Struan Farm

Oh Dear, It Didn't Wobble

Fans of MasterChef Australia will know what I'm talking about immediately: panna cotta.

I made my first panna cotta over the weekend, using a new Fresh As plum panna cotta mix. Let me say up front that I didn't have the proper dariole moulds required, I used oiled ramekins instead.

The mix is tipped into a pot with cream and milk and heated until lukewarm, then poured into the moulds and chilled overnight.

The chilled panna cotta came out of the ramekins, eventually. Once they were inverted and banged repeatedly. But my big problem was that while they tasted great, they didn't wobble! In panna cotta terms this means they weren't quite right.

 

Let Karen's panna cotta challenge begin. I'll order proper moulds and try to make them from scratch. Stay tuned.

Forget-Me-Knots, Forgiven

John had a good laugh. I sent him down to gather a bunch of forget-me-knots from the wooded garden at the Homestead here at Struan Farm to decorate a Lemon Syrup Cake with Elderflower Mascarpone Icing I made over the weekend.

I've recently discovered that forget-me-knots are edible flowers, which moves them out of the realm of weeds to be ripped out and into the realm of flowers that I want around to some extent. I'm fickle, I know!

Yesterday's Mum

John and I travelled down to New Plymouth from Struan Farm over the weekend to visit a few of the gardens open for the annual Powerco Garden Festival.

We also called in to his sister's for a flying catch up and brief visit with our former pet lamb Bubbles. This is one of the abandoned lambs John "whanau-ed out" when our pet lamb numbers this year reached his (arbitrary) limit.

I hadn't seen Bubbles since I dropped her off, but she is fat and happy. Life in Taranaki clearly agrees with her. She has a private paddock right at the front, where she gets heaps of attention from visitors.

"Yesterday's mum" barely got a glance!

 

Happenings at the Hut

John and I took a trip down to Jim's Hut at the river here at Struan Farm to do a quick tidy up a few days ago. The contractors working on goat control in the area spent a few nights down there and we hadn't had the time to check it and do our usual clean up after they departed. The good news is that everything was immaculate, making the job much easier.

It seems the sheep enjoy hanging out on and around the front deck of the Hut admiring the view as much as guests do!

We'd had reports of a swallow's nest around the outdoor solar heated shower, so went to sort that out. We found both the nest and bird poop all over the shower area, so unfortunately the nest had to be removed.

It was a beautiful little nest, very well constructed. Not sure mum is going to be happy when she returns to find it sitting outside on a post rather than in the protected little niche where she'd built it. Oh well! Now to get on to the clean up.

 

Welcoming Wisteria

This spring the wisteria growing over the pergola at the Homestead here at Struan Farm looks quite lovely. It seems to have discussed the situation with Madame Leonie, who is also growing and blooming away on her respective end of the pergola. They're putting on a good show.

Wisteria symbolises "welcome," a good thing to have blooming not too far from our entrance gate.

You may remember our wisteria woes a few years ago, when we lost another relatively mature white wisteria on the opposite corner of the pergola. It just up and died without explanation. This is normally a plant that you can't kill when you want to. I pointed a few fingers at the man who sometimes sprays on windy days, but he played innocent.

So I take nothing for granted with wisteria, just enjoy it when I can.

The Neglected Garden

Last year at Struan Farm I planted out our granddaughter's New World "Little Garden" vegetable plants in the raised bed at the Homestead. The bed has good soil, but I hardly ever get down there to water. I'm lucky if it's once a week vs. morning and night for our veggie gardens up at the house.

But I discovered that both butternut squash, which I'd never grown before, and zucchini flourished from neglect.  They seem to prefer it dry. So I decided to try the same regimen this year, planting out some spare zucchini plants, Musquee de Provence pumpkin, apple cucumber and Chieftain butternut squash in the raised bed. They're free to go wild and grow out into Hydrangea Hill if they'd like.

Stay tuned on this one. Last year may have been a fluke.

Historic Relics, Yet Again

This is the sort of thing that happens when John goes out to dig potato bed #2 at Struan Farm:

Heaven knows how or why these antique "screw pickets" ended up buried at the back gate behind the tractor shed, but these things do happen around the place more often than not. Recently I uncovered a brick garden edge underground just as we were planning to make one in the very same garden.

This discovery prompted homework on my part. John knew they had been used in WW2 at least. With some research I was able to find out that they were introduced circa 1915 and became known by the British Army in WW1 as "corkscrew pickets." They were positioned as supports for barbed wire defences, and were able to be installed quickly and silently. The French called them "queue de cochon," or pig's tail. Find out a bit more here.

