Struan Farm

On Slippery Slopes

I found myself musing about slippery slopes the other day here at Struan Farm. There are so many of them in life, and there seem to be more presenting themselves as I get older. (Note: these slippery slopes do not relate to ethical issues or fundamental beliefs, I know where I stand on those.)

You will know I'm a pretty high energy person who cracks into things and gets them done. I'm organised and tidy. I'm interested in things and learning new things.

What worries me a wee bit is that I'm finding my standards are slipping somewhat on a number of fronts. Perhaps I'm slowing down and slightly more overwhelmed by the sheer volume of physical work and pace I insist of myself. But I look at towels not hung up properly on the towel racks, sloppily made beds, piles of ironing and dusty tables and shake my head in abject disgust. One night last week I woke John up with a nightmare about dust landing all over me. My subconscious crying out that I need to clean the house, perhaps. But it isn't just housekeeping, which I know we all try to avoid for as long as possible. I can rationalise that away even if I am disappointed in myself as an imperfect homemaker, if there is in fact a perfect one. And yes, the farmstay has been flat out, with the cleaning and laundry, etc. etc. that entails.

I've not weeded the flower gardens here at Struan Farm for some time due to the drought. It's bone dry and the soil is either dust or concrete. I tell myself I haven't deadheaded roses or dahlias, as well as other perennials, so they aren't stressed out trying to re-bloom. While there may be an element of truth to this, this is an obvious slippery slope, an attempt on my part to justify why I haven't been out there with head down and bum up in the stinking hot dry heat.

And then there's my personal upkeep, something we've touched on previously. Clifford got this groom recently but I am still outstanding. I'm onto that this week and hope I've found a more convenient option so that hands and feet don't look like something out of a horror movie. Thus reinforcing this slope that's been slipping since last October.

It may be that slopes get slippery when there are other things one would rather be doing with only so many hours in the day. Things other than the assigned tasks at hand. Things that matter and make us feel good and contributing members of society rather than those things that just have to get done. 

Like picking other people's plums and apples to share with the community, perhaps? Okay yes. That would be one. Pickling jalapeños and making apple crumbles? Okay, yes, two more. Now you understand the nature of my problem. Am I too hard on myself? I guess that's the rhetorical question.

 

 

In a Pickle with Chiles

This week I harvested two of the chile varieties we grew this season here at Struan Farm: serranos and jalapeños.  Serranos are good grilled, while jalapeños can be used fresh or pickled. The Asian "Wild Fire" chiles I cook with most often are still ripening to red, after which they'll be picked and frozen for later use. 

Since we use pickled jalapeños with fish tacos, I decided pickling was the way to go with our harvest from one plant. There's an easy recipe in The Modern Preserver, kiwi Kylee Newtown's recent book. Equal parts of apple cider vinegar and water are put in a pot with 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar per 600 mls. of liquid and brought to a simmer, making sure the sugar is dissolved. In the meantime cumin seeds, bay leaf, salt and pepper are put into the bottom of a warm, sterile jar, on top of which are layered the sliced jalapeños. The hot pickling liquid is then poured into the jar before sealing.

The jar will keep for four weeks out of direct sunlight, it must be put into the fridge once open. I'd be tempted to grow more jalapeños if they'd keep longer pickled, but there are only so many one can eat in four weeks!

Ready to Crumble

The Bramley cooking apples are now ripe in the Old Orchard area of Struan Farm, so I need to get ready to crumble! Making apple crumble for the freezer that is. Apple crumble is easy to make and good to have on hand in winter for dessert.

I buy aluminium roasting/baking containers for this purpose, but it's basically yet another Karen improvisation. Apples are peeled and cut, put into the buttered containers, tossed with some sugar and mixed spice and dotted with a wee bit of butter. For the topping I use Annabel Langbein's crumble topping from The Free Range Cook. The recipe makes a reasonable quantity and can be frozen for later use too (find the crumble recipe in this link here). I bake the crumbles at about 180C until they start to bubble and the top is golden brown (around 35-45 minutes). Once cool I cover the containers with foil, label and freeze.

