Struan Farm

The Bully in our Midst

It's quite a circus of former pet lambs in the mob of ewes here at Struan Farm. At times when I go up to a paddock fence I am surrounded with faces and personalities I know well. Some all too well!

Here's one:

Ruby. She's in the same class as Rosie, Pip and Pepper. Rosie remains the head diva, and will sometimes give me a wee kick if she thinks I'm ignoring her or shortchanging her apple treats. But Ruby is the largest ewe in our mob here at Struan Farm. And when she wants something, like apple treats, she can get a wee bit rough with the others. The ewes have learned not to mess with her.  This week I watched her head butt one of this year's pet lambs, Fig, up in the air and quite a distance. Fig will know better next time I'm assuming. Ruby has never tried to get rough with me, but then I communicate with her when the apples are running low to avoid a situation. I don't think she'd hurt me, she's always been respectful of her adopted mum, but I don't want to test that. I always give her a pat if I don't have apple treats, and she seems to understand. Kids!

 

 

 

Lest We Forget

In honour of ANZAC Day. These are my father-in-law Maurie's military medals from WW2, including his Military Cross for bravery. You can see more information on his military service, and lay a poppy for him, in the Auckland Museum's Online Cenotaph here.

Edible Abutilons

This past week I learned that abutilon flowers are edible! As you probably know I'm always interested in expanding my knowledge about gardening and growing, especially food. For the past several years I've grown a dedicated edible flower garden with nasturtiums, borage, cornflowers, calendula and violas. I also love the flowers of herbs such as coriander, parsley, chives, and dill. Rose petals are edible, and also apparently snapdragons.

We have several different colours of abutilons growing around Struan Farm. They self seed and are grown easily from cuttings, turn into nice flowering shrubs for wooded areas. Native tuis love them, as do bees.

They're sometimes called "Chinese Lanterns," and you can see why. Decided to pop them atop my birthday cake yesterday, and love the way they look. Suspect the petals might be interesting crystallised too.

On Becoming "Vintage"

Today being my birthday, and a major milestone at that, I thought I'd share with you some photos of "vintage" hydrangeas from the gardens here at Struan Farm.

Awhile ago I read that florists coined this term for hydrangeas that are past their peak, but are still quite beautiful with their mottled colours despite some deterioration. Perhaps that just says it all, folks?

Finding Comfort: Chamomile Tea & Warm Rice Pudding

We haven't been having the best sleeps here at Struan Farm since COVID-19 took over the world. I know we're not alone on this score by any stretch, have read about people having some of the same problems: restlessness, insomnia, and nightmares.

I used to have terrible nightmares as a child, waking my family up all too regularly with blood curdling screams in the middle of the night. Once I woke up an entire camp of Girl Scouts in tents. Not sure what was going on in my head or subconscious in those days, but as an adult when I have a nightmare I know it's because I'm anxious about something or lacking adequate sleep. And during Level 4 lockdown I've had several nightmares that have woken John up from a reasonably sound sleep, as well as some pretty bizarre and disturbing dreams.  John is a light sleeper at the best of times, but he also doesn't need as much sleep as I do to function.

In an effort to address this we've taken to having a cup of chamomile tea right before bed. It's soothing and definitely helps. And this past week I made a quick batch of rice pudding for dessert one evening, and discovered that for some reason that helped me sleep too.

Rice pudding is inexpensive and easy to make. The recipe I used can be found here.  Rice, sugar, milk, a knob of butter and vanilla extract are put into an ovenproof baking dish, with nutmeg sprinkled on top. I also decided to toss in a handful of raisins, and set my kitchen timer to stir it every 20 minutes during the two hour bake. The pudding rests for about 25 minutes when it comes out of the oven before serving. I also decided to sprinkle a bit of Syrian 7 Spice on top before serving, which gave it a warm spicy kick.

It was delicious. Comfort food of the first order, and it worked for me. If you can't sleep, give it a try.

The Last Tomato Standing

I'm ready to pull out the last tomato plant still standing in Veggie World out in the backyard here at Struan Farm. It's always a sad day.

