Struan Farm

Potting up Parsley

My efforts in the glasshouse here at Struan Farm are transitioning at the moment from tomato seedlings, which I've been busy sharing with the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand, to Italian Parsley Gigante.

Last year I made the mistake perhaps of "over-parsleying" Piopio, and I might be heading in the same direction this season. I had huge clusters planted out in Veggie World as well that I cut parsley from until this past month, it managed to last through winter before finally going to seed.

Oh well, one can never have too much parsley walnut pesto, right?

Temptation by Tomato

They say Eve was tempted by the serpent to bite into the apple in the Garden of Eden, while Karen was tempted over coffee after reading about "Tomato Super Steakhouse" at Mitre10 Mega.

I couldn't believe I brought a tomato plant home to Struan Farm yesterday, after growing hundreds and hundreds (and hundreds) in the glasshouse here this spring. But I did. And I even confessed to John, who just rolled his eyes. I found myself intrigued by the prospect of growing 1 kg. fruit.

Even if I manage to tie and stake the plant properly to support tomatoes that size, I'm wondering how they'll taste. They could be a marketing ploy, freaks of hybridisation, and not meant to be. So this is an experiment to say the least.

p.s. Did you know that tomatoes were once called "love apples," and believed to be aphrodisiacs? We'll leave this blog post at that.

 

Wisteria Welcome

The wisteria growing over the "Perfect Pergola" down at the Homestead here at Struan Farm is in flower, and looks pretty amazing this year. Wisteria symbolises welcome, which is rather nice, isn't it?

And even the roses are starting to bloom, but that's another story.....

The Veggies Are In

Yes, I laboured Labour Weekend. Out in Veggie World here at Struan Farm. I managed to get beans, corn, peas, chiles, lettuce/mesclun, carrots, zucchini, squash, another round of coriander/cilantro, four types of potatoes and a number of varieties of heirloom tomatoes planted. Also topped up the troughs where I've planted out edible flower seeds (cornflowers, borage, viola, calendula and nasturtium).

It's my happy time! Now may Mother Nature smile upon us and encourage everything to grow.

Trip to the Wool Shed

A few days ago the lambs here at Struan Farm got their second instalment of injections against bad "stuff" from Farmer John. Of course this included my eight pet lambs: Buzz, Sugar, Spice, Chalk, Cheese, Fig, Peaches, and Pickle. Last time Farmer John travelled up to see them in their respective paddocks. This time Hubby John decided we should escort the pets down to the yard at the Wool Shed to make it easier for Farmer John.

Moving the pets out of their paddocks is always an interesting exercise, but Hubby John managed to get them down. I then did a royal tour to assure all the pets, both young and old, that everything would be fine. At a certain point they learn to distrust Farmer John, since he tends to do scary things to them like shearing, crutching, dosing. Sheep are smarter than you think, but then if you read this blog you will already know that.

Above you might be able to see that Bambi, one of last year's pets, decided to jump into the section of the yard with Buzz, Sugar and Spice. The Big Three had been pretty scared about leaving their home paddock in the first place, and this freaked them out a bit more. Bambi wasn't all that excited about them either. They eventually calmed down and munched some grass.

The Gang of Five are relatively at home around the Cottage and the Wool Shed, so thought being in the yards was rather fun!

Later in the day, once they were liberated from the yards, two of this group decided to waltz across the cattle stop into the Homestead gardens. This is not a good thing. Once they learn this art we have to be very careful about what paddocks we put them in. So they are now in the paddock behind the Cottage, which is without cattle stops. John and/or I are now travelling down to them with bottles, making it just a wee bit inconvenient for us to feed them. The trials and tribulations of pet lambs. But we love them!

The Stakes are High

At least the tomato stakes are here at Struan Farm.

I went to collect my wooden tomato stakes this past week from "my" garden shed, only to discover that they had been taken by someone. I suspected they might have been used for signs related to a recent political campaign, or to support some trees planted out around the property. (Yep, both it turns out.) I had purchased a decent stash of tall, heavy, wooden stakes last year to support my heirloom tomatoes properly.