I've picked all the apples on the Bramley that I could reach, now to return with my telescoping picker to finish the job. 

A Roasting

I had time here at Struan Farm a few days ago to roast the first batch of heirloom tomatoes for the freezer. They've been accumulating on the kitchen bench, waiting patiently for me to get my act together. We love eating our homegrown produce through the year, and roasting and freezing tomatoes gives us a little taste of summer during the long, grey winter days.

About 2kg. of quartered tomatoes are popped into a lined roasting pan with some onion, garlic, basil, oregano, salt, pepper, tomato paste and olive oil, and roast them for 2+ hours at 160C. I like them to start to caramelise, and often will just turn off the oven and leave them to cool and cook down just that bit further. Once cool they are decanted into a container, and labelled/dated and frozen.

It's not the sort of thing that's a precise science to say the least, but the results are definitely worth the effort. The first batch of "Toms 20!"

The Apples of My Eye

You will know by now that when time permits I go off picking fruit on other people's trees. For relaxation, fun, and to contribute to the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand. I hate seeing good fruit go to waste, and many people have trees laden that they just don't get around to picking and using.

This past weekend I went off to the nearby settlement of Mapiu, to an amazing old orchard area near an original settler homestead. The orchard has four different apple trees, pear and plums, with fig and damson trees nearby.

The owner invited me to come pick damsons for our use (the damson trees we planted last year have yet to fruit), plus pick apples for the Piopio stand. We had fun picking away, talking about the history of the area and the trees.

The damson tree, which must be over 100 years old, was beautiful and laden with ripe fruit. I've now got a big container of damsons in the freezer for winter Syrian 7 Spice damson jam making. I also removed stones from a dozen or so plums and put them in the fridge in a bag with compost to try to grow more seedling trees. I managed to grow five of them last season from this very tree to share with the community. Also read recently that damsons are a prune plum, so can be dehydrated to make prunes.

We agreed that in winter I will return to take scion wood for grafting from three of the apple trees, hoping that the grafting gods will once again smile upon me to propagate these special heritage apples.

Does Size Really Matter?

This is an age old debate, and now I'm trying to apply it to tomatoes here at Struan Farm.

You see, it looks like a "Super Steakhouse" hybrid tomato has taken out our "Tomato of the Year" for 2020. The contest has been based on weight historically, with the heaviest tomato of the season taking out the title.

I'd been rooting for Purple Cherokee heirlooms, my favourite variety. And while there was a contender, it was just not meant to be this season. The largest Purple Cherokee landed at 640 grams, while the largest Super Steakhouse was 756. There's another still ripening that looks almost as big, certainly bigger than the Purple Cherokee.

Which brings me to taste. Perhaps I'm trying to justify my love of heirloom tomatoes in the throes of defeat to a modern hybrid on size, but the Purple Cherokee did taste better. I'm sticking with heirloom varieties!

Home and Away

This week I was away up in Auckland for most of the week. There's never a particularly good time to be away from Struan Farm in summer, but I had some longstanding appointments sandwiched between farmstay guests and in concert with John's schedule. I was also needing a bit of downtime, something that isn't easy for me to manage. I did get a book read and enjoyed a few interesting meals.

Before I departed I did think it was probably the worst possible week to be away. John is flat out with his mayoral gig and the tomato tsunami is hitting, as are the early apples, nashis, beans, corn, and any day now the peaches. The weather has continued to be terribly hot, with watering of the veggie gardens and glasshouse in morning and night rather critical to our continued organic veggie supply.

I left John and nephew Mike rather detailed instructions about what to do and what not to forget. They didn't roll their eyes-- they must have conferred and decided that wasn't a particularly good strategy. And the good news is that they managed to cope (note: not that I doubted them). We had some rain, which helped. However, the tomatoes decided to play up. They hid from John, who isn't inclined to delve too deeply into the tomato jungle in search of ripe fruit. He expects them to step up and show themselves.

