Struan Farm

Banishing Bullies

I know, they look like perfect little darlings, don't they? But pet lambs Bambi, Fergie and Whiskey have been banished from the Pet Pen here at Struan Farm and put out into the paddock at the back gate.

They were butting Bubbles, Ajax and Diva away from drinking their bottles, and we can't have that. In the steps of Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, the smaller, gentler lambs were simply walking away rather than getting into a scrap. So I made an executive decision that it was time for the troublesome trio to be put into the paddock at the back gate.

This involved me picking them up one by one and bottles so they can establish that this is where feeding happens.  I check in with them for hellos and pats every so often to make sure they don't wander too far until they're settled. They can also hear Bubbles, Ajax and Diva in the Pet Pen across the backyard. 

The other three will join them in a few days once everyone is settled and feeding properly. Zero tolerance for bullying at Struan Farm.

 

Totara: It Seems Patience is a Virtue

Sometimes I learn things the hard way, and learning about totara falls into that category.

Last autumn I discovered quite by accident that native totara trees are either male or female, and fruit. Unlike the kahikatea, which has bright orange berries easily seen that hold its seeds, we'd never noticed totara berries before. So I went around to the female trees here at Struan Farm and gathered as many as I could to see if I could grow them on into trees. (Please note I may not be using proper botanic terms.)

I popped the seeds into soil on seed trays and waited. I've done this with other types of natives with some success, including kowhai, kahikatea, tawa and flax. But with these I had no luck whatsoever, no sign of growth. I ended up emptying out the seed trays, figuring I needed to do more research about temperature, water and light to be able to grow totara.

The plot thickens. Recently John and I were over at Smart Plants in Te Kuiti to pick up some natives and potting soil. I queried Charlie, who knows and grows his native trees and plants, about what I did wrong. It seems I'd tossed out the seed trays prematurely: I hadn't had enough PATIENCE. It takes 3-4 months for totara to germinate! 

I will try again next season, when hopefully other female trees fruit. They fruit every two years, so these will be different trees to this past year unless they all fruit the same year and it's a two year exercise. In the meantime, John discovered a virtual forest of totara seedlings under one of the female trees this week. We'll cultivate these seedlings.

I'm thankful Mother Nature stepped in to help. 

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Some people think that the most wonderful time of the year is Christmas, but for me it's lambing season at Struan Farm. So much new life and joy!

A New Lamb on the Block

I hadn't quite reckoned that we'd have a second ram pet lamb this year at Struan Farm. John seems to have in his head that my limit is six, although I've stated that we need to see what the heavens deliver either way on that score. I do know that ten was too many last year, it was beyond my ability to cope and affected my relationships with the lambs as well. Other than Alfie and Trixie, I didn't really have any relationships with the pets last year. I was just viewed as a source of food, not "mum."

This year things are going well. Everyone lets me pet them after bottles, and they recognise my voice and come running. That's what I want to see. So when John flagged a ram lamb being butted away by his mum and not fed we decided to give them time to resolve their issues. The lamb had had a feed, wasn't newly born. But the relationship went sideways for some reason. John went back later in the day and found the situation the same. We decided to bring the lamb back to the Pet Pen rather than risk losing him. He drank from the bottle immediately, usually a sign of extreme hunger with one that has fed previously from mum. Sometimes it can be much harder convincing them to take the bottle, but not with this little guy.

Meet "Whiskey." He's joined the gang in the pen. I'm not sure I'm at my limit just yet, really. But if there aren't any others abandoned or in trouble this may very well be it. The Class of 2018: Bubbles, Ajax, Bambi, Diva, Fergie and now Whiskey.

Grandlambs: Awaiting The Next Generation

Former pet lambs Rosie, Ruby and Cookie hang out near the house when they're in the house paddock here at Struan Farm. They know there's a good chance that I'll see them and bring out apple treats for everyone to munch on. Cookie is a late adopter, it might be related to a pregnancy craving, I'm not sure.

But I have to bring enough to feed everyone at the same time, since Ruby gets quite aggressive about pushing the others out of the way. And she's so big that that's quite a threat, even with me telling her to behave herself.