While not confessing, the culprit employed nephew Mike to make me some new tomato stakes. The stakes are high, 2.1 metres. The job got done in record time, so I know the culprit was guilty as charged.

And people wonder why Karen gets grumpy. Tools, stakes, pots. Things get taken and not replaced, or don't get put back where they belong when they're taken. Grumpy, me?

A Great Pyramid, Perhaps

I had to laugh a few days ago seeing several lambs lounging around the pyramid shaped limestone rock down at the bottom of the "bowl" from our house here at Struan Farm.

This oddly shaped rock was uncovered by the digger when the macrocarpa trees were taken out last year and the associated rubble cleaned up. One wonders if it's a bit like an iceberg, and what lies beneath. It might be a substantial, interesting rock. Another great pyramid perhaps? Not sure we'll go there, but it could become a feature of some sort when time and landscaping focus permit.

In the meantime it will serve as a meeting point for the lambs. Lambs and limestone, alliteration works for me.

Spring Arrangements

We had a "wee gathering" over the weekend here at Struan Farm. Once the food was organised it was nice to get out in the gardens to put together some flowers for the table. And good news: the gardens have been weeded (almost). Sister-in-law Anna was here again and cracked in. Robertsons don't rest much, it's not in their DNA.

The lilac bush I planted a few years ago now is blooming for the first time, along with an early, old fashioned rose given to me by Kaipara friend Margaret.  There was even a snapdragon flowering! The purple sage bushes are coming out their ratty winter sleep and getting ready to flower. At the moment they have beautiful rose shaped clusters of leaves that worked well with the other purple/burgundy/pink colours the garden was presenting. The self seeding nigellas are fuzzy buds at this stage and provide nice texture.

When I go out to cut flowers it works best when the flowers arrange themselves. Several people were interested by "Calycanthus Hartlage Wine," small, magnolia-like burgundy flowers with an oriental aesthetic. I like it when knowledgeable gardeners find something of interest in the gardens, since I'm always looking for unusual flowers, shrubs and trees.

And so this season in the garden begins.

Veggie World Awakens

This upcoming weekend, Labour Weekend here in NZ, is when most people start planting out their summer veggie gardens. The risk of frost is past for most areas, generally, although last year we did have a bit of a fright with some late frosts right around this time. Some people jumped the gun and planted out tomatoes that they lost. It's hard to resist doing that, since often we have beautiful warm sunny weather before this weekend. But I've learned not to second guess Mother Nature, and bide my time until Labour Weekend. She often throws one final chilly blast at us to remind us who's in charge.

As you might expect we're kicking things off big time in the backyard here at Struan Farm, aka "Veggie World." My heirloom tomato seedlings are ready to be planted out, with a few hundred surplus plants to be shared with the community at the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand and a local food bank or two. I've also got Black Coral zucchini, two types of squash, and Musquee de Provence pumpkin seedlings germinated and ready for planting, along with Italian parsley. I will plant out lettuce, mesclun, beans, corn, peas, more edible flowers seeds, along with chitted seed potatoes this weekend as well.

This week it's all about prep. A few weeks ago compost was dumped on the troughs and gardens and spread, along with sheep pellets, blood & bone, and lime.  I give all the beds a good rake and think about what I'm planting where (I do rotate where I plant things each year to minimise disease and help the soil). I pulled up one section of broadbeans I'd planted over winter where I'm putting tomatoes this year, harvesting whatever beans were ready. The plants get tossed into one of our compost bins, they're a good source of nitrogen. I'm leaving the other row of broadbeans for another week or so before harvesting what's ready and planting out corn and pea seed. I enjoy the look of the tall flowering broadbeans along the fence, plus the bees love them too.

The garlic and shallots have been growing since June and are looking good. They get harvested and dried in December, around Christmas. My coriander is growing away, it prefers the cooler weather, and the purple radishes have grown well and are ready for pulling as/when. I've popped in some bergamot bee balms and different flowers for pollinators in the general area to help with pollination of the tomatoes, beans, squash, etc. Dill seeds are starting to sprout, I plant those for the delicate yellow flowers really, I love them! I've also left one huge Italian parsley plant to flower since I like the look of those flower heads too, although that huge seeding plant is soon to be dug out and replaced with a row of the season's fresh seedlings. We go through quite a bit of Italian parsley.