While some cooperated, others did not. 

They know they can't hide from me, and I'm home. Much of these will be taken to the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand, especially the black cherry tomatoes. The big Super Steakhouse on top might be a contender, it will be weighed shortly. Now to sort out the house and get ready for arriving farmstay guests.

A Vintage BooBoo

A few days ago I was thrilled to find a "Vintage Brandywine" heirloom tomato in the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand. I'd put some plants of this special heirloom variety in the stand earlier in the season, grown from seeds saved from two tomatoes I came across grown by Curious Croppers and sold at the Clevedon Farmers Market.

They have beautiful red and green striations, and are nice and meaty. Just my type of tomato.

But you will be starting to guess that there's more to this story. I'd saved a few of the plants grown in the glasshouse from those I contributed to the community stand to plant out in our tomato beds here at Struan Farm. The only problem was that it turned out I'd mislabelled the plants I kept--they were black cherries! So I wasn't able to grow any Vintage Brandywines at all this year, much to my dismay.

I thought I'd lost out on the opportunity to grow them entirely (seeds aren't available for purchase here in NZ) until I came across this lovely tomato at the stand. It was enjoyed in a "caprese" salad with Clevedon Buffalo mozzarella and homemade pesto, but seeds have been saved for next year's crop.

And rest assured I won't mislabel them again!

Savouring the Last of the Summer Strawberries

We are starting to get to the end of this year's strawberry season here in Piopio. You can sense it at Piopio Berry Orchard, that relief of being through the holiday peak is palpable. The summer recruits have gone back to school and it's family members and long time employees who remain for the home stretch.

Here at Struan Farm we're savouring every last one for as long as we can.

This past week for dessert with friends over I made David Lebovitz' "Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream" and "Strawberry Sorbet," both from his ice cream bible "The Perfect Scoop." And yes, I did strain the seeds for the sorbet once the strawberries were macerated in sugar and pureed. It makes a huge difference to the final product. 

This turned out to be a good pairing. The sorbet is intensely fruity, John finds it too much so on its own (predictably, I don't!). The sour cream in the ice cream cuts some of the sweetness, it works really well both as an ice cream on its own and a companion to the sorbet. There is also a version of this recipe made with peaches, which is excellent. (I'll be making that again once the Golden Queens land.)

Sprinkled with a few foraged blackberries for some pops of colour this was a great summer dessert on a hot night. I surprised even myself!

In Solidarity with the Flowers

The lack of rain is starting to get serious here at Struan Farm. John has been keeping an eye on the spring from which we get our water, while all of the paddock water troughs for the stock are fed from roof tanks which are still okay. There has never been a problem with the spring in over 80 years, but the longer this goes on that could change. There is also still enough feed/grass for the number of sheep on the property, Farmer John hasn't had to reduce numbers as yet.

Given the situation this summer we've talked about getting some extra small water tanks to capture water off those roofs we currently don't, like the workshop and a shed or two. In case this summer isn't an aberration but rather the new norm.

I'm not watering the flower gardens, obviously. This pains me, and I feel for the flowers. When I see a perennial or flowering shrub that truly looks like it's dying I do grab a bucket and give it a very deep drink. John has been carrying water to my sister's white oak tree every few days, and I have been doing the same for the two wee "Peter the Hermit's Golden Delicious Apples" I grafted onto rootstock this past winter.  We are wanting special things to eke their way through this dreadful weather if at all possible.

I'm not weeding or deadheading. Everyone is so stressed with the heat and dryness I don't want to push them any further.

May the rains come pretty please Mother Nature.

Belated, But Not Forgotten

My Valentine had to be away this past Friday. Duty called, a business meeting up in Auckland that ended quite late in the day, so no time to return to Struan Farm that evening. Can I just say this must have been scheduled by a man? No woman would do this on Valentine's Day!