What remains unanswered is how Maurie got his hands on some to use around the farm after WW2. I'm asking around the family to see if anyone remembers. John wants to invent a story that they were found near the Home Guard trenches on the farm. My view is that we've got enough stories to tell about Struan Farm without having to make them up!

Let the Summer Veggie Season Begin!

This long Labour Holiday weekend signalled the beginning of the summer vegetable season, happy days. I spent quite a bit of time out planting here at Struan Farm. The weather is now meant to be warm enough for beans, corn, lettuce/mesclun, potatoes, zucchini, cucumber, pumpkin, butternut squash, and chile plants and/or seeds to go in, and they did. I decided to wait a few days on the tomato plants to play it absolutely safe, and will continue to grow the basil seedlings in the glasshouse since it's not nearly warm enough for basil outside here just yet. I've already got peas, radishes, edible flowers, garlic, shallots, carrots, spinach, coriander and parsley in and starting to grow. The dill seeds I tossed in have also just germinated.

Here's one of our two potato patches. I've planted early season "Rocket" spuds here, will put "Agria" and the purple potatoes from the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand in our other spot.

So it's all on in veggie world, hooray! I've celebrated with a few new signs. As you know, we love our signs at Struan Farm...

Poppies Popping

Our heirloom poppies are starting to flower here at Struan Farm. John's mum always had them through the garden and now I've got some up in the gardens at the newish house too. It's nice to see the bright pops of pink, they self seed everywhere and I also toss saved seeds around the beds. Plus the bees love them!

Piopio Calf Club Day 2018

Piopio School held its annual "Calf Club Day" yesterday, without calves this year due to the Mycoplasma Bovis issue infecting some dairy cows around the country. This is an annual event at most schools around New Zealand, some call it "Ag Day," others "Pet Day." But regardless of what it's called it happens and it's major fun for most if not all involved.

In Piopio for me it's about celebrating kids and lambs in the rural context, although there was an increased number of pet goats this year too. While it's pretty easy to see who has been recruited at the eleventh hour for the event, bonds of friendship and care are pretty obvious as well.

 

Kids and pets are put through their paces, leading, calling, discussions between kids and judges about how the animal is cared for, etc. etc. Ribbons are won. Some take it more seriously than others, but it's a great community and school event.

Pets on Patrol

The two different mobs of pet lambs are starting to roam further from their respective home bases here at Struan Farm, at least during the day. Sometimes they don't show up for lunch on time, despite my lilting calls, and bottles are being stored in the fridge until they appear belatedly and start howling at their gates. This development does interrupt my weeding regimen somewhat, just so you know.

John and I ran into the main mob of five (Bambi, Diva, Whiskey, Fergie and Camilla) wandering down on the edges of the river paddock a few days ago. I don't want them learning to hop over the cattle stops, that creates all sorts of issues for both them and us. But they're clearly curious, and generally travel as a pack.

They also haven't figured out that we travel in vehicles just yet, which means we can be incognito and not chased. But they have sussed out the bedroom, and watch for me through the windows. Lambs are more intelligent than most people think!

The "Before" Picture

I'm showing you this "before" picture to put "during" and "after" into context when it happens.

These are the macrocarpa trees at the bottom of the bowl below our house at Struan Farm. They were planted by John's father Maurie along the Old Road, to be harvested for timber many years ago now. But they've grown rapidly since we built our house, obscuring our view to the hills beyond entirely and closing us in. We considered taking out a few trees at a time but have decided instead they will come out en masse after discussion with the experts.

A local with a mobile mill is coming in the next few weeks to take them down and mill them on site. We will use some of the timber to build a new tractor shed, and the fellow involved will keep or sell the rest. New fencing will be done and the area right behind the macrocarpas will be cleaned up and new feature trees planted. There are some interesting limestone rocks that will become visible from the house, along with the hills beyond. Possibly also the Mangaotaki River. Rest assured, new special trees will be planted and landscaping done.  The macrocarpas were planted originally to be harvested, they are not old growth, native trees.

Yes, it's one of those "vision required" projects. Also one that will get messy, very messy, before all is done. Cleansing breaths, Karen!

Don't Waste Flowers Either

I always take the "leftover" flower arrangements after farmstay guests depart here at Struan Farm up to our house to salvage what I can for as long as I can. Although the issue du jour seems to be food waste (along with single use plastic) here in NZ, and reducing that, why waste flowers either? We usually enjoy them for another day or so before they've done their show and are into the compost bin.

So I was happy to catch the late afternoon light filtering through a vase of yellow tulips, an added bonus!

Going to Seed

A few weeks ago the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand received a generous donation of Benhorn carrot seed from Sentinels Group, a NZ based seed cooperative.

