Struan Farm

The Mountain of Muck

You might think that it's all beautiful flower arrangements and delicious home baking at Struan Farm, so I'm here to tell you that this isn't always the case!

This week, for example, I got to scale the mountain of muck removed from the pond by the digger, and spread grass seed. 

It was a delicate job, one false step and there'd be a loud sucking sound and I'd be up to my elbows in smelly gook. Fortunately only one close call, I learned that lesson fast.

Next the plug gets put back in and the pond refills!

Kale Smoothie

I've been wanting to try the "Kale Smoothie" recipe from Annabel Langbein's latest Free Range Cook book "Through the Seasons," and finally got around to it this past week. We've got loads of fresh kale in the veggie garden at Struan Farm.

Fresh kale, yogurt, banana, kiwi fruit, honey, chia seeds, and apple juice are blended together (coconut water or orange juice can be used instead of apple). Really good, even John loved it!

Dogged Persistence

Yes, another Clifford story. Our resident dog at Struan Farm is a character for sure.

We're not sure if he was just showing off for us, or if there was a possum up the tree. But we did make him get down before he broke anything. He's eleven years old, even if you'd never know it from this sort of behavior!

Weekend Flowers

It was a busy weekend in Piopio because of the annual WOMAD world music festival in nearby New Plymouth. Struan Farm's farmstay was no exception, we had people staying with us enroute south to New Plymouth, and then on the way home. We're 1 1/2hours from New Plymouth, after quite a stretch of windy, scenic road.

I pretty much dropped the ball on flowers for our table this weekend as a result, but here are the guests' flowers: 

It's a transitional time in the gardens. Roses are pretty much done, except for orange "Frilly Jilly," so I'm working with dahlias, daisies, hydrangea, and the last of the sweet peas, filling in with other "bits and pieces."

 

Starting from Scratch

I've become interested in "chicken scratch" embroidery the past few years, picking up samples as I've come across them in "op shops" here in New Zealand. The (typically) older ladies who work at the shops smile at me for doing so, telling me that these cross stitch projects were usually the first embroidery projects done by young girls at primary school "in the day."

Chicken scratch originated in America with the early settlers. It is always done on checked gingham fabric, using a limited number of stitches (running stitch, cross stitch, double cross stitch, woven oval and/or woven circle). The stitches are all done on either the white blocks or the darkest colored block. 

If you're interested in learning more, a tutorial can be found here. And yes, this is on my list of things to do, I've got a stash of different colors of gingham fabric in the closet, calling out my name!

 

The River, Once Again

John, Clifford and I had a group outing down to the river at Struan Farm this past week. John and Clifford wanted a swim, and I wanted to see the latest iteration of the corrugated rock formations with the lower levels of the Mangaotaki. 

My boys. Quite the duo, aren't they?

Gauging the Situation

This is one of those rural things. Rain gauges, that is. A few Christmases ago I bought John a rain gauge for Struan Farm. His dad always had one outside near the swimming pool, but that disappeared a few renovation projects ago, along with the pool.

But what I've found living in Piopio is that when it rains, everyone talks in millimetres: "we got 10," "we only got 5," etc. I haven't been able to do that, saying instead "we got quite a bit." Not exactly talking the talk, were we? 

Until now that is:

We got a much needed 30! 

The Mad Mower Runs Off Course

John had a bit of an "oops" this past week mowing the lawns at Struan Farm on his four wheel ride on mower. He is known for taking this mower where others fear to tread, and this time rode too closely to soft soil near the front gate of the new house.

Ahem. Collateral damage to several of my hedge plants, which had been growing quite nicely but will now need replacing. If there's any good news to report on this situation, it's that the Mad Mower was fine/uninjured, he was able to tow the mower out of its predicament with the tractor, and he missed the rhodo carefully planted at our front entrance gate entirely.

The Mad Mower lives to mow another day, madly as always I'm sure!

Latest Farm Food

Lots of green tomatoes in the veggie gardens at Struan Farm, along with baby fennel and zucchini, so I decided it was time to make a "Green Tomato and Roasted Walnut Salad" to accompany our snapper for dinner.

This was one of those times it's quite handy to have a mandolin (I love my Zyliss one, which is sharp enough to get the job done without being too finger threatening).