They're all visibly pregnant and ready to drop their second year of lambs. It's very exciting for me to watch them as mums, having been theirs.

Are there such things as "grandlambs?" We'll say yes.

There's a New Lamb in Town

And her name is "Fergie." Over the weekend Farmer John brought up an abandoned lamb from his property in Mahoenui to join the pet lamb ranks here at Struan Farm. Fergie has mixed easily with Bubbles, Ajax, Bambi and Diva, settling well into the group. She's on the same bottle plan as Diva, so that works well for me too.

She looks rather like a young Rosie to me! (See what you think from the photo below, of Rosie and Pip.) We can only hope Fergie has the personality to match the reigning Queen of the mob.

Our Gang

Meet Struan Farm's own "Little Rascals," the pet lambs such as they are at the moment. Bubbles, Ajax, Bambi and Diva. The situation could change at any time with new additions, I'm standing by and haven't yet reached "capacity." Predictably the next one comes along just after everyone has settled down after the most recent addition, and once everyone is aligned on the same feeding amounts/schedules.

While I don't play favourites, and their personalities aren't obvious just yet, I find myself loving "Bambi's" cute brown face and sensitive little baas as she waits her turn for the bottle.

At this point I'm having a hard time telling the two remaining triplets, Bubbles and Ajax, apart. Except at bottle times, when Bubbles sucks it straight down while Ajax fiddle faddles around. (Obviously I could also tell but lifting them up.) I'll sort out their distinguishing characteristics and personalities in due course, too much is going on for that right now.

And despite her diminutive status, Diva remains quite vocal and feisty. She hasn't managed to wedge herself into the Pet Palace with the other three just yet, but I give her another day to settle in.

More stories and photos to follow. As you will know, this now goes on pretty much through Christmas!

 

Recycling Troughs

This is one of those "Karen projects" that John and Mike groan about behind my back here at Struan Farm.

"We've" decided to deploy two unused concrete troughs that have been sitting around the farm up to the backyard veggie garden. They'll go on either side of a round trough that I've been planting herbs in. Right now I'm thinking I'll use them for my edible flowers: nasturtium, viola, cornflower, borage and calendula. The colours should look good beside the veggies and the troughs may help contain what otherwise gets somewhat out of control visually during the summer peak. At least that's the concept. And two troughs will retain the symmetry of the layout.

The first one was "relatively easy" for Mike to get onto a trailer and bring up to the backyard with the tractor. "Relatively easy" being a relative term. These are seriously heavy things.

Trough number two was a bit more challenging. It was in the tawa grove down beside the fence, covered with moss and grass. Mike and John ended up pulling it up with the tractor until they could get it onto a trailer. There was some concern that it might break apart, but fortunately it didn't.

Trough number one is now in place, with metal/gravel underneath and concrete posts edging the front. There are drainage holes already drilled in this one, so next comes soil.

A number of established rosemary bushes had to be dug out before the second site could be prepped and trough number two moved into place, but that's happening now. Watch this space!

 

Let the Veggie Gardening Begin

This past week I got cracking in the glasshouse here at Struan Farm and planted out seed trays of heirloom tomatoes, along with chiles, apple cucumber, Musquee de Provence pumpkin, Black Coral and Florence Ribbed zucchini and Chieftain butternut squash. It's a bit early yet for basil and parsley, but they're standing by. These are just the veggies that I start early inside and plant out into the garden Labour Weekend in October, once the risk of frost is past. Some types of seeds do better being planted directly into the ground (beans, lettuces/mesclun, corn to name a few).

On the tomato front I've planted trays of "Oxheart," "Black Oxheart," "Black Cherry," "Black from Tula," "Big Red" (a Struan Farm heirloom, seeds I've saved from last season), "Purple Cherokee," and "Marmande." Coincidentally, later that day I received a nice note from "Mr. V," my tomato mentor from Dargaville, and the person who got me started saving heirloom tomato seeds. Enclosed was a packet of purple heirloom tomatoes he grew to major acclaim last year. So of course those went into another seed tray asap. I'm thinking I'm going to have just a few tomato plants and tomatoes to share with the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand if all goes according to plan.

