Former pet lamb Rosie, now diva of the mob at Struan Farm, and her adopted daughter Ruffles are Piopio's Next Top Models this year. Both they and we wish you and your family and friends a happy and healthy Christmas and New Year.
Stay safe in this uncertain world, and although the phrase is now a bit cliche here in NZ at this point, be kind. We're all anxious and stressed about what's may be around the bend next.
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The climbing rose over the pergola down in the Homestead gardens here at Struan Farm has started to flower, hooray. Her official name is Souvenir de Madame Leonie Viennot, although she is also known as the "dunny rose" here in New Zealand, having been planted by settlers around long drop toilets. Both for camouflage and scent!
In the extended Robertson family she is also known as "Roma's Rose." Family friend Roma Ronaldson grew this rose for years and years. Our rose would be a progeny of hers most certainly. She grows easily from cuttings and I would recommend her to you.
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Our trusty scarecrow "Henry" reported in for his seasonal duty today here at Struan Farm. He tries his best to keep naughty birds at bay. Last year we deployed him in the raised tomato bed near the workshop, this year I'm testing him back in Veggie World. I'll plant rows of corn beside him.
I've managed to pull the accumulated cobwebs from the shed off his outfit and refreshed his chapeau with vibrant fruits and veg. Next year he might get a new pair of jeans.
Henry participated in our first Community Fruit & Veg Stand float in the Piopio Christmas parade several years ago now. One of the little boys who volunteered to be a bunny rabbit eating carrots in the veggie garden scene gave him his name. And so he's been Henry ever since.
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Our new puppy Boo continues to be a work in progress here at Struan Farm. At the moment John does her early morning feed and takes her for a long run with the quad bike, tiring her out. I feed her lunch and we play with balls or sticks and walk out to Chook World, where she pretends to antagonise the chooks from the fence while I feed them and collect the eggs. The hens decided early on to ignore Boo and I think they've made the right decision!
John and I take turns feeding Boo dinner, and John takes her for another run at the end of the day with the quad bike yet again. She has learned to sit and stay, isn't jumping up on people the way she was, will even come sometimes. John keeps trying to get her to obey farmdog commands like "come behind" and "get up." I don't feel the need to do this training since I don't really understand the point. She is not going to be a working dog, although she does need to coexist with the sheep and not bother them.
It seems John wants the dog to stay behind him when he walks, while I am quite happy to have her run ahead. So long as she returns when called. When we go out together with her there's the inevitable discussion that "someone" should be spending hours each day training her. I wish that "someone" would magically appear and get on the job!
Nephew Mike is another variable in the training equation. We have all had to agree absolutely no jumping on people, even in play. She doesn't understand the difference and we need to be consistent.
At least in my perfect world.
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Some months ago now we lost our beloved dog Clifford here at Struan Farm. His back legs failed him one day, at age 18. He just couldn't stand up. The local vet came out to put him to sleep, but first time around he wasn't having any of that, resisting her attempts. This was a dog who didn't want to go. She came back out later that day. John stayed with Clifford and I went for a walk, coming back later to say goodbye. I was pretty much a sobbing mess. We buried him out past the tawa groves looking out on Mt. Taranaki. I can talk to him there while I'm picking figs.
It takes time to recover from the loss of a beloved pet. At least for me it does. I still miss Clifford. We also hadn't given much thought to which breed of dog we might want next, although we knew we needed a breed that wouldn't cause problems with the ewes or lambs. So farm dog stock more or less.
I tend to keep an eye on the FB posts of our local animal control officer, both in terms of coming across people's lost pets as well as those in need of new homes. A few months after we lost Clifford I saw a post about a wee Huntaway puppy who had been picked up along a remote rural roadside. She had big brown mournful eyes that spoke to me. I commented that if no one claimed her we would be interested in adopting her. I followed up a week later only to learn she was being turned over to a dog rescue charity that works with the pound so that abandoned animals don't get euthanised. They did say I could get in touch with the charity directly to adopt her. Here the plot took some twists and turns. The rescue charity, which truly does good work rehoming animals, insisted that the dog must be kept inside with people and sleep in the house. This is not something that works well on farms, and definitely doesn't work for my husband John. The organisation had its rules and thus deemed we were unfit parents, something I found very hard to accept. I decided to let the animal control officer know what happened, and he intervened on our behalf. You see Huntaways are farm dogs and this little puppy is going to grow into a HUGE dog. This was not an inside dog by any stretch. Turns out he still had the puppy at the local kennel and spoke to the charity.
