Struan Farm

Spring Comes to the Glasshouse & Veggie World

August is when things start to gear up on the spring/summer veggie front here at Struan Farm. I do a spring clean of the glasshouse, moving our wooden planters of winter lettuce, spinach, and kale outside to make room for seed trays. Those crops can now finish up outside.

This year I managed to grow tomatoes for the first time over winter in the glasshouse, very exciting! Those plants are having their last gasp before they get removed for the season. And I've managed to grow quite a few seedling damson trees from stones over winter, along with a few "Sanguine" peaches (NZ heirloom formerly called "Blackboy").

But the big news right now is that I've got seed trays started with Cherokee Purple, Black Oxheart, Black Cherry, Vintage Brandywine, and Big Red Heirloom tomatoes going. The latter is basically seeds I've saved from last year's crops. I'm also trying a mix of tomato varieties from Kings Seeds called "Chef's Choice," which sound somewhat like a grab bag chefs prefer. We'll see on those.

I've plants pots with "Black Coral" zucchini seed, "Jarradale," "Queenland Blue" and "Musquee de Provence" pumpkins, "Big Chieftain" butternut squash, Italian Parsley "Gigante," and "Wild Fire" chiles. On the flower front I've done trays with zinnias, marigolds, straw flowers and snap dragons. My troughs of edible flowers are already planted out with nasturtium, viola, dianthus, borage, calendula, dill and cornflower. A number of different European and Maori potato varieties are "chitting" on trays in the garage too.

Outside the other winter veggies are finishing up (carrots, silverbeet, broccoli and cabbage) with spring plantings of coriander, radishes, and spring onions. I'm encouraging the flowering peas and broadbeans to move along, making room for the tomatoes at the end of October.  Labour Weekend is when it all cranks up, hooray!

 

On Teachings from the Cauliflower Gods

I've learnt something new today here at Struan Farm, with thanks once again to the veggie garden.

I went out to harvest some of our first cauliflowers, and discovered slugs on the plants. And not your garden variety disgusting sluggy slug type slugs either. These are sneaky. Many are quite small, and hide out deep in the bottom crevice of the leaves of each plant. They must wait until you've gone away to crawl out and munch on the plant. Cunning slugs.

Of course I jumped into action, not wanting to be outwitted by slugs. (Yes, you know me.) I examined each of the plants and either picked out slugs by hand or used a knife to remove and dispense of them. The cauliflower I picked to mash for dinner with our slow roasting lamb shanks will get a good soak in salted water to draw out any slugs lurking therein. And yes, some came floating to the surface of the bowl, so this is a useful technique.

I'll be on slug patrol daily now to keep the cauliflower safe, rest assured.

On Getting Oneself Cracking

There are certain tasks that can be viewed as tedious if one lets them. Three such tasks immediately come to mind here at Struan Farm: ironing, cleaning out fridges, and--last but not least-- shelling walnuts.

I've been scrupulously avoiding the two bulging hessian sacks sittings out in the garage that are stuffed with the remains of our walnut harvest. Some of this season's bumper crop has gone off to good causes, but what's left patiently waits to be shelled and put into ziplock bags for the freezer. We go through quite a lot of nuts in our homemade muesli for the farmstay, also use walnuts in baking and on winter breakfast porridge. And stale walnuts from the supermarket simply don't compare to fresh from the farm, the taste is markedly different.

Today I've decided to approach the walnuts and the worst of the fridges with a positive attitude rather than dread. This must be best for all of us. It's a rainy day, and I hate blobbing around. First I tackled the garage fridge, which we use for farmstay breakfast provisions in season, and in autumn/winter to store, hatch ziplock bags of heritage seedling fruit stones in compost and sometimes scion wood for grafting fruit trees. The stones have now pretty much hatched and been planted out into pots in the glasshouse, so it's well past time to clean the fridge. And surprise, it didn't take that long to do.

With that job done it's onto the walnuts. Bag #1 has been relocated onto the kitchen island, bowls and tools have been assembled and the cracking has commenced. This job will take many days, but at least the train has now left the station for nutville. There is even a quantity of beautiful shelled walnuts in the bowl.

But here's the good news--the sun is coming out, a reprieve from the universe. I've made a start and apparently that's good enough for the powers that be. I can go outside and play!

Damson Jamming @StruanFarm

Now I'm onto the damsons, having worked my way through the stash of blackcurrants from this past summer's harvest here at Struan Farm. I've become a huge fan of damsons, having discovered them quite inadvertently when a local person dropped a box of them off at Piopio's Community Fruit & Veg Stand two years ago.

I'd heard of them but had never seen or cooked with them before. About that same time Lynda Hallinan of NZ Gardener magazine fame published her definitive book: "Damson: From hedgerow to harvest." The book provides a good amount of background on the history of the fruit, along with growing and using it.

This year I've decided it's pretty much blackcurrant and spiced damson jam for our farmstay guests. The blackcurrant is now made and stored in sealed jars in the pantry, so I'm onto the damson.

