plants that have done their dashes.

When I think of poppies I always think of "The Wizard of Oz," and that scene where the Wicked Witch of the West conjures up a field of poppies to put Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow to sleep to stop them from reaching Emerald City. Fortunately Glinda the Good Witch makes it snow, which wakes them up. As we all know from the "Wicked" books and musical, the Wicked Witch wasn't quite so wicked and Glinda wasn't quite so good. Hollywood has been known to turn things on their heads. 

Here at Struan Farm witches don't feature, just peak poppies. And trust me, no one has time to fall asleep!

 

A Birdland of Sorts

No, not the famous NYC jazz club of the same name and Charlie Parker fame, but we have a "birdland" of sorts in the gardens here at Struan Farm. We've been seeing a pair of kingfishers several times each day. They love perching on the silk tree and the weeping silver birch, to get perspective on life or (more likely) insects.

John and I were sitting out on the deck having an afternoon coffee a few days ago when a pair of small, vividly coloured birds landed on the lawn. I'd seen one similar the day before on the garden gate and pointed it out to John, but his bird vision isn't quite as finely tuned as mine. Neither of us recognised them, so I dug out our field guide. These were goldfinches!

They have distinctive red, yellow, black and white markings, with brown on their backs. While not native, they are quite common in New Zealand, and it turns out they like to feed on freshly mown lawns. We'll look for them now after the Mad Mower does this thing.

A Vintage Gardener

I'm not referring to my age here! Every few weeks when I head south to New Plymouth for a hair appointment at Elwin Evans I also pop into Big Jim's Garden Centre, one of those few remaining independent garden centres around that offers better variety. In spring, around the time of the Taranaki Garden Festival , they offer a selection of what they call "vintage" plants. As you might expect, I load up and bring these back to Struan Farm.

It seems my taste in gardening doesn't run to what is particularly "fashionable" or "on-trend." I've known for some time that my taste in flowers and shrubs leans toward "vintage" or what some people here called "old-fashioned." They don't necessarily mean that as a complement, usually it implies something out of date, that time has passed by.  I had to laugh, the current issue of NZ Gardener magazine has an article about the return of hydrangeas, as if they ever went away. I'm always ahead of these things, it seems they're not just for "nanas" at the moment. Isn't that a relief, aren't we glad to know that?! Plant hydrangeas now and be trendy!

In addition to astrantias,  I returned home with two different colours of "Tradescantia andersoniana," also called "Moses in the Bulrushes." We have one of these currently in the Homestead's roadside woodsy garden, so I was interested to learn, finally, what it is. My only problem now is that in doing further research I've learned it is related to a plant called "wandering willy" or "wandering jew." I've just emailed Weedbusters to double check that this particular variety is okay to plant, won't be invasive. What we have in the gardens now hasn't spread, so I'm thinking it's okay. But we've seen that plants like Japanese anemone and aluminium plant, which are still being sold in garden centres, can spread and become noxious weeds even if they aren't technically defined as such, and I don't want to make a mistake by not doing proper research.

So these won't get planted until I hear back from the experts either way. The astrantias will.

Family Flowers

John's niece Lydia and partner Jeff have been visiting New Zealand from Canada and stopped in to see us at Struan Farm for a night or two. We got together for dinner last night.

The flowers in the garden are starting to come on, so arranging flowers for the table and farmstay guests is getting much easier with more variety. More roses are blooming, along with the first white scabiosa of the season (last year's favourite flower) and my new fav, astrantia (also known as masterwort). 

So I had fun putting together some posies for the table:

The poppy seed heads form once the flowers finish, and add a quirky touch to arrangements. After I use them in arrangements I dry them out in the hot water cupboard to save the seeds for next season. Nigella ("love in the mist") is also starting to bloom now; I use both the delicate flowers as well as the hairy buds for a bit of difference. This year I'm growing several types of scabiosa from seed, use the buds of those in arrangements as well. The white flowers look wonderfully old fashioned and remain my favourite.

Here is a close up of one of the first astrantias I've been able to pick:

 Interesting and beautiful, aren't they?

Deja Vu All Over Again

Yes, quoting Yogi again. This past week I bumped into former pet lamb Tootsie, whom I hadn't seen for quite awhile. She didn't lamb this year, was really a year too young to do so. She was very friendly, let me give her a pat, which had me wondering if she still had a taste for apple treats. Turns out that she has!

She's now come up to the retaining wall at the house two days for afternoon treats, something that makes me smile! 

Here she is today:

And here are some earlier shots of a younger Tootsie, shorn and not. The distinctive freckling on her face seems to have faded a bit with age.

 

 

Once a pet, always a pet. I'm sure Yogi would agree with that one.

Random Gardens

The gardens at the new(ish) house here at Struan Farm are looking amazing right now. At least we think so! Even the beds we put in this past winter are starting to look established. As you might expect my life at the moment is pretty much weeding, between farmstay gigs. But I'm happy out there pottering around in the dirt, at least until my hands seize up and other regions get sore. Then it's time to retire for a hot shower.

Despite all the rain we've had this spring things were starting to dry out with a bit of sunny, warm weather. The weekend rain was welcome--it's made weeding much easier and meant we didn't have to water the veggie gardens. Once the poppies have finished their show they'll swoon over and will be pulled out. The scabiosas look next to start blooming, although I can't remember which ones I tossed where. But it was definitely a good decision to spray poppy and scabiosa seed through the gardens; the lush greenery with pops of colour fill the gaps and provide a meadow-y look, all the rage currently in gardening circles. 

Fortunately you can't see those weeds along the far back fence, I'm off to tackle those right now.

p.s. John seems to have won out over the rabbits, at least the current lot, with a combination of poison and gun. My flowers aren't getting eaten now, the chicken wire has been removed.