Green tomato, cucumber, zucchini and fennel are thinly sliced and tossed. The dressing is made with creme fraiche, olive oil, white wine vinegar, garlic, Dijon mustard and honey, and drizzled on top. Roasted walnuts, fennel fronds and lemon zest are then scattered on top.

For dessert I decided to test out a "Grape Bakewell Tart" recipe I've been wanting to make from a recent issue of MindFood magazine. It happens to be gluten free, which is neither here nor there for John and me, but it's always good to have GF recipes in the repetoire given increasing numbers of people these days who aren't eating gluten.

It's the first time I had to peel grapes for anything, which of course brought to mind (my mind at least) that famous Mae West quote. The recipe uses rice flour, ground almonds, and an ingredient called "xanthan gum" which I had problems finding. I substituted "guar gum," which I did find in our local New World supermarket, adjusting the quantity a bit according to info I found on the internet about all that.

It turned out really well, although it's quite rich, so not something I will make all that often. Saves me from having to peel grapes too; unlike Mae, I don't have Beulah around to peel them for me!

 

 

Weekend Flowers

I'm starting to be able to pick flower arrangements from the first garden sister-in-law Anna and I planted at the new house at Struan Farm this past winter. And I'm a really happy camper when it delivers a weekend table arrangement like this:

Orange roses ("Frilly Jilly") and dahlias, pink roses and dahlias, and some wee daisies. The dahlias are "Struan Farm heirloom" varieties split off from those growing in the Homestead gardens, first time I've done that so glad it was a success.

Word du Jour: Umami

I haven't done a "word du jour" blog post for awhile, but am prompted to do so after hearing the word "umami" repeatedly on recent MasterChef Australia episodes. I'd first come across it a few years ago in Pasadena, California, where there's a trendy burger restaurant by this name in Old Town Pasadena. Since the judges on MasterChef were throwing "umami" around like we should all know what it means, thought it was worth exploring to make sure we do.

"Umami" is now considered one of the five basic tastes, along with sweet, sour, salty and bitter. It is a savoury taste imparted by glutamate and certain other amino acids. Where things get murky is that there is also a more nuanced Japanese cultural meaning that no one really seems to be able to put into English definitively. So I won't try to explain this and muddy the waters further.

Parmesan cheese is considered umami. Does this help?

 

 

 

Plum Crostada

At this time of the year most people have plums coming out of their ears, and are looking to deploy them or give them away. Unfortunately this is not the case for us at Struan Farm just yet, the plum trees we've planted in our orchard have yet to fruit, and the one heirloom plum tree we have in our old orchard was stripped of fruit by marauding birds before we could get to it.

So I actually had to BUY fruit to try out this recipe for a "Plum Crostada with Walnuts and Star Anise."

 

It was worth the expenditure! Soft sweet crust, very easy to make. And it lasted three nights for us over the weekend. The recipe calls for ground star anise, an ingredient I hadn't seen or used before. I ended up grinding whole star anise in my mortar and pestle, which worked fine. Caster sugar, ground walnuts, ground star anise, ginger and clovers are sprinkled on the bottom of the pastry and on top of the fruit after it's laid out in rows. The edges of the pastry are folded over the fruit in a rectangle, then brushed with milk. Simple and seasonal.

Served with a bit of mascarpone whipped with brown sugar.

The Magic of the Tawas

The tawa grove at Struan Farm has always been one of my favorite places at the farm. I love the trees, they are rather majestic and have lots of character, with interesting undulating trunks and roots.

Of course the grove is now home to our residents gnomes, but at this time of the year scores of wood pigeons converge to eat the fruit. We watch them swooping in from the deck of our house. At any time there might be five-six up in the trees, hanging out patiently on limbs under the cool canopy or eating away.

The grove is beside one of our two QE II Trust protected bush reserves. We find ourselves wanting to extend the bush area to incorporate these tawas too, have effectively already done so by fencing out the stock to protect the trees.

Warm Apple Salad

I came across an interesting recipe for a "Warm Apple Salad with Honey, Pecans & Thyme" in the current issue of NZ House & Garden magazine (March). As previously reported, we've got greens coming out of our ears in the veggie garden at Struan Farm, along with some apples from our orchard, so the planets were seemingly aligned on this one.

 

Yep, they were. The salad was excellent! Sliced apples and pecans are cooked until tender in a small amount of butter, then a bit of red wine vinegar, neutral oil, honey and fresh thyme are added to the pan. Once everything is warmed through, it is poured over greens (mesclun and rocket/arugula) and served immediately.