The damsons are put into a pot, covered with water and simmered until soft, anywhere from 30-45 minutes. Once they're cool they're drained and put through a food mill, which removes the stones and skins. The puree is then measured and put into the jam pan and gently reheated. At this time I add some fresh lemon juice and Syrian 7 Spice mix (or whichever spice mix you prefer). Once the puree is warm sugar is added and dissolved. Basically if the puree measures four cups I add the same amount of sugar, since damsons are tart. This is then cooked to set point, which I determine by putting a plate in the freezer and dribbling a stream of warm jam across it. If I am able to run my finger through the jam without it running, it's pretty much done. This is not an exact science, you need to figure out what works for you. 

This is batch #3:

Syrian 7 Spice damson jam is my absolute favourite. It can be used warmed as a sauce on ice cream, in baking, or on toast, scones, etc. Find room at your place for a damson tree! And I need to go find some more jars to keep the jam making exercise on track these rainy winter days.

Damsons, The Next Generation

I was very excited this past week when I went to check on the bags of damson stones in compost I'd stashed in the garage fridge this past autumn here at Struan Farm. They'd begun to sprout, hooray! 

Now I have several trays of damson seedling trees growing in our glasshouse being nurtured along. The two different types are from heritage trees still fruiting in the wider Piopio area, one from a settler orchard in nearby Mapiu, the other from Grandpa Anselmi's damson tree here in Piopio.

Grandpa was an Italian immigrant to New Zealand who made grappa from the fruit of his tree, a rather special historic tidbit in my view. While his descendants don't use them to make grappa, they do dabble making damson gin and vodka with the fruit, along with vinegar, glaze, jams (my absolute favourite jam on the planet), and paste. There was some thought that this tree might be on its last legs, it's leaning over in a paddock, so last year I grew a new one for the family from a stone. However the tree must have sensed it was being threatened, and this season burst into major growth and fruit. It's funny how trees can read the minds of those around them and react to that, isn't it?

Damsons are a type of prune plum, so can also be dehydrated to make prunes. If you'd like to learn more about them, order and read Lynda Hallinan's definitive book. It has heaps of recipes and is a great gift for anyone who either has a tree or might be interested in learning more.

I am excited to be able to grow these trees and pass them along to the next generation. Of course I'll plant one of each here at Struan Farm, somewhere.

Raindrops on Veggies

It's been raining here at Struan Farm over the past week. You'll hear no complaints from me about that given our recent drought. I'm not sure if it's considered officially over at this point, but the situation has improved considerably. Grass is growing before winter, something that prompts farmers to heave sighs of relief.

Out in the backyard at Struan Farm I've been captivated by the glistening, crystalline beauty of raindrops on the brassicas. In certain light they sparkle, incredibly so. In the Sound of Music Julie Andrews waxes lyrical about raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. Let me tell you raindrops on veggies are magical too. You just have to stop and notice them.

I suspect we're all appreciating the small things at the moment.

Tomatoes and Veggies, The Winter Edition

I haven't been the best at blogging during lockdown, my apologies. With John working from home my office and computer have been commandeered, as has the dining room table. And yes, he does have an entire spare room designated as his home office as well, although we've now learned it doesn't get our wonderful rural wifi internet signal terribly well. Zoom video conferences have restricted my movements around the house.

So I've been preoccupied managing around "All Things John" as a result rather than all of my normal pre-COVID activities. Like most people, there's been a new normal.

But I'm wanting to get back on track with Level 2 starting to happen shortly. And there's good news to report from here at Struan Farm!

The tomato plants grown from seed to experiment with a winter crop in the glasshouse have been thriving. I've got seven big plants flowering and starting to fruit, with four more seedlings off to the side. I managed to give some of my surplus seedlings to others in the community with glasshouses, but still have four remaining. They're vigorous and flowering. I can't bear to toss them into the compost bin, so I may end up putting them into big pots and staking them, turning the glasshouse into even more of a tomato jungle than it already is.

I've also got planters going with rocket/arugula, mesclun lettuce, Italian parsley, spring onions, silverbeet/chard, spinach, Cavalo Nero and another type of kale in the glasshouse as well. All started from seed. Outside in the troughs and beds are silverbeet, beets/beetroot, curly kale, spinach, winter lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, peas and coriander. Snails and slugs decimated the first rows of carrots I planted, but I have resown seed and returned the favour so it doesn't happen again.

What we don't eat will go to the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand, due to re-open in Level 2, or the local foodbank. We're all in this together.

On Diving Deep & Finding Buried Treasure

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.  

On Time & Tomatoes

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.

Update From the Glasshouse

It's good to see that the planters I've sown in the glasshouse here at Struan Farm with veggies are already sprouting! Lettuce, rocket/arugula, spinach, spring onion, silverbeet/chard and parsley. I've also planted a few seedling tomato plants and some kale, covered with net curtain to fend off white cabbage butterflies.

I'm encouraged also that the seeds I planted outside in Veggie World and the raised bed in front have germinated as well. All except the carrots, which I suspect have a longer germination period. 

I've got enough seed left to do some sequential sowings in other planters too. 

In the veggie troughs I've got seedling beets, silverbeet/chard, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage going as well. Suspect I could be dropping bags of veggies on neighbours' doorsteps in a few weeks time.