And so I went and picked up "Boo." That afternoon we went directly to the vet for a check up and micro chip. Also got her registered and she's had her jabs. Neutering happens a bit down the road.
Boo is high energy and needs to go for big runs with John when he's out on the quad bike. I've stocked up on tennis balls, which she chases and plays with until she loses them somewhere. She retrieves but doesn't really "fetch" them back. It's all about high speed racing around with Boo. Once she has a good run she settles down in her kennel and keeps an eye on things.
It seems Boo is happy at Struan Farm. I'm glad for her she didn't end up inside in some house up in Auckland!
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It's been a sad week here at Struan Farm, New Zealand's America's Cup win excluded. Our beloved dog Clifford went to sleep, aged 18. He really didn't want to leave us, but his back legs and bladder gave out. While he wasn't in pain, we couldn't let him go on like that. We can blame the feral turkeys he loved to chase, that makes the most sense.
We adopted Clifford from the Deighton family when they moved to Dubai many years ago now (15?16?). Originally he was meant to be a companion for John's dad Maurie, here at the farm. But it was clear from the beginning that Clifford was really our dog. Later on he commuted back and forth between town and country, but (like me) he preferred the country. Rabbits and turkeys to chase, possums to kill, security to provide for Karen when John was away. Swims with John down at the river.
I was in charge of his visits to the vet for skin problems and other issues, so he became known as "Clifford Barrett." He loved kids and pats, barked at anyone with a beard and always barked at Farmer John. He hated cats, and would absolutely go after any wild cats that appeared on the property. Except when an injured kitten dropped on the road appeared in the backyard who decided Clifford was mum. He found that all a bit confusing, but accepted the little creature tagging after him and sleeping on his bed until it died of its injuries. At one point hubby John ran him over with the tractor, another almost crushed him under the garage door. The dog was a survivor, until now.
There's a big hole in our hearts. I can't think about him too much without getting teary. We keep wanting to find him when we go outside. I'm even missing the morning and evening sprints to the workshop for meals.
Clifford is buried out on the point behind our house here at Struan Farm near the second tawa grove, looking out on the hills. He was a unique personality and irreplaceable, really. Rest in peace, (sometimes) good boy.
Here are a few pics from over the years.
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Long time followers of the Struan Farm blog will know that our Christmas cards each year involve pet lambs decked out for Christmas. I convince the little darlings to humour me while they are still innocent and trusting, conducting photo shoots out in the paddocks. I usually manage to pull something fun off. Here are some samples from previous years:
You can see the theme. We are creatures of habit here at Struan Farm.
But of course 2020 has been an unusual year for everyone on many fronts. In our case we had a great lambing season, with literally no lambs abandoned at birth, at least ones that survived. A ram from the farm next door breached the perimeter a few weeks before Farmer John put his purebred rams out, which meant lambing happened three weeks earlier than scheduled, fortunately when the weather was perfect.
Pet lamb "Tiger" joined us for bottle feeding three weeks or so after he was born when his mum drowned, but he wasn't the sort of the lamb who was going to cooperate with a photo shoot, let alone with Christmas decorations. He still baas when I call out to him every so often, but I don't really classify him as a pet and he wouldn't call himself one either.
In other words, a Plan B was required for this year's Struan Farm Christmas card. So we came up with one. Here are Piopio's Next Top Models 2020:
Diva of the mob, former pet lamb Rosie, and her first ewe lamb. She's had three sets of twins, all rams, in previous years. Predictably, she was one of two ewes who held out for Farmer John's purebred ram, she wasn't going to mingle with the adolescent from next door. Rosie has her standards.
We'll unveil this year's card closer to Christmas, let the countdown begin!
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There's a big old brilliant red rhododendron "Cornubia" just inside the front entrance gate here at Struan Farm. It was planted by John's parents outside the Homestead, their former home, many years ago now.
So when we started landscaping up at our new, now not-so-new, house, I was determined to plant a brilliant red "Cornubia" at our entrance. Yes, go ahead, call me a traditionalist. Or even worse, sentimental.
This tree has been growing outside our gate going on five years. The soil under the redwood grove isn't the best. Despite annual/semi-annual feeds with proper acidic food, it hasn't flowered.
Until this year, 2020. One pop of red, just a teaser:
But we will celebrate this to encourage it along, won't we?
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John and I aren't exactly spring chickens, but we have decided to get chickens this spring here at Struan Farm.
John has been pressing the issue for some time. His family always had "hens," and he has a romanticised recollection about them wandering around clucking. It took the COVID lockdown here in NZ to convince me that this might be a good idea, since even though John insists they pretty much look after themselves, we all know who's going to be looking after them, don't we?