It was also sunny and dry enough to get the raised concrete troughs dug up and fertilised. This is where we plant a fair portion of our veggies, although my veggie beds elsewhere do seem to be expanding....In one trough I've planted out a fresh batch of coriander seed, spring onion, and two types of radishes. Don't think it's too early for these, they should germinate and grow.

The rest will have to wait. You will know patience isn't my strong suit! Maybe I should plant some trays of flower seeds next to bide my time....

A Triple Threat

Late Monday afternoon I got a call from the neighbour. They'd pulled triplet lambs out of a ewe that hadn't survived. Would I take the wee ewe lamb and two huge ram lambs on to bottle feed as pets? You will know my response: OF COURSE. I rode over to their rescue with a big box, blanket and bottles of colostrum.

They were muddy, wet, cold and in shock. They'd been sitting on the floor of the quad bike for over an hour. I got them back to Struan Farm and John and I cracked into action. While getting some colostrum into them is important, it's far more critical to get them dry and warm. We brought them inside by the roaring fire on blankets and towels. By the end of the evening the ewe lamb had drunk a bottle and was looking like she would survive, while the two ram lambs looks a bit more questionable. One more than the other. 

When we went to bed we put the ewe and one ram outside in the garage with a blanket, and kept the one that looked like he was dying inside in a big box with a blanket by the fire so that he would stay warm. 

Guess what? Good news. The next morning I was awakened by baa-ing. It was coming both from the box and the garage. Everyone had survived, phew! They guzzled down bottles and things were looking good. After a second morning bottle everyone was shipped out to the Pet Pen in the backyard to settle in. 

Meet "Bubbles," "Elvis" and "Ajax." Bubbles, the ewe lamb, has commandeered the Pet Palace. I'm getting Mike to put up a tarp over one side of the Pet Pen today to provide a bit more shelter, although there are the seat and the trees.

More stories and photos to follow no doubt, along with many bottles!

An On Time Arrival

Hooray! The first lamb arrived on the scene yesterday here at Struan Farm, right on the day Farmer John said it would. It doesn't always happen that way, sometimes they're early or late. But it's good news that the ewes are starting to lamb.

Now this lamb is part of the mob, not a pet. I'll have to bide my time to see if I will have any abandoned lambs to look after this season. The bag of powdered milk is sitting on the garage doorstep and the bottles are ready too, just in case. Things tend to move quickly when they happen. And of course you'll be the first to know.

 

Out to Lunch

Over the weekend John and I travelled down the Mangaotaki Valley to have lunch with Mark Verry, a friend of John's from Piopio Primary School days, and his wife Suzie. We hadn't been to their farm before, so after lunch went out on a drive and walk to take in the amazing views.

There are some pretty incredible landscapes in our part of the world, aren't there?

While the massive limestone cliffs along Haku Road are quite spectacular, the cloudy, white sky didn't lend itself to good photos. But features like that above ran for some distance. They're similar to what visitors see at Hairy Feet Waitomo.

Bottom line: we need to get out for lunch more often!

Understanding Mob Mentality

I was interested to read awhile ago that a group of butterflies is called a "kaleidoscope." Rather good mental imagery, don't you think? Then when I was writing about feral turkeys descending on the orchard area here at Struan Farm I learned that a group of turkeys is called a "rafter."

There are quite a few interesting terms that can be used in lieu of "mob," "bunch," "group," or "flock." Here are some that apply to different types of birds:

• An "exaltation" of larks
• A "charm" of finches
• A "deceit" of lapwings
• A "parliament" of owls
• A "dole" of doves
• A "descent" of woodpeckers
• An "unkindness" of ravens
• A "murder" of crows
• A "pitying" of turtledoves
• A "flamboyance" of flamingoes

You get the idea, but the list goes on. Many of these date back centuries and have fallen out of use. Good for crossword puzzles, "The Chase" and quiz nights, perhaps. By the way, the photograph above is one of nesting Elegant Terns taken by me at Bolsa Chica in Huntington Beach, California many years ago now. Despite searching, I haven't been able to find that there's a special name for a group of Elegant Terns, or even Terns. But they look rather like punk rockers, don't they?