Over the past few months we also received very generous donations of surplus and/or expired seeds from Italian Seeds Pronto (Franchi seeds), McGregor's, Yates, and Mr. Fothergill's, some of which we shared with other Community Fruit and Veg Stands around NZ. The seed packets we put out in Piopio were all snapped up at the stand, pretty much on the day put out, so there will be heaps of veggies growing around greater Piopio this spring and summer as a result. Hopefully what goes around comes around, and some of those veggies will come back to the stand to be shared within our community.

I kept one of the packets from the Sentinels donation myself to test out growing the Benhorn carrots here at Struan Farm, and good news: they've germinated!

Can't wait to see what this NZ developed carrot variety looks and tastes like. I'll share them at the stand too. Obviously we've got a ways to go....The rest of the veggie garden gets planted out this upcoming weekend, hooray!
 

On Heeding Conventional Wisdom

I'm a contrarian by nature, but I do heed conventional wisdom about not planting out any frost tender veggies or tomatoes at Struan Farm until Labour Weekend, after which the risk of frost is thought to have passed. That's next weekend here in NZ.

I had been itching to plant given the recent warm weather, but resisted temptation. Mother Nature usually gives us one good blast of cold weather before it's all over to confirm who is in charge, and I know that. One doesn't challenge Mother Nature, you want her on your side.

And it's a good thing I held off, since there were relatively heavy frosts over the weekend.

The second night we covered the new lime, tangelo and lemonade (citrus) trees just to be safe. Hope all of those people who took tomato plants from the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand kept their plants protected too, or they'll be starting over.... Conventional wisdom is what it is for a reason!

A Jarring Experience

Recently I uncovered a stash of vintage Agee "Special" and Agee "Utility" jars in a cabinet in the Homestead here at Struan Farm. They belonged to John's mum, and are an old size, too large for jams and seemingly too small for fruit. John didn't remember her making relishes or pickles. I wondered what she used them for, so did a family survey.

Well it turns out she did make both pickles and tomato relish. And when the family at home was smaller she also used these for Golden Queen peaches, being the practical lady she was. I will probably use them most for flowers, but because rings and seals are still made for this size jar, I can also use them for those delicious spiced figs in brandy, or even preserved lemons.

As Spring Progresses

It's rather amazing to see what lurks around the Homestead gardens here at Struan Farm at different times of the year. Right now there are two beautiful rhododendrons blooming behind the old water tank. It's easy to see one from the Homestead, but the other is hidden, and it takes a walk around John's new and improved pathway to find it.

There's a sequence to things. First the camellias, then the rhodos, then the azaleas, with others joining the chorus as spring progresses.

Madame Leonie Makes Her Entrance

I was running around the Homestead gardens here at Struan Farm this week when I looked up and saw this:

Madame Leonie, making her annual entrance in the gardens, quite early!

This rose is actually called "Souvenir de Madame Leonie Vientot," also "The Dunny Rose," according to the Auckland Botanic Garden because it was often planted by settlers to disguise and perfume long drop toilets. She's a climber, and has been in the gardens at Struan Farm for years. But she was always known as "Roma's Rose," after family friend Roma Ronaldson. I grew this one from a cutting of a rose that was a cutting from the original here at the farm. 

Happy to see the roses starting to happen, the bees will be too.

 

Rest in Peace Ajax

You may recall that Struan Farm's pet lambs Ajax and Bubbles were "whanau-ed out" by John to one of his sisters after pet lamb numbers this year reached his arbitrary ceiling. I was charged with driving them south in John's improvised lamb coop, and making the delivery. We had reports and they settled in. Life here went on, as it does.

Unfortunately over the past week Ajax developed an abdominal infection. He was taken to the vet and treated with penicillin, but did not survive. Something similar happened to Whiskey a few weeks ago, he had an infection of his umbilical cord, but I caught it after he wouldn't drink his bottle, and with Farmer John's help and intervention Whiskey has survived to bunt and bully his adopted sisters at bottle times.

These things happen, but it doesn't make it any easier. Bubbles is the only surviving triplet of those muddy, wet creatures we had on the floor by the fire that night many weeks ago now. Elvis died shortly thereafter, he was never right. But Ajax had survived for quite some time and was frolicking in the paddocks and starting to eat grass.

 

Rest in peace Ajax. You were a good little guy. Bubbles will miss you especially.

 

Blossom Time, Continued

The plums, peaches and nectarine have finished flowering in the orchard areas here at Struan Farm, now it's time for the apples, quince, nashi and pear trees. Here's hoping for more quince and pears this year, we should be on a roll with the apple trees now although our Monty's Surprise and Peasgood Nonsuch trees did get fairly serious prunes during winter.

The bell shaped blossoms of the quince are my favourite, although I'm guessing that they make it a bit trickier for the bees.