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Sigh. I'm yesterday's mum yet again here at Struan Farm.
Pet ram lamb Wilbur has just gone off with the family who adopted Rocky. After his car ride home he will join adopted brother Rocky in the family's pet paddock, where he too will go into training for Piopio School's annual Calf Club Day (ag day) in October. He's a lovely little lamb and I'm sure will win heaps of ribbons.
Behave yourself Wilbur! And now there are six.
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We're starting to see more obvious signs that spring is arriving cautiously at Struan Farm. While we won't be past the risk of frost until the end of October, the daffodils are up, the first tulips are bravely sticking their heads above the parapet, and the old magnolia tree inside our front entrance gate at the Homestead is starting to bloom.
The huge, beautiful pink flowers hearten me. That is until they start to rain down all over the lawn and drive!
And then of course there are lambs everywhere. Some are more cooperative than others about striking a pose.
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I was about to start to drive back from New Plymouth yesterday afternoon when a text arrived from nephew Mike, telling me that he'd seen a very weak ewe with two lambs on the track to the river here at Struan Farm, just past the pond. We got in touch with Farmer John, who usually prefers to intervene in this sort of situation rather than have the "B Team" on the job, however he was also otherwise occupied.
It was suggested that Karen check it out when she got home. And you know me, I'm not about to leave two little lambs at risk if I can help it, especially with an official authorisation. I ventured down with my newly cut hairdo and town clothes and scooped up two little lambs who were curled up next to their dying mum. I dropped them into the Pet Pen with Peaches and Fig, who weren't terribly excited by the new arrivals, and ran off to make up two bottles. So much for putting away the groceries. This is also why shoes and clothes I try to keep clean and tidy for town don't remain that way for long around the farm.
They aren't new new lambs, in fact are bigger than Peaches and Fig. They were quite hungry, and didn't seem bothered having to adjust to drinking from bottles rather than mum. They sucked down two 150 ml. bottles each before darkness. One is a ram, one is a ewe. The ram will go off to the Piopio family who adopted Rocky, they wanted a second lamb for another child for Piopio School's Calf Club Day, and I'd told them if another ram lamb landed they would get the call.
We're calling the ram either "Wilbur" or "Homer," I'll let his new "mum" decide between those, while the ewe lamb is called "Mamie." I'd recently read in an article that these old fashioned names were falling out of favour, but think they're rather good names for pet lambs. An old friend messaged me after seeing the article to say that her grandmother had been called "Mamie." So Tracy, here's to your grandmother!
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Yesterday I was excited to see that the rhododendron "Cornubia" we planted at the front entrance to our house here at Struan Farm, beside the stone gate under the redwoods, has started to flower this year for the first time. It's the same type of rhodo that's inside the front entrance to the Homestead. That one was planted by John's parents, and has been there for years (and years and years). It's huge and flowers a brilliant red.
I thought it would be nice to have a parallel universe on the rhodo front up at the new(ish) house entrance. But it's taken quite a few years for this first flower. It's quite dry under the redwoods, and the soil isn't that great. But I've been giving it special food and sending loving thoughts.
I'm sure it was those loving thoughts that did the trick! Rhodos pretend they're not sensitive, but they are.
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A few months ago I was contacted here at Struan Farm by a lady named Hester who lives in nearby Mahoenui. She'd heard that I was interested in trying to preserve heritage fruit trees in our area, and has a number of old fruit trees on her property. She was interested in seeing if I might be able to propagate them both to preserve the varieties and to share them with others. It was the wrong time of the year to take any scion wood for grafting then, but she told me that the old peach tree beside the house was most likely getting the chop, and that it would be good to see what I might be able to do right then and there.
It was a delicious white peach, and had been gifted to Hester's husband as a seedling tree from an original homestead site in Te Awamutu. She gave me some fruit to sample and to try growing a tree from the stones, although she told me emphatically that no one had ever been able to grow fruit from the stones. I also took some cuttings from the mother tree, hoping that I might get some of those to root. And I promised to return in winter to take scion wood of both the peach and a Golden Delicious apple that had some from a fellow named "Peter the Hermit" who had lived down the road many years now.
Well, good news! I've been able to get one of the stones I planted to grow, and several of the cuttings are now close to budding.