There are a few remaining tomatoes sitting on the kitchen window sill that we've been savouring/rationing, but they're almost gone. The plants look bedraggled, spent, and often dead or slimy at the end of the season, but I'm reluctant to pull them out while fruit may still be ripening.

During lockdown we've been digging into the stockpile of frozen roasted tomatoes and "BBC tomato soup" dating back a year or so. I'm happy to have them--tomatoes from the garden are versatile to cook with, healthy, and delicious.

Now we'll see what happens with the tomato plants growing in the glasshouse for the first time. I've been pinching laterals and retying them as they grow, and they're about to flower. Will it be hot enough for the fruit to ripen? Guess we'll cross that tomato bridge when we get to it!

Staying on Track

Sometime today we should find out if NZ stays at Alert Level 4 beyond April 22, or if we move into Level 3. If we do, the current version of Level 3 will be considerably stricter than the previous one. But it will allow some businesses to operate provided they do so safely, as defined.

As for me, Level 3 still means I'm restricted to home base here at Struan Farm due to my compromised immunity. This is looking like it's going to be for quite awhile. John will be working from home when he can, but as an essential worker he may go out for certain council meetings as required to do so. I suspect most will continue to be done on Zoom.

I've decided that the gardens will be my Level 3 project. After the drought and now rains it's time for their seasonal clean out, and one is definitely required! It will take me weeks and trailer loads. At this point I need something physically exhausting to help my head. I've been inside too much for my liking these past few weeks.

Things are looking reasonable if you don't look too closely! I'm loving the brilliant crepe myrtle juxtaposed against the leucadendron "Safari Sunset," aren't you?

And the cercis with their heart-shaped leaves are always interesting at this time of the year as they change colour too. 

A Flood of Feijoas

We are also being inundated with feijoas at the moment here at Struan Farm. At this time of the year they drop from the tree each day, so someone goes down to collect them from the ground. Fortunately we have two trees of two different varieties, "Kaiteri" fruits early followed by a later variety the name of which I've lost and forgotten. (I'd like to tell you I'd planned it that way, but we were just lucky about that.)

Yesterday I read a post by someone who indicated that the pulp can be frozen for use in baking or smoothies, so I decided to test this out. I made up bags of peeled whole fruit, peeled slice fruit,  and peeled mash fruit to see what proves to be best for baking later on.

I'll report back in due course on this one.

Bubbles Hits a Speed Bump

You will of course remember Bubbles. She was a triplet born by caesarian at the farm next door to Struan Farm. Her mum died, and I rescued brothers Elvis and Ajax along with Bubbles. They spent the night wet and shivering in front of the roaring fire, me sitting with a bottle of colostrum in hand, willing them to live.

Sadly Elvis died. Bubbles and Ajax  recovered and moved to the pet pen, but later that season John forced me to send them to his sister in Taranaki after his arbitrary limit on my pet lamb numbers was reached. Unfortunately Ajax also died several months later. But Bubbles thrived in Taranaki, even greeting visitors to the garden during the fringe garden festival. 

This past spring John's sister asked us if we'd take Bubbles back. They are selling their property and building a house, something complicated enough without a fat pet hogget who thinks she's a person.So Bubbles made the trip back to Struan Farm.

It wasn't an easy adjustment. She was overweight and wasn't used to walking around, sat and ate the grass around her. I think she was also missing her "Mum" terribly. Thankfully pet lambs Sugar and Spice decided to adopt her, teaching her how to walk around and be a sheep. For awhile they were a trio. Most recently Bubbles joined the mob that was out with the rams. She lost some weight and was acting like a sheep. All good.

Until last week. John went to move the mob into our front Pet Paddock, which had quite a bit of feed. He noticed that Bubbles kept sitting down, and when she stood up she coughed. She didn't look and wasn't behaving well, so he kept her isolated in the paddock behind the Cottage and moved everyone else. He returned to tell me that "one of my brown faced sheep" was having a problem, and that I needed to check it out. He didn't think she was going to survive. While I went up to check on which of "my brown faced sheep" it was, and to try to figure out what was happening, he rang his sister to break the news that Bubbles wasn't well.