Nice to have some brilliant pops of colour from early cornflowers and calendula too, both of which are edible. Stay tuned, I'm into it.

Apple Blossom Time

The apple, quince and pear trees have now started to blossom in our orchard areas here at Struan Farm. Monty (Monty's Surprise) always seems to lead the way. Fortunately the kereru/wood pigeons don't seem to like those leaves, they prefer the plums and nectarines.

p.s. I'm starting to see little green plums appear on several of the plum trees, hooray. At least we'll get some plums this year despite those ravenous pigeons!

Panna Cotta, Part 2

We tested out another flavour of the "Fresh As" panna cotta mixes this week given how much John's enjoys them: "Tropical." Not much of a MasterChef wobble this time either, but these also tasted really good.

I jazzed this version up with some Chocolate Brown gold brushed dark chocolate stars and Valrhona dark chocolate pearls. The former I bought at Farro Fresh in Auckland, the latter at Vetro Taranaki. Suffice it to say I find my cooking "bling" when and where I can!

p.s. Fresh As makes a third flavour of the panna cotta mixes, raspberry, which wouldn't be a preferred choice for us. I like the Black Doris plum the best while John (as expected) prefers Tropical! I have yet to try making panna cotta from scratch, but that's in my future at some point.

The View, Continued

Sometimes there are days when I see the view from our house here at Struan Farm and just need to share it.

I remain fascinated with the changing light on and lines in the hills and trees, the sheer beauty of it all. Feel very fortunate to look out on all this here at Struan Farm!

Piopio's Next Top Model 2019

It's getting to be that time of the year. When Karen goes into the closet here at Struan Farm and digs out the reindeer antlers and other Christmas bits and pieces to try to coax the season's pet lambs to be cute and photogenic for our annual Christmas card shoot.

It's become a tradition over these past several years, and I rather enjoy it. But the weather delay in the shoot due to all the rains we've had may have had some impact on the degree of cooperation I received from my models. Typically the older they get the harder it gets. Although like most things there are some exceptions due to personalities.

There were two stars for 2019: Buzz and Peaches, with some limited willingness expressed by Spice and Chalk. The latter didn't result in terribly good photos, unfortunately. Sugar wouldn't come near me, and while Fig, Cheese, and Pickle were curious, they weren't wanting to feature. I do like to have more of a contest, so I may give it another go on another sunny day. Here's where we are so far:

At a certain point I've worn out my welcome, it's time for a rest, and I get that.

 

Afternoon Naps

We had a bit of sunshine today, so I decided to venture out with my camera and some Christmas things to see if I could get the pet lambs to cooperate with a photo shoot for our annual Struan Farm Christmas card.

That's another story for another day, but at a certain point they settle and accept me as one of them, at least when I'm not waiving reindeer antlers or wreaths at them. In the front paddock the "Gang of Five" tend to curl up against the fence, right near their "bottle gate." That way they know they're close to bottles when they magically appear.

I was sitting on the grass beside them. Sometimes one would come up to chew my hair or shirt. Eventually we all got a bit dozy. So I picked myself up and dottered back into the house, leaving them to rest.

 

Pigeons in the Plums

This is starting to get a bit serious. The kereru, our native wood pigeons, have taken quite a fancy to my plum and nectarine trees in the orchard here at Struan Farm. Last night I discovered four of them gorging on the tender young leaves. And while it's great for close up photography of these beautiful birds, it's not great for my fruit trees. The birds need to be discouraged. There's plenty of other food for them around the farm.

They seem to be coming in the early evening, late afternoon, so I will try to shoo them away from now on. I will. I want some plums this season!

A Plum Job

A few days ago I made a batch of Fresh As Black Doris Panna Cotta once again here at Struan Farm. The packet of mix is stirred with warmed milk and cream, poured into dariole moulds, then chilled overnight in the fridge. Planning ahead is important but otherwise it's very easy to make.