John returned home on Saturday. And he brought me a lovely gift for Valentine's Day, the companion rusted steel disc of native trees by James Wright that goes with the one we have of native birds. It's now installed along the row of roses and totara posts in the garden, and looks amazing.

I'm very happy with belated, but not forgotten!

Introducing The First Contender

I thought it was worth giving this Super Steakhouse tomato a weigh, and I was right: 520 grams. Hopefully this is the first of many, but my fingers are still crossed that Purple Cherokee will deliver for the heirloom tomato cause.

The Need for Enough Beans & Laughing at Oneself

I find myself laughing at myself a whole lot more as I've gotten older. Not sure why. Maybe I'm able to see my idiosyncrasies for what they are: endearing personal quirks. Or I just don't take myself all that seriously anymore having gained a bit of life experience and perspective.

A few days ago I was prepping for a dinner for a group of farmstay guests who've stayed with us here at Struan Farm over a number of years and are on the road to becoming friends. We find this is happening with quite a few people who return to stay. We enjoy them. You know who you are, and your ranks are growing!

At this time of year we're eating out of the garden every night. I wing it depending on what is ready to be eaten, and had planned to do the same for this dinner. But in the morning after I'd made the gazpacho for our starter I got myself into a bit of a panic. That I might not have enough beans for six people, and was a Plan B required. So I grabbed scissors and a colander purposefully strode back to Veggie World.

The beans delivered, with thanks:

As I filled the colander I shook my head and laughed. This was more than enough for six people. But whatever had happened, beans or no beans, hadn't I known I would have coped and served up a reasonable dinner?

I was happy to have these beans. They remind me why I do need to laugh at myself. They were served up with crispy fried shallots, ears of corn and grilled steak, with homemade strawberry ice cream and sorbet for dessert.

 

Foraging, Again

I was in Piopio this week to have a new tire put on my car. We won't go into a long story with all the gory details on that, except to say that I cut someone's driveway entrance a bit short and bumped into a low stone wall with the rear end of the car, puncturing a rear tires. And I didn't realise what had happened to the tire until I got home, when I found a flat tire on my car parked at the wool shed. SOS John. No one was particularly thrilled this happened, myself included.

The only good news related to this tale is that while the new tire was being put on at the Oily Rag, our local petrol station/tire shop, I had time to wander over to the Fat Pigeon Cafe for coffee. On the way I discovered a blackberry bush on a fence, dripping with ripening berries!

I suspected this was a property that didn't use any sprays, but double checked with a few people before picking a container for the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand. I then went and checked our secret blackberry patch nearby Struan Farm, and found those laden, so spent an hour or so picking there too. I'm realising that ripe blackberries dry out very quickly, especially in the hot sun. You need to pick them while you can!

A Curious Kereru

I pulled into the entrance to our drive off the main road here at Struan Farm the other day, and was stopped dead by a rather curious sight:

A native wood pigeon, "kereru," standing on the concrete cattle stop on the track/drive that heads down to the pond. I popped the car into park and decided to watch the bird with camera (phone) in hand. It wasn't at all fussed by my presence, so is most likely the same bird we've had munching on plum trees in the orchard this past spring.

Given the lack of rain the cattle stop has dried out, so it wasn't in search of water. Especially since there are much easier places to find that: stock troughs, pond, even bird baths that we keep filled when it's dry like this. So there must have been some sort of tasty tidbit down there, that's all I can assume!

My Mad Monarch Mobile

There are reasons John rolls his eyebrows sometimes, this I know. And this would be one of those times! I returned to Struan Farm from a trip to New Plymouth a few days ago with some swan plants in the back of the car. Swan plants loaded up with Monarch Butterfly caterpillars!

I'd called into Big Jim's Garden Centre for some seedling beetroot plants and saw a Monarch butterfly flitting around the swan plants. Then saw that there were caterpillars all over the swan plants they were offering for sale. Which isn't a particularly good thing, since people who buy swan plants are wanting them to feed caterpillars at home, not to get more voracious swan plant eating caterpillars.