When I found her in the paddock she was sitting quietly, but when she stood up she had a wheezing cough. I left her to settle down and returned to ring Farmer John. His diagnosis: pleurisy. He instructed us to leave her, that stressing her wasn't good for her. And so we did that. I also discovered that it might be infectious, so we left her on her own for a number of days.

Good news: Bubbles has recovered, phew! We don't know if the dust from the drought we've had, the weight she's lost, being put with the ram, or all of the other changes she's been through in her life these past months, weakened her immune system. But she's better now. Yesterday she was sitting by the gate wanting to be moved with the rest of the sheep. She's now rejoined the mob.

Mum was updated.

An Abundance of Apples

Those frequent readers of the Struan Farm blog and followers of our FB page and Twitter and Insta feeds will know that during the Level 4 Covid-19 lockdown I've been busy. Busy trying to use the autumn abundance from our orchard fruit and walnut trees. 

I continue to be amazed by the sheer volume of fruit and nuts just one tree produces. Truth be told I'm barely coping. I miss being able to share our surplus with the community via the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand, which has closed temporarily due to the national emergency and health crisis.

So far I've made apple butter, many batches of apple crumbles, apple turnovers, Jamie Oliver's Orchard Eve's pudding (with apples and quince), and shortcakes with a combination of apples, figs, and feijoas. We've got a big freezer in the garage that is almost at capacity. There are empty freezers in the Homestead and Cottage that I'll take over if needed, since this surplus can't be wasted. We are managing to deliver bags to neighbours and friends. John drops bags at gates when he does his weekly run to the dairy.

But here's my challenge:

Monty continues to be laden with huge, beautiful apples!

Hopefully once we get through lockdown there will still be some we can share with local foodbanks and the community stand. I know, this isn't a problem in the current scheme of things. I thank those trees every day.

Inkcaps Down the Drive

John has been harvesting proper paddock mushrooms in the mornings here at Struan Farm when conditions have them popping up. He now knows the spots to check around the property. Once they're cleaned I pop them into the food dehydrator so they can be dried and stored for later use. We've already had one dinner of mushroom risotto using them (re-hydrated) that was delicious.

So we keep our eyes out for fungi and mushrooms around the farm. I was happy to see the regular seasonal colony of Shaggy Inkcaps (Coprinus comatus) at the bottom of our drive yesterday. These black spored mushrooms are edible (provided that's done without drinking any alcohol), but I'm not going to test that. As they age they "auto digest," dripping a black liquid.

And yes, they have a distinctive shape. We won't go there, will we?!

Learnings from Lockdown, Thus Far

Easter morning I awoke thinking about some of the lessons I've learned so far during the Level 4 Covid-19 lockdown here at Struan Farm. 

--John and I are indeed able to co-exist 24/7 for weeks on end. This was an unknown heading into lockdown. Until about two years ago he wasn't at the farm full time, commuting back and worth between Piopio and Auckland (or further afield up north) due to work responsibilities. Even after he has been here on a full time basis he's often been out at meetings. I've been left to do my thing(s) and being an independent sort have not been unhappy about that. We're lucky that the farm has space to walk, wander, garden, and be outside working. In lockdown we're not on top of one another.

--It's good to grow your own food. I'd known this previously, but after lockdown I'm even more convinced that everyone should be doing whatever they can to grow fruit and vegetables. Anyone can have a planter at the backdoor or on the deck with spinach, rocket or lettuce and a pot with a dwarf fruit tree. 

--It's good to have a stocked pantry and freezer. Marie Kondo, you've lost the argument after COVID-19. I've always had a reasonably stocked pantry due to the need to make muesli and bread for the farmstay and since I love to bake. To save money I buy meats when they're on special and put them in the freezer. Fortunately for us we had a decent supply of protein to get through four weeks, but we also eat vegetarian meals. In future I will buy more chicken and fish for the freezer to have variety on hand. As luck would have it I managed to get in an order for coffee from our supplier before lockdown happened. We normally have a reasonable stash of soap, cleaning products, TP and paper towels due to the farmstay, and that was used.