I've also got some scion wood taken in July from the tree to graft onto Golden Queen rootstock, but I've heard that's not easy, and am not optimistic about potential success on that score. So I'm relieved these other two methods seem to have worked, at least so far. May the Peach Gods continue to smile upon us.
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My life here at Struan Farm has pretty much been taken over the past week looking after pet lambs and managing John's "John Robertson for Mayor of Waitomo" Facebook page.
I'm not sure which of those things has been more challenging-- keeping wee things alive during that first critical day and on a feeding schedule, or coping with Facebook's security concerns that John is a Russian troll, plus figuring out how to get the page to work properly! He's still locked out, and may be happy about that. Fortunately for him I am not, and I was designated as the campaign page editor before he was locked out a second time. We've sent scanned passport and photo ID to try to get him back into FB's good graces, but it's a black hole. So I'm having to post what he wants to put on there on his behalf in addition to doing the photography. I'm wanting to set him up on Twitter so he can do something on his own, although he's not really a short and sharp kinda Twitter guy unlike "he who shall not be named;" he's much more considered. We'll give it a try and see how it goes. He prefers meeting people, knocking on doors and speaking to groups.
Back to lambs. John picked up two abandoned triplets in the paddocks on Friday. The first one, "Peaches," was loud and sassy, it was clear that she just needed a few feeds before heading to the Pet Pen to keep Rocky company. The second, "Fig," was very weak. She couldn't stand, and I reckoned her odds were 50/50 as we put her in a box with a blanket by the roaring fire. She did drink some, but was shivering and had a bit of a rasp in her lungs. A few hours and a few feeds later, her head popped up and then she stood in the box, directing me to put another log on the fire! To make sure she was okay we put her in the garage in her box overnight. I found her there the next morning, bright eyed and ready to head to the Pet Pen after a good bottle.
Rocky found his world rocked when these two little ewes showed up in his Pet Pen, but he adjusted quickly to new friends. His new family came to pick him up on Saturday afternoon, but in the meantime I made sure he got a bottle when the little ones did too. Didn't want him to feel he unloved and shortchanged. They all ended up cuddling together in the Pet Palace, which was quite cute.
You can't see him in the photo above, but he's curled up in the back of the Palace behind the other two!
And then there are the "Big Three," Buzz, Sugar and Spice. They are happily out in the paddock at the back gate. They haven't discovered that our bedroom window looks out on them just yet, we are trying to keep that our little secret for as long as we can. I'd like to avoid the 6:05 a.m. wake up calls for as long as possible!
Here's Buzz:
He's a lovely lamb, loves rubs and pats. He reminds me of Buster, another ram pet lambs a few years back.
Here's Spice:
I've taken to calling her "Spicy," because she's noisy, lively, and curious. She's the most likely to hop up in the air when running, enthusiastic about life in the paddock.
And then here's Sugar:
Sugar was one of the triplets with Spice, but she looks more like Buzz, oddly enough. Except that she has little white spots on her cheeks, and her ears are a soft brown. She guzzles her bottle the fastest but doesn't have the personality of the other two. She may be a late bloomer.
Here's Rocky with his new mum, Rion. Yes, I'm now "yesterday's mum," at least for Rocky. I've promised to come to Piopio's annual "Calf Club" or "Ag" day in October to watch them win all the ribbons. No pressure, but let the training begin!
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Yesterday mornings new lambs started to arrive on the scene here at Struan Farm, in numbers. Farmer John told me the ewes were waiting for heavy rain and gale force winds to deliver their lambs, and it seems that he was dead right.
The best news so far is that former pet lamb and resident diva Rosie had twins! This is her third set of twin lambs. I haven't gotten close enough to know if they are ewe or ram lambs just yet, but she brought them up into the paddock near the house to show them off to me.
We're family.
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It was a big day this week for pet lambs Buzz, Sugar and Spice. They left the relatively safe confines of the Pet Pen in the backyard for the paddock at the back gate here at Struan Farm. I am always a bit apprehensive about moving pet lambs out onto the wider farm prematurely, prefering to leave it until they are ready to jump out by themselves, while John thinks they need to be out running around as soon as possible, kicking up their heels/hooves.
The decision was made to have them move into the paddock on a sunny day, when we were both around to find them if they wandered too far away. Also before any new pets arrived on the scene to complicate the feeding schedule. I'll keep you posted on any new arrivals.