Early Adopters

People who take up new things quickly are classed as "early adopters," those eager to be conversant with The Next Big Thing. It is estimated that those on the vanguard represent 14% of the population. They are the sort of people who have Alexa controlling their houses and lives, wear Apple watches, assume GPS is always right telling them where to go even when it's not, and hopefully then avoid crashing into us in their driverless cars as they try to figure out where they're going and how on earth they got lost. Maps are so yesterday, it's all apps today. 

I will tell you that I've discovered a few of them here at Struan Farm. Quite inadvertently. This past week we had a few days of warm, consistent sunshine. I was (almost) convinced spring had sprung, but then I don't think of myself as an early adopter.

The weather was such that I was able to start the big spring clean up of the gardens at the house, in fact couldn't avoid cracking into it. Weeding, trimming edges, spreading fertiliser, cutting back dead things. You get the picture: trailers piled high, happy Karen playing outside in the dirt and warm sun.

I was especially thrilled when I came across these near the pergola:

The first tulips of the season, hooray! They are a bit premature, none are blooming anywhere else on the property. The warmth of the concrete and paving stones around and underneath the pergola has seduced them perhaps. But a sign of good things to come.

Calling Little Miss Muffet

Yes, I know that Little Miss Muffet sitting on her tuffet would have been eating cheese curds with her whey. But if I were her I'd prefer my "Lemonade & Lime Curd." That might also have kept the spiders away, who knows?

With the citrus bounty raining down on Piopio's "Community Fruit & Veg Stand" I snagged some lemonades and took them home to Struan Farm. I hadn't really tasted them before and wanted to experiment. Wish I'd taken more to make a lemonade curd, since the juice was beautifully sweet but still quite tangy. Instead I made a quick batch of curd using Annabel Langbein's Free Range Cook recipe and mixing lemonade and lime juice to get to the quantity of juice required. The juice, caster sugar, zest and cubed butter are put in a heat proof bowl on the stove over a pot of boiling water. Once the butter melts the eggs are added and the stirring with a wooden spoon begins. The only thing to remember is not to boil it and keep stirring. Once the curd thickens and coats the spoon the mixture is stained and poured into hot, sterilised jars. It's kept in the fridge so I don't worry too much about whether it seals or not.

 

One pot is going to the people who I think dropped off the first bag of lemonades (Snow and June was that you?), another to the manager of the Mustard Seed Op Shop who was kind enough to give our Community Fruit & Veg Stand the okay to set up outside. And p.s. I've just bought a dwarf lemonade tree so we can grow our own here at Struan Farm.

Letting Sleeping Dogs Lie

I drove up our driveway a few days ago here at Struan Farm to find a large group of feral turkeys grazing around the orchard area, metres away from Clifford's dog house. Technically a group of turkeys is called a "rafter," but that's a topic for another blog post. The turkeys were gobbling away and getting closer to where the dog was tied up, napping away. 

All I could think of was Clifford vs. The Turkeys Round 3. That blowing out his back leg for the third time might actually kill him at 14+ years. He's been on doggie aspirin since the first two turkey chasing-induced injuries and is just starting to walk more normally on that back leg. It would be so like Clifford to go up to doggie heaven in a blaze of glory, chasing turkeys one last time.

The fact that he's pretty hard of hearing played to my advantage. I pulled the car into the garage and snuck around behind the workshop without waking him up. I then chased the turkeys up into the air whooping and waving my arms like a mad woman. I'd hoped they would fly across the road to the neighbour, but instead they flew up (quite high for turkeys in fact) and landed over by the pond and QEII bush reserve. Far enough away so Clifford couldn't see them. I'd done my job on the turkey front well.