--John has won his argument that we should get hens, aka "chooks." The only things we needed to get from the local Piopio dairy during lockdown were eggs, butter, milk and random baking supplies. I bought a yogurt maker from Country Trading, who have continued operating during lockdown, along with packets of yogurt culture. 

--I learned you can freeze milk.

--It's good, maybe even essential, to create structure to the days. For me it's been about going out to gather apples, walnuts, feijoas, pears and look after the veggie garden and glasshouse. And the baking projects. For John it's been his Mayoral FB page and zoom calls with various local, regional and government people on emergency related issues. For us both, it's stopping to watch the 1 p.m. COVID briefings on TVOne by Dr. Ashley Bloomfield, Director-General of Health.

--We're now using Zoom to connect with friends and family overseas. Skype is pretty much history.

--I've learned that at this stage of my life I am basically a reader of non-fiction. One rainy lockdown day I dove eagerly into Barbara Mantel's fictional, award winning triology about Thomas Cromwell, and promptly found myself bogged down by its florid prose. More to the point, it wasn't interesting to me. I then picked up "Hungry," by Jeff Gordinier, about his travels with world famous chef Rene Redzepi, and finished that in one day.

--We now know how to wash our hands, for how long.

Last but not least, we are very fortunate to be living in New Zealand. There will be challenges ahead, particularly economic ones, but we are very lucky to be here rather than in other countries that are reeling from the severe consequences of virus decimating their countries and from the effects of that on their economies. We are thankful for that and certainly don't take things for granted.

We are all in this together moving forward. We know that.

 

Last but not Least

I've been trying to vary my days somewhat during lockdown to avoid boredom here at Struan Farm. Plus, there's not that much room left in the freezer for baking!

I'm not much of a sitter as you've probably figured out, but I have been reading, and dug out granddaughter Violet's needlepoint Christmas stocking.This is the last one I need to make, and I must confess to being somewhat relieved by that. Once one has one they all want them. Now.

Normally I restrict myself to working on these during the winter rains here in Piopio, but as we all know, these are unprecedented times.

The plan was for Violet and her family to be here for Christmas 2020, but things may change due to COVID-19. Either way I'll work to get this done this year so I can get onto other winter projects, both needlepoint and knitting related. 

 

Harakeke Hues

Interesting to see the harakeke that edge our drive here at Struan Farm changing colour in autumn! I've never noticed them doing this before. The variations in colour are subtle but beautiful.

p.s. you might know this plant as "flax," however I've stopped calling it that after learning that Captain Cook made a major error. It's not related to the European flax plant from which linen is made at all. So I've made a stand and am calling it by its proper name now.

Update from the Garden of Neglect

We've been calling the raised veggie bed down at the Homestead here at Struan Farm the "garden of neglect" for several years now, mostly because it doesn't get regular attention. I tend to plant zucchini, squash, pumpkins and cucumbers there. They like it dry, and we don't get down to water the bed much if at all. What is planted there survives and thrives on whatever rain happens.

This year we harvested a good number of zucchini and scallopini/pattypan squash during summer. Right now three HUGE Big Chieftain butternut squash are ripening, along with a Musquee de Provence pumpkin. Word is they are meant to be picked once the cord/stem dies completely. I'm hoping the butternuts turn orange before that.

I suspect I'll be making soups for the freezer from these, for us and to share.

And The Garden Looked After Itself

I've been going down to the Homestead at Struan Farm each day to gather walnuts and feijoas and check on the figs. I haven't been wandering around the gardens too much. During the severe drought we had this summer I adopted a strategy of leaving the gardens to cope, or not. I didn't weed or deadhead, not wanting to stress anyone any more than needed. 

So it was with great surprise when I did take a look yesterday morning I found this:

A riot of blooming dahlias and zinnia and the random "vintage" hydrangea. Yes, there will be weeds and things needing attention. But the garden did look after itself.