These little darlings are fine. They took to drinking bottles out of John's homemade feeder straight away, found the lamb lean-to next to the fence shortly thereafter, and cuddle up along the fence to bask in the sun. And they haven't gone wandering too far away or starting baa-ing beneath our bedroom window for bottles just yet. I'm sure they'll wait to do both of those things until John is away and it's pouring rain, just to play games with Karen!
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Brother-in-law Scott arrived to spend the night with us at Struan Farm over the weekend, he was in New Zealand briefly for a flying visit from Canada.
For dinner I slow roasted a lamb forequarter rubbed with olive oil, chopped anchovies, rosemary and lemon zest (six-seven hours in a low temperature oven, sealed in foil), and served it with broccoli rubble farro salad. For dessert I dug a panettone out of the freezer and made bread pudding, slathering the bread with butter and some of my Syrian Seven Spice Damson jam before soaking it in the custard then baking.
It was delicious, but I'm thinking I might have created a clash of cultures using Italian bread with Syrian spices? In some foodies circles they just call that "fusion" and move on, so let's do that, it works for me.
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The weather has been such here at Struan Farm that I'm taking things to the garage, once again.
This time it's about getting the growing trays of tomato seeds organised and into the glasshouse for germinating. Varieties this year will be "Big Red Heirloom," basically seeds I've saved from last season's fruit that I don't identify properly, "Oxheart," "Black Oxheart," "Cherokee Purple," my discovery from last season and now a favourite, "Black Cherry," back by popular demand from the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand community, "Black of Tula," and three small packets of seeds given to me by a recent farmstay guest from the Heritage Food Crops Research Trust in Wanganui: "Moonglow," "Mini Orange," and "Tangella." Oops, almost forgot about "Vintage Brandywine," seeds I saved from rather beautiful striped heirloom tomatoes I purchased last summer at the Clevedon Farmers Market.
In checking out this Trust's website, its work is focused on researching the medicinal properties of fruit and vegetables, like Monty's Surprise apples and certain tomato varieties, just my sort of thing. I'll explore their work a bit further when time permits. While I'd intended to be more selective this year in terms of the varieties I was going to grow, to take a more "curated" approach (note the "word du jour"), this lovely gift has pushed me back over the tomato cliff. (Thanks Lisa!) Last year I grew eight different varieties, this year it looks to be ten. I've stocked up on wooden sticks and tape for the label maker to keep track once again-- it's all on.
Tomatoes don't go to waste in our house and community, so I'm not fussed, rather intrigued to learn more about the purported medicinal benefits of these three special varieties I've been given.
I managed to get everything planted out in seed trays and installed in the glasshouse, except for about eight trays of "Big Red Heirlooms," since I'm needing more bags of seed raising mix to get those done and dusted.
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Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and some of the pregnant ewes decided it was time for new lambs to arrive here at Struan Farm. John saw the first set of triplets as well as twins down at the river, and then shortly thereafter I saw twins out on the point from our house. It was the best possible day for them to be born, warm and sunny.
Now it's about keeping an eye out for any problem situations on lambing beats in the morning and late afternoon. Hooray!
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It's pretty much joy and happiness out back in the Pet Pen here at Struan Farm right now. Buzz, Sugar and Spice have settled into the Pen and bonded as a trio. They nap nestled in the Pet Palace, and have lovely personalities, at least so far. I'm not sure they know their names just yet, but they recognise my voice and like a good post-bottle cuddle.
Once the main lambing season gets underway and new pet lambs land (if they do), these will be moved into the paddock at the back gate. It's easier to feed different aged lambs separately, I've learned this the hard way. These are now on four bottles per day vs. six initially. At the end of August they go to three feeds per day, a regimen that lasts until weaning in December. Yep, feeding lambs three times a day for three months.
Pet lambs, the little darlings, are a major commitment. But they are worth it. I'm already worrying about my obvious attachment to Buzz, knowing all too well that real tears will be shed.
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I'm behind in my Struan Farm blog posts this week, I admit. We've had two lots of unexpected farmstay guests (this winter has been unusually busy), plus John has decided to run for Mayor of our local district, Waitomo. I won't get into his reasons why here, most people who've read this letters to the local Waitomo News should know that already. Plus he can set up his own social media page on FB to make his case to ratepayers. We'll see how he gets on with selfies!