It will be good to have fresh fresh range eggs for ourselves, farmstay guests (when we're back in Level 1), and surplus for the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand. I suspect nephew Mike will also be happy to have some.
So we've fenced off a small area for the chooks to be able to free range, lined the fencing with chicken wire, and set nephew Mike to building a chicken coop, aka "Cluckingham Palace." (Yes, there will be a sign in due course.) I've ordered "chicken green" seeds from King's, have started some in several planters we'll put in the paddock and we'll also fence off a small garden area where I'll plant more for them to munch on. They'll also get leftover green scraps from the veggie gardens to supplement their feed. Of course if we're having hens we want them to be happy and well nourished!
Hopefully the coop will be finished this next week. Six "Hy Line" ready-to-lay hens have been ordered from a commercial breeder in New Plymouth, with thanks to Mike's mum. I've got an automatic feeder and waterer for them from Appleton's. Also wood shavings for the nesting boxes.
Stay tuned for the next chapter of this story. I've been reading up to improve my chicken husbandry, and names have already been decided upon.
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A few days ago during a drive I started to think about coming to terms with certain things as one ages. About how we are as people, both the good things and the bad; about what we do and have done well, and what we don't do or haven't done so well. About how and why we've become the people we are. It seems that one comes to accept, or be resigned to, oneself.
As the Black Lives Matter protests recently raged around the globe I remembered a speech that I gave at my graduation ceremony in June 1969 from Harding Twp. School in New Vernon, New Jersey, USA. It was entitled "Equal but Not Equal" and was about civil rights and the landmark Supreme Court decision ruling in the Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka (1954) case that segregated educational facilities were in violation of the US Constitution. It had been previously argued that if separate, segregated school facilities were comparable they were in fact acceptable and constitutional. This doctrine was called "Separate but Equal" and was deemed by the Supreme Court to be illegal. I've lost my copy of that speech, unfortunately, but I still have the programme, somewhat moth eaten, from that graduation ceremony. I also found the Citizenship Award/medal I received that night.
In 1968, in the aftermath of riots following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that April, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act 1968, outlawing discrimination in housing. That June, Bobby Kennedy, a candidate for US President, was assassinated in Los Angeles. If you haven't seen the Oliver Stone movie "Bobby" or read "Kennedy and King: The President, The Pastor and the Battle over Civil Rights" by Steven Levingston to learn and understand more about those turbulent times, I can recommend both to you. I am now of the view that Bobby Kennedy would have been one of the great US presidents had he lived, far greater than his brother JFK.
Thinking back through the lens of over forty years I'm struck by a few things. I went to a very small suburban primary school in what was at the time a very affluent white community. New Vernon was smaller than Piopio. In fact, there were no families of other races then that I recall. So my graduation speech, however passionate and sincere, must have seemed ironic or naive to some of the adults in the room, if entirely reflective of the time. I remember that it was well received, much to my relief, since I've never been a public speaker. Following graduation I went on to attend a large regional high school that was quite diverse, and then a private women's college in New England, Smith, via scholarship and loans.
For whatever reason it seems I've always been and will always be a proponent of equal opportunity, justice and fairness for all. A believer that anyone can do anything with a good education and a decent chance. Some of this stems from my own modest family background, which didn't include silver spoons, rather education, hard work and luck. Also equal opportunity laws that required employers to hire minorities, including women, at the time I graduated from college/university. I doubt I would have ever had the 40 year career in banking I had without those laws (and quotas) coming into effect. They forced doors to open. Without them there was no incentive for employers to hire anyone but white men.
But that was then, this is now. It is obvious there are battles still to be waged for equality and fairness, with now several generations taking up this cause, both experienced, old campaigners and the young, hand in hand. We shall overcome.
What I'm still mulling over is how I came to be this way early on in life. There weren't many discussions about race at our house, although there were heated debates about politics over the dinner table. My mother was a Democrat and supporter of labour unions, while my father purported to be Republican. Let's just say he was aspirational and leave it at that, but I do remember some rather rowdy discussions. This was also during the Vietnam War.
Perhaps I am the product of robust debate around the dinner table in the 1960s and 1970s. Do you think this same kind of debate happens around dinner tables today? I hope it does, even if the meals are takeaways.
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Yesterday I took a deep breath and dove deep. Into the big freezer in our garage here at Struan Farm, that is.