Greens, Greens, & More Greens

At one point a few months ago I was worried about not having enough fresh salad greens in the veggie gardens at Struan Farm, they couldn't grow fast enough for me.

 

Clearly nothing to worry about now! I am distributing fresh, organic greens nightly to our farmstay guests as well, along with tomatoes, zucchini and radishes. Works for everyone, plus nothing is going to waste. I've just planted some winter varieties to test those out next.

Oodles of Zoodles

The editor's letter of the current issue of NZ Gardener Magazine makes mention of "zoodles" as a great way to use surplus zucchini from the garden. This was a new one on me-- noodles made out of zucchini with a "spiraliser" vegetable peeler. I was intrigued! A quick search on the Millys Kitchen website and one was on its way to Piopio.

Below is my first attempt. I mixed the zoodles with angel hair pasta, parmesan and freshly ground pepper for a quick dinner.

Next I will try nests of baked potato (poodles?) and kumara (koodles?). This little kitchen tool introduces lots of fun possibilities!

Bushed, Yet Again

John and I took a walk this week through our other QE II Trust protected native bush reserve, on the way to an area of adjacent paddock that he's fenced off to plant more trees.

We're extending this existing track down to the river, so visitors can walk down one way through the bush and return via the river metal/gravel track for a bit of variety.

This native reserve has some significant rimu, totara and miro trees, you can literally feel their presence and stature (at least I can, but I may be just a wee bit hyper sensitive to trees!).

 

It was good to see that the little red bench I'd painted and installed along the track for a contemplation spot many years ago now is holding up relatively well too.

 

A Draining Experience

It was time to pull the plug at the pond at Struan Farm. We do so every five or so years, when the weeds start to encroach and the algae gets bad. We choose not to dump chemicals into the water to try to deal with this for a few reasons. Yes, have read about the weed eating fish, but the related bio security issues and controls sound a bit complicated to contend with!

And so we drain it, using a plug installed for this purpose, give it some time to dry out a wee bit, then bring in the digger to scoop out the gook. It's a bit unsightly and messy for a while, but then everything goes back to lovely and serene pretty quickly when the plug is replaced and the pond refills.

We've timed this after our peak guest season so all will be in order before the next. Also coordinated with the frogs and the ducks, the live ones that is. Hughie, Louie, Tui and Dewey, the resident duck decoys, are left to fend for themselves. 

And always great when the dog jumps into the muck, isn't it?....

Autumn Raspberries

This is one of those good news, bad news stories. The good news is that beautiful autumn raspberries are now available at Piopio Berry Orchard.

There is a very short window of time when strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries are all available at Piopio Berry Orchard, and this would be it. But the days for strawberries and blueberries this season are numbered. The bad news is that summer is on the wane, autumn is rapidly approaching.

But if that's the bad news, we're actually okay, aren't we?

The First Wave of Natives Has Landed

Made a quick trip to Auckland at the end of last week for some minor surgery, so I was away from Struan Farm briefly. The good news part of it was that John and I had time to visit Manukau Institute of Technology's School of Horticulture. The school has an extensive nursery open to the public that offers low cost native shrubs, perennials and bedding plants for sale.

We filled the car with native renga renga lilies, kowhai, totara, manuka, rimu, ake ake, and a number of other native shrubs. Most will be planted along the top of the roadside bush at the new house, the one that I've been busy cleaning out over the past two weeks. I've been pulling out and killing bracken fern, blackberry, buttercup and black wattle, while nephew Mike has helped with some of the more problematic weeds like barberry and cotoneaster. We're going to fill in densely with totara, rimu and kowhai, basically extending the existing line and look of the native bush from the back near the veggie garden, since we love the look and texture plus the fact it attracts native birds. We'll also plant native shrubs on a rather steep bank out from the house in tiers, to landscape and stabilise this area on the edge of the drive.

The renga rengas will be planted at the entrance to our big tawa grove, where they're waiting patiently by Ringo along with the others. They'll be watered daily until the weather is such that they can be planted.

 

John is already planning his next section of native planting on another area of the farm down by the river, he'll return to MIT to fill up the car soon. This is the first installment of what will be a very busy autumn and winter planting at Struan Farm.