As a result things this week have been a bit busy with us, busier than normal. So I thought I'd share a photo of this beautiful hellebore I just found out in the garden. I was prowling around with scissors in hand, looking for something to pop into a lovely glass bottle someone left at the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand to put back out in the stand to share.
Hellebores are delicate and shy. They droop and hide their faces, you need to go search them out. I hadn't remembered planting one quite this special in the new gardens at the house, but am glad I did.
Now to make time for tomatoes, off to dig out packets of seeds after making some room in the glasshouse. I'm meant to be keeping life generally on the rails, wish me luck.
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We've been having quite a bit of rain in Piopio and here at Struan Farm over the past 2-3 weeks. So much so that I haven't been able to get out and work on the seasonal clean up of the gardens at all. If the sun was shining briefly it's been simply too mucky to weed or rake leaves.
It is about time to start trays of tomato seeds in the glasshouse, however. But before I can do that I need to pot up some of the hundreds of flax seedings I started for John and get those out to his native nursery, freeing up room in the glasshouse.
In the interest of getting the show on the road I've set up the potting table in the garage. I can ferry both trays of the seedlings and soil in buckets in and work away protected from the rain. We've got heaps of recycled pots in the "Pot Palace" that have been collected from the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand and our local dump to use for this purpose.
John gathered seeds from four different types of large flax varieties growing around the farm. Big green, green and white striped, and bronze flaxes growing beside the pond, also a green one growing along the Mangaotaki River that looks quite different to the others. This will allow for a good mix. I think when grown these are destined for the ponds down by the river, also along the stream we have fenced off from stock. John is still threatening to make a new pond below the house, near where we took out the macrocarpas. He has yet to get his landscaping sorted for that area, although he did plant out Beth's white oak and purchased a golden elm for the outlook. I'm not generally allowed to meddle into tree territory unless they are fruit trees, where I have a special, negotiated exemption. Just a few balls in the air around the place, as always!
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Now is about the time to starting "chitting" seed potatoes for planting out in spring. "Chitting" is a process whereby seed potatoes are put into a box or tray and covered to protect them from light so they can start to sprout (I use newspaper). The idea is to get them started before planting out once the risk of frost is past.
Right now I've got "Kowiniwini" Maori potatoes and "Purple Heart" chitting in the garage here at Struan Farm. I've just ordered a few more varieties, "Rocket," an early variety we grew last year, "Ilam Hardy," early-mid season, and "Agria," which is what they call a main crop. The latter are left in the ground and pulled up for winter storage, I've grown them many times.
After watching the uptake of potatoes from the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand last year, I've decided we should probably plant more. According to "Blue Zones," the group that researches communities that live the longest around the world, we all should be eating more potatoes and beans, as well as drinking coffee and tea!
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This weekend we received NZ Bulb's 2019 Summer Catalog, offering a beautiful array of seasonal flowers: lilies, sweet peas, begonias, gladioli, zantedeschia (calla lilies), and dahlias. What interested me most were the dahlias. I came across two varieties we've had growing in the Homestead gardens here at Struan Farm for years and years (and years).
One is called "Cactus Yellow Star," the other "Cactus Colour Spectacle." The latter is a striking orange, one of my favourite flowers around the place and certainly my favourite dahlia. The yellow one was my father-in-law's favourite flower. (Long standing blog readers will remember I have a somewhat love/hate relationship with dahlias, I'm not keen about their tendency to swoon over in the gardens. But John's parents loved them and we continue to have them in the gardens as a result.)
It was good to learn the names of these dahlias, which are designated "heirloom" in my mind since they date back to John's parents. Also that this spiky type of dahlia is called a "cactus." Other types are "single" and "Collerette," which have a collar.
It's nice to have these pops of brilliant colour in winter, isn't it?
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We've been busy feeding rescued pet lambs the past few days here at Struan Farm. It's always good to get them through the first two-four days, when they are fed six times each day. Feedings then drop to four times each day while the amount in the bottles is increased to a certain point.
Basically the situation requires the lambs, Karen, John, and sometimes nephew Mike as backup, to get into a routine. I should also add that this is not Clifford's favourite time of the year, he feels unloved and neglected as attention shifts to a pen of small baaing critters in the backyard.