It made me smile.

Living in Lockdown

You might suspect we haven't been sitting around eating bonbons here at Struan Farm despite the lockdown, and you would be right.

As Mayor, John has been tied up on zoom video conference calls most weekdays with local, regional and central government people making sure the Waitomo community gets whatever assistance is required. He's also posting daily on his FB page to reach out and connect with people on various issues related to the COVID crisis and lockdown, and has committed to do that by 8 a.m. each morning.

My key jobs at the moment are (i) to proof read his FB posts before they're published; (ii) to stay out of the way during video calls, which John takes in our sitting room where there's a decent wifi signal; (iii) to come up with meals that are varied and healthy; and (iv) to contend with the huge amount of ripe fruit from the orchard. Right now it's apples and feijoas with figs about to happen. I'm also making sure the veggie seeds and seedlings I planted get watered and protected from those nasty white cabbage butterflies.

This weekend I knocked off a few apple crumbles, two of my "world famous in Piopio" (tongue firmly in cheek) Kai Safari Episode 13 apple feijoa fig shortcakes, and some Pantry Crumb Cakes, one made with grated apple and one with apple and feijoa. This last recipe is made with sour cream, and I had a pot of that about to go off in the fridge I didn't want to waste. Necessity being the mother of invention, or at least prompting recipe searches! Find @clarkbar's recipe here.

Everything is going into the freezer for later use or for sharing. 

 

Full of Beans, Almost

I'm glad I decided to plant a row of late season green beans a month or so ago here at Struan Farm. It looks like we'll have some beans with dinner in the next day or so as a result, hooray! Perhaps I'll even serve them with crispy fried shallots, think everyone deserves a treat in these anxious times.

We're not travelling into the grocery store at all during Level 4 lockdown, John is just doing a quick run into the dairy in Piopio when we need essentials like milk, butter, cream (John defines cream as such). Otherwise we're living out of the freezer, pantry, garden and orchard. I'm doing my best to make sure our meals are healthy and varied, I can see it would be easy to get into a rut.

Hope you and your family are doing okay, we'll all get through this by staying home and hunkering down. It's the only way.

In Search of Mr. Big

I decided we need to find our fun where we can at the moment, so this morning went out to the main orchard area here at Struan Farm, where the Monty's Surprise apple tree grows heavily laden with fruit.

The quantity and size of the apples is so great this season that I've been working to use the apples falling onto the ground each day, I haven't been picking them off the tree at all just yet. Only two-three of these make a reasonably sized apple crumble, so you can understand the job ahead not to waste this fruit.

Today I made an exception to my rule about picking, in my quest to find "Mr. Big." And no, before you ask, this is not Mr. Big from "Sex in the City," or a manhunt for gangsters out there with similar names. We're talking fruit, as we often do here at Struan Farm. Specifically the largest apple grown in 2020.

I stopped after filling a trug with likely candidates:

And while these are all very big apples, there was one standout, at 570 grams (1 1/4 pounds):

He's Mr. Big, for now.

 

Into the Bush

John and I are both trying to take walks around the property each day here at Struan Farm during the COVID-19 lockdown, for however long it may continue. I head down to the Pet Paddock each afternoon to gather walnuts and fallen feijoas and to check the ripening figs. John has been charged with "mushroom patrol."

But we also try to get out and have a wander to clear our heads. We went down to the river together one day, and yesterday went out to the QEII bush reserve near the pond.

It's reassuring to see the kererus (native wood pigeons) sitting quietly in the trees and hear the tuis croaking away. And it's almost time to gather kahikatea berries, both for growing native trees and to eat!

We use the kahikatea fruit, which is called "koroi," in salads for pops of juicy flavour (think of using them the way you would pomegranate arils). Last year I also made jam from them, which was interesting and fun, the consistency ends up almost candied and slightly chewy. The jam is delicious warm on ice cream, but making it was exceedingly tedious given the need to remove the black seeds. The upside was that we did use those to grow hundreds of young trees in our native tree nursery.