John purchased it a year or so ago so we'd have space to freeze and store roasted tomatoes, homemade soups and ice creams, surplus fruits like blackcurrants, blueberries and damsons, along with other bounty from the garden and orchard. There's quite a stockpile of the different nuts used to make our "world famous in Piopio" farmstay muesli, which is purchased in quantity wholesale or harvested from our own trees. And I tend to buy meat when it's on special. Yes I know "stockpile" has become a dirty work and point of criticism during COVID-19 after fights over toilet paper, but there are those of us who've always been inclined to be prepared, virus or not. I am of that ilk.
Due to recent sessions of lockdown baking the freezer looked to be reaching capacity. It was time for a bit of reorg, also to see what might be lurking at the bottom. John has been agitating for me to cook a huge pork roast that was in hiding down there somewhere, below the containers of berries and damsons and bags of nuts. There's also surplus powdered lamb's milk and colostrum waiting for next year's pets. Many treasures.
The good news is that I brought the pork roast up to the surface, along with two lamb forequarters and some beef cheeks. Enough to get us through the rest of Level 3 with other stuff in hand, hopefully. And I re-stacked everything, creating heaps more room for apple feijoa crumbles and shortcakes. Off to pre-heat the oven right now!
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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I'm doing my best to eke out this summer's tomato crop through the lockdown period here at Struan Farm and New Zealand. Indications from the daily briefings at 1 p.m. seem to be that lockdown could very well need to be extended, so we're not eating ourselves out of house and home but rather pacing the provisions on hand, including what we grow here. We're trying to avoid any trips further afield to the grocery store, opting if need be for our local dairy for milk and other minor essentials. Neither John nor I have left the property since lockdown.
I've pulled up and composted the tomato plants that have done their dash, with dead or slimey branches, but have left those with healthy ripening fruit. Once any fruit gets remotely pink (or yellow in the case of the Moonglow, Mini Orange or Tangellas) I pop them into the kitchen to finish ripening.
It's these little things that can lend an air of normalcy to our current situation.
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Today is Day 1 of the Level 4 Covid-19 national lockdown here in New Zealand, John and I are hunkering down here at Struan Farm.
My first lockdown job today was vacuuming the house. Normally I just go for the "big chunks," housekeeping not exactly being the way I want to spend my time or my particular forte.
However I've decided to view this lockdown positively. Before The Hobbit filmed in Piopio, we cleaned the Homestead thoroughly in anticipation of a guest associated with the film production. John and I joked that we needed to clean for "Sir Ian," that our guest might be Sir Ian McKellen, aka Gandalf. As it turned out, the joke was on us: we DID end up accommodating Sir Ian! So I was very glad we undertook "the Sir Ian clean," and a very thorough clean has since been referred to as that in our household.
I haven't moved furniture to wash the wooden floors just yet, that will be another day. Along with tackling the linen closet and cleaning the fridge. We've got four weeks and pacing is required.
But the positive news to report is that I've found spiders and cobwebs I hadn't noticed previously, and discovered a cache of jelly beans in my "Jelly Bean Gingerbread House" stashed in a corner of the dining area for the grandkids. We'll hold those in reserve for more desperate times.
As Monty Python says "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life."
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My current mantra is "When the going gets tough, the tough get growing."
I've gotten increasingly nervous over the past few weeks as coronavirus has decimated various countries around the world following the initial outbreak in China, and made progressive inroads here in NZ, basically via people returning from overseas.
Most people who know me know I'm a contingency planner. I'm a bit of a worrier in the best of times. Global pandemics shift me into overdrive. I haven't been hoarding, toilet paper or anything else, but I have bought more food than normal for the freezer and pantry. Anticipating, as someone with a compromised immunity, that at some point I might not be able to go out.
That point arrived on Saturday, when the Prime Minister asked people like me to stay home, not to go out unless absolutely necessary.
So here's the good news. As part of my contingency planning I'd ordered vegetable seeds and purchased seedling plants last week. I've planted silverbeet, spinach, rocket/arugula, beetroot, lettuce, carrots, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, spring onions and parsley. In Veggie World and in the glasshouse here at Struan Farm. (Note: the net curtains are to deter white cabbage butterflies from laying caterpillar eggs on the brassicas.)
Our Monty's Surprise apples are ripe, so we have heaps of apples, some peaches still, quince, ripening pears, fig, walnuts and feijoas. We won't starve. I've got books to read, one last needlepoint stocking to make, and knitting yarn and patterns. We can go out and walk around the farm, it's not the same as being stuck in an apartment or small house in town, we're very lucky.
And we'll share surplus fruit and veggies with the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand, somehow, some way, of course!
Kia kaha, we're all in this together.
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