It's still very early, but we have three pet lambs courtesy of the neighbouring farm so far: Buzz, whom you've met, "Sugar," and "Spice." Unfortunately their sister died on her first night with us. The triplets had been pulled out their mum by the shepherds after the ewe had what is called a "bearing," basically a premature birth. The lambs suffer quite a bit of trauma from all that, so our efforts that first night involve getting them warm and dry and fed asap. The third lamb was the smallest and never really drank much. She also had a raspy cough, so must have had lung problems. In situations like that we try to make weak lambs as comfortable and warm as possible (in this case on blankets inside by the fire), hoping they might recover from the shock and drink once warmed up. John talks about his mum putting cold, wet newborn lambs in the oven to revive them, but we haven't tried that. Sadly this little one died by the warm fire overnight.
But the good news is that Sugar and Spice are cuties. Personalities are already emerging: Spice is a bit noisy, Sugar is gentler and more reserved. They have moved into the Pet Palace. Buzz is adjusting to having new friends. We had farmstay guests staying in the Cottage this past weekend, including two young girls who loved sitting in the Pet Pen petting and playing with the lambs, also helping to feed them. This was fantastic from my perspective, since touch and human contact definitely help socialise them.
Stay tuned. Our lambing date is August 20, the farm next door was August 23, but they're coming now it seems whether expected or not. More pet lambs and stories to come!
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Meet "Buzz," our first pet lamb of the 2019 lambing season here at Struan Farm. He's been named after Astronaut "Buzz" Aldrin, to honour the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 landing on the moon.
Our little Buzz came from the neighbouring farm. His mum and sibling twin died after an unfortunate event that is called a "bearing," which happens sometimes to pregnant ewes. I got the call and flew next door with a bottle of colostrum and wool blanket in a box. He perked up appreciably after several feeds, a warming session by the fire at our house, and first night in the garage. He is now out in the Pet Pen in our backyard, calling the Pet Palace "home."
Buzz is already drinking his bottles through the fence of the pen and baaing when he hears me call. So yes, the eagle has landed. That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for lamb-kind!
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Two days ago I got a call from an elderly lady in Piopio, telling me of a friend in nearby Te Kuiti with a number of citrus trees "dripping with fruit." The message was for me to ring her if I was keen to go pick surplus fruit for the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand. I made contact with the lady and arranged to go to her home to pick fruit yesterday.
I found an established citrus orchard of six trees: lemons, tangelos and mandarins. They were planted circa 1980 in a protected area near the garage and house. The amount of fruit on the trees was staggering. Fruit on three of the trees wasn't quite ready to be picked, so she's invited me back to get more in the next few weeks. I was glad that I'd brought plenty of bags and boxes with me, as well as my extendable fruit picker!
I returned home with boxes and bags of fruit to put out at the community stand. I was too wet and muddy to join her for a cup of tea, but she also gave me her handwritten lemonade recipe with some of the ingredients. She reminds me so much of John's late mum Rosemary that I almost got a bit teary!
Can I just say that some days you know why you do certain things?
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I've found myself getting increasingly passionate about working to make sure surplus homegrown fruit and vegetables get put to use. I guess it all started with setting up Piopio's Community Fruit & Veg Stand and being part of this initiative around the country. Seeing what people are happy to share with others, what people are happy to take, and also what might otherwise go to waste.
This year I've gone on a bit of a crusade in the wider area about citrus fruit seen dripping from trees in yards. I've put the word out via social media and our local paper to people who have surplus to take it somewhere where it can be used and enjoyed! This week I found myself jumping into the deep end of the pool: I knocked on a few doors in nearby Te Awamutu and Kihikihi where I noticed trees in yards with fruit dropped on the ground, and asked if I might pick a bag of tangelos or oranges to share with our community. Two houses didn't answer, but three said yes! I met a lovely man named Gary in Kihikihi whose front yard consists of three citrus trees I've been eyeing for some time. And of course I didn't go overboard, leaving quite a bit on the trees for the residents and others.
So yesterday I came home from my errands with three bags of beautiful fruit for the stand. I also stopped by the Te Awamutu Courier offices and asked them to put the word out to residents with surplus citrus to take it somewhere, anywhere to be put to use: the local Sharing Shed or Community Stand, food bank, nursing home or elder housing. I also offered to help pick it or find someone else who could if someone wasn't able to do so.
I'm thinking I need to keep going with this. It feels like the right thing to do.
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