I then went over to the sleeping dog. Clifford hadn't stirred at all. To be honest, John and I talk about the fact that one day he won't wake up when we go to get him, and I was a bit worried that this might be the day. I couldn't believe he hadn't woken up with all the noise: car, garage door, turkeys, Karen. I stuck my head into his house and softly said his name.

One sleepy eye opened then the other, phew! Maybe he'd heard the chaos but thought he was dreaming?

 

As you can see life is not dull here at Struan Farm. This is the sort of thing I get up to when I'm not gardening or looking after John/the farmstay and the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand: shushing feral turkeys away from the dog.  Looking forward to pet lambs soon.

Lemons, Preserved

It's that time of the year when everyone has surplus citrus, lemons in particular. We've got three dwarf Meyer lemon trees laden here at Struan Farm at the moment. I've shared some with Piopio's "Community Fruit & Veg Stand," but I'm also using them myself. I go through a fair amount of lemons in cooking (zest and juice) and in my homemade vinaigrettes for salads.

This week I decided to make a jar of preserved lemons to put in the pantry. I found a recipe by Chef Peter Gordon that looked pretty good. Lemons are washed and cut in quarters, almost, then stuffed with coarse sea salt. The lemons are then pushed into a sterilised jar and 2 tablespoons of additional sea salt added before the jar is topped up with fresh lemon juice and sealed. It's meant to be left in a dark place for 45 days. Once opened the jar should be refrigerated, but preserved lemons keep for a long time.

Be warned: lemon curd may be next!

It's Lemon Time/Thyme

Yes it's lemon time here at Struan Farm. Also lemon thyme. Cake, that is. The lemons are ripening fast and furious, so I'm making use of them as well as giving heaps to Piopio's Community Fruit & Veg Stand.

I decided to make Nigel Slater's delicious "Lemon and Thyme Cake."  The cake is drizzled with lemon thyme syrup straight out of the oven, which makes it wonderfully moist. I've made this before and I'll make it again. I've also used lemon thyme to make the Lemon and Thyme Cake, since it's my favourite variety of thyme to grow in the gardens.

Nigel recommends serving thick slices with yogurt, which works for me. John would prefer cream, you know how that goes. 

Scenes from the Glasshouse

It's just about time for a major seasonal transition in the glasshouse here at Struan Farm. The flax seedlings will be placed outside to fend for themselves, and the big wooden planters I've been growing lettuce, spinach, kale and now rocket in over winter will be cleaned out and stowed away in the garden shed until next year. Tomato, vegetable and flower seeds are standing by to be called into action and the seed trays have been dusted off.

At the moment I've got a new crop of rocket/arugula coming up, along with Italian parsley and kale. The Santana spinach is on its third and final iteration, I cut it and let the plants regrow and regrow (and regrow). I recommend this particular Kings Seeds variety to you, it's been great for us over winter, especially for salads.

No one was enticed by my bags of baby kale at Piopio's "Community Fruit & Veg Stand," so we'll keep that for ourselves to use in wraps and salads. I even toss it into scrambled eggs with cherry tomatoes and feta, yum.

The wider community may prefer surplus spinach and rocket, I'll test those. I just need to figure out how to keep the greens fresh at the stand. Perhaps in water?

A Lament About Litter

Yes, I'm dragging out the soapbox, briefly. I was going to write about this a few weeks ago after John picked up a McDonald's bag full of vomit dumped at the end of our driveway here at Struan Farm. Revolting, appalling, disgusting really. 

I've held off until today, after returning from a collecting trip along our front roadside. The amount of drink bottles (glass and plastic, alcoholic and non-), used coffee cups, candy wrappers, chip bags, etc. tossed out from cars speeding by is staggering. Public rubbish bins are less than 10k away. I'm assuming that most of the rubbish comes from cars travelling north, but that may not be the case.

WHY, PEOPLE? WHY? Is it so hard to hold onto your rubbish until you get somewhere to dispose of it properly, rather than the beautiful, rural countryside? What adds insult to injury is that we have no kerbside pickup in our rural area, we actually take our rubbish and recycling by car into Piopio to dispose of it at the local dump. Including this.

Thanks for listening.