Except, that is, for Karen. I asked them if I could take the caterpillars home to Piopio, and they were overjoyed. I bought a few swan plants as transport media. One of the ladies and I spent about 20 minutes carefully pulling them off the plants and putting them onto the plants bound for Piopio.

One has already gone into chrysalis, so they seem to be doing okay. Doing what I can to encourage Monarch butterflies here at Struan Farm.

Good Sports & Good Times

John and I went over to nearby Aria on Waitangi Day last week to see what was happening at the annual "Sports Day" held at the Aria Domain. It was a wonderful, family friendly event, with dog trials, equestrian events, a shearing competition, and rides and games for the kids.

I love watching the dogs working the sheep, and watching the working dogs watching the working dogs quite intently! There was also a great DIY waterslide that had lots of action.

A good time was had by all.




 

Definitely in Production Mode

It's pretty much all on here at Struan Farm in the veggie gardens and orchard areas, "production mode" that is.

This past week I've been picking "June's Northland" nectarines along with heirloom tomatoes every night plus ripening Luisa plums, zucchini, beans and corn. The peaches and Initial apples are almost happening too; those are checked each evening.

We're into round two on the beans, edible flowers and basil (latter in the glasshouse), and rounds three and four on the mesclun and "Cocarde" lettuces. The zucchini have just about pooped out, but I've got some huge butternut squash and a pumpkin or two growing away in the "Garden of Neglect" at the Homestead.

While the bees won't be happy, I'm about to pull up the flowering bolted coriander, having saved some seeds. All of the different potato varieties have been dug up as well. "Purple Heart" is my new favourite in that department. The first round of "Torpedo" beetroot has been planted in the now vacant potato bed in the backyard. I've found beets do better for us in late summer/early autumn; they're a good filler crop to extend the veggie garden season, and "Torpedo" works really well roasted but also pickled. Its elongated shape fits well in jars.

I'm holding fire on pulling up more of the carrots, both red and orange, to give them some time to grow. There are still spring onions growing away as well, using those as needed.

Oh, and almost forgot the chiles! The jalapeños and serranos are coming along with "Wild Fire" not far behind. Think I might try to pickle a mix of jalapeños and serranos when the crop is ready for harvesting.

Later come the Blackboy peaches, Mrs. Preston's nectarines (a later fruiting Northland variety vs. June's), most of the apples, nashi, pears, quince, feijoas, hazelnuts, walnuts and figs. And of course we can't forget the kahikatea fruit! Just not sure if I'll make the jam again, removing all those wee seeds was one of the more tedious jobs I've done in recent years....

Going to Seed

Please note that I'm referring to the coriander growing in the veggie gardens here at Struan Farm, not myself!

The slow bolt coriander I planted early this season transitioned into flowers, which both the bees and I love, and is now going to seed. I've decided to see if I can save the seeds, something I rarely do with herbs. Okay, except for maybe dill.

The flowers are starting to swoon over, I'll need to pull them out shortly. I'm holding out for as long as possible (for both the bees and me). What I don't know is if the clusters of seeds should be cut and dried, or should dry on the plants. Research required!

The Clash of the Tomato Titans

This summer isn't turning out to be the best for tomatoes here at Struan Farm. Even though it's very hot and dry, we had a stretch of chilly weather when the plants were flowering and the fruit was starting to grow; the weather may have shocked them a wee bit. I'm not getting the normal volume of fruit and things are relatively slow going.

That being said, there are some jumbo tomatoes on the vines. I've decided that our "Tomato of the Year" looks to be coming down to one of the huge heirloom "Purple Cherokees" or a "Super Steakhouse." I bought the latter on a whim after seeing an ad in a gardening magazine claiming it could yield heirloom-tasting fruit over 1 kg. I'm not sure we'll get one that big but one can always hope.

Of course you will know I'm rooting for Purple Cherokee. It did win last year, coming in at 750 grams. We'll see how everyone ripens on the home stretch and I'll report back.