Struan Farm

More Plum Assignments

I've been out and about picking plums again for the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand.

My first assignment last week was at an old homestead site on the main road, where I'd spied a roadside tree dripping with fruit. I managed to track down the name of the elderly lady living there, and called into see if she would mind sharing some surplus fruit if I were to pick it.

She was lovely, and happy to share.

So I spent an hour or two at it with my telescoping picker. Some plum trees are simply huge, and this was one of those. And the plums were so ripe they fell off the tree as soon as a branch was touched. Easy, delicious pickings. Her sheep joined me and we had a good chat. There was a laden damson tree as well, so some of those returned home too.

Next I went over to Mokauiti, near Aria, to a property on Patoto Road where there are quite a few original settler trees. The family farming there believe the settler was named Archie Boggart. I'd visited previously one autumn to see their heritage apples, pears and figs. I've got one of the figs growing from a cutting and expect to return this winter to get some scion wood from the two pears to make my first attempt at grafting pears, with fingers and toes to be crossed and support from Mother Nature.

There are three beautiful old plums trees on the property, all of which were laden, and they were happy to share the fruit with the community. I had helpers on the job: Mum Natasha with baby, Charley and Austin. Three year-old Austin was quite taken with my telescoping picker, I think he needs one of his very own and he will be a very useful little boy given all the fruit trees!

I returned to Struan Farm with several boxes of two different plums for the stand, and hope to try to grow seedling plum trees from stones to plant out and share. It's important to me to try to preserve the varieties of old fruit trees that are established and thriving in the wider area. Yep, yet another Karen cause.

Purple Potatoes x2

I've finished harvesting the potatoes growing in the backyard here at Struan Farm, aka "Veggie World." This year I planted "Rocket," "Purple Heart," "Kowiniwini," and "Urenika" in the bed dedicated to spuds by the glasshouse, where they seem to do well. The latter two are Maori potatoes/taewa.

"Purple Heart" potatoes were developed by the Plant & Food team at Lincoln University on the South Island. They are like "Urenika," having a dark purple skin with those anthocyanins that are so good for us, but also like a more conventional European potato in shape and texture.

So this past week, yes, we've been eating purple potatoes. After reading that people in "Blue Zones," areas of exceptional longevity around the world, eat both potatoes and beans, we are doing the same. And sharing some at the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand as well.

Next we're into the potato patch growing down at the Homestead's back gate. Agria and Ilam Hardy have been planted down there, later season varieties, along with some that have sprouted from last year's planting.

Fresh compost has now been tipped into the potato bed in the backyard, where we'll be planting beets shortly.

In Praise of Imperfection: In Fruit, Veggies & Ourselves

For some time now I've noticed at our Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand that people tend to take only the "perfect" fruit or vegetables. If something looks slightly flawed, it often gets left. Recently we had a huge box of oranges contributed. They weren't pretty, but they were juicy and delicious. I was prompted to write a sign to that effect to entice people to take them, and fortunately it worked.

Anyone who grows fruit and veggies knows that most homegrown produce simply isn't perfect. Mother Nature just doesn't deliver that. She likes to test us.

So why do people behave this way, especially when produce at our stand is free to the community?

I'm thinking this behaviour is the result of being conditioned to supermarket produce, which is polished with wax and bred/grown to survive transport, packaging, and longer shelf lives. (We won't talk about chemicals.) Despite the fact that it generally tastes like cardboard when compared to just picked fruit and veggies from the garden.  

The Japanese have an aesthetic called "wabi sabi," one that is based on the acceptance of transience and imperfection, flaws. Of beauty that is imperfect, imperfect, and incomplete. This makes complete sense to me!