I'm not sure I achieved the official MasterChef "wobble," but that's okay, it was delicious. I prettied them up with white chocolate hearts purchased at Farro Fresh in Greenlane on my recent whirlwind visit to Auckland. The hearts are made by an artisanal chocolate company called "Chocolate Brown." I'm providing their link since it looks like you can order online. I also bought some beautiful dark chocolate stars brushed with gold, and white and dark chocolate curls/cigars at the same time. The sort of things one stockpiles in the pantry to pop spontaneously on the top of a cake, cupcakes, or in this instance, panna cotta.

And (of course) no plum panna cotta should be served without some warm, homemade Syrian 7 Spice damson jam, right?

John is thinking I need to make this one again!

There's a Spring in Our Step

Finally! Some sunshine and a full day in the gardens here at Struan Farm. I've got a long way to go, but I'm starting to make a visible dent here and there. I haven't conceded defeat and put the SOS out to sister-in-law Anna to come back just yet.

With the sun and warmth everything's starting to look and feel a bit better, myself included.

We'll get a few more blasts of cold weather and rain going sideways I'm sure, but this has helped.

Invasion of the Hoggets

John and I had a rather hilarious thing happen a few days ago when we were out feeding the "Gang of Five" pet lambs at the front gate here at Struan Farm. Last year's pet lambs, Jam and Jelly, Camilla and Fergie, and Bambi, who are now running around the farm with the mob, came barrelling up to the gate and the bottle feeder. They butted and pushed Peaches, Fig, Chalk and Cheese and Pickle out of the way to drink bottles of milk!

They must have been having a flashback to earlier days to say the least. John had to intervene, telling them they were big girls now, well past bottles. They are such big and fat hoggets that it took me a minute to recognise them and figure out what was happening. John moved them into the next paddock, and four of them (minus Bambi) decided to try the same tactic with Buzz, Sugar and Spice. Sugar was so shaken by the incident she almost didn't drink her bottle, she had to be coaxed to settle down.

Here's a photo of Jelly, who featured on the Struan Farm Christmas card last year, so you can see how much they grow and change in just one year:

I'd just given her some apple treats, and she seems to be looking back at me longingly, doesn't she? Once a pet lamb, always a pet lamb here at Struan Farm. Privileges apply, to a point.

Playing in the Dirt

You will know by now that I'm the kind of person who can't go for long without being outside in the garden here at Struan Farm, digging in the dirt. It grounds me, literally and figuratively.

Yesterday I was able to get back out to the glasshouse to pot up more seedling heirloom tomatoes. Hundreds and hundreds. I now have a good number of Cherokee Purple, Black Oxheart, Oxheart, Black Cherry, Black of Tula, and Big Red Heirlooms (saved seeds from last year) potted up. I've still got spares of each variety in seed trays as an insurance policy in case those I've potted up don't thrive. I've also started some trays of marigolds, sweet peas, and Italian parsley, along with pots of Black Coral zucchini, Musquee de Provence pumpkin, and two types of squash. It's still a bit early and chilly to start basil, zinnias and black cosmo from seed, even in the glasshouse. Anything we don't plant in our gardens will go to the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand to be shared with our local community.

At the moment I really don't have any space in the glasshouse or many recycled pots left. I also managed to grab a spade and turn over the compost and soil in the veggie troughs and beds. Lots of worms, a good sign!

Flax: A Misnomer

Yesterday John and I went to an amazing exhibition at the nearby Te Awamutu Museum called "te Ohonga Ake," "the weaver's awakening," showcasing Te Kuiti local Kahutoi Te Kanawa's Exegesis PhD Exhibition on intergenerational fibre weaving arts.  The exhibition runs through 28th March 2020. During the school holidays Kahu is there for several mornings and afternoons conducting weaving workshops.

I learned from Kahu that New Zealand native flax is not "flax" at all. It was called that by Capt. Cook, who likened it to the European plant, Linum usitatissimum, the fibre from which linen is woven.

I will never call "flax" here in New Zealand "flax" again. It should be called "harakeke," phormium tenax, or "wharariki," phormium colensoi. So all of those hundreds of seedlings I've started down in John's native nursery are harakeke.

They are happy that I am finally calling them by their proper name, wondering why it took me so long. I am wondering that too.