Struan Farm

Jam for Lambs?

Strawberry and blueberry jams with some quince jelly thrown in. Sister-in-law Anna and I travelled over to see friend Mel at Piopio Station to make the case for some pet lambs when/if she has any abandoned ones looking for a home. She was out on the farm somewhere, but I left a Struan Farm bag with a note and the jams/jelly. Hopefully she's still in the same house, otherwise someone else will enjoy them. Perhaps they'll call us if they have any rejected lambs either way, call it a bribe if you will.

It's getting to be about that time.

 

Standing in Place

Actually we haven't been standing in place, we've made major progress on the Piopio "Community Fruit & Veg Stand"  over the past day. John and Mike took the stand structure into Piopio village on the trailer and slotted it into its niche next to the Mustard Seed Op Shop, installed the shelving, and bolted it into the heavy wooden stand.

Now we're just doing some fine finishing touches ahead of Friday's scheduled opening at 11 a.m. John decided it needs a stained flashing around the front. Our official "Community Fruit & Veg Stand" sign has yet to arrive, so I've done up a temporary laminated "jobby" as well as a blackboard telling people "Opening Friday 11 a.m. --God willin' and the creek don't rise." 

I'll eventually recycle the blackboard and fancy it up a wee bit so we can list what's on offer, more or less. We're also talking with Kenny Coll, our local upholsterer, about making a plastic curtain that can be rolled up and down to address especially bad weather and the rumoured roving dogs at night. If that happens it will be after the stand is open and we are able to determine if it's needed.

Progress Peeps!

Making a Stand, Continued

I've just spent about ten minutes trying to post this on the Struan Farm FB page with no luck, it just won't upload, so will do an extra blog post today with an update on our progress on the "Community Fruit & Veg Stand" for Piopio.

John has been busy measuring and sawing away in his workshop, pretty much all day. As you might expect, he likes construction projects, and this one is no exception. I've stained the recycled timber base to be used for the floor. John has been making frames for the bases of the shelves (note the mitred corners, he goes a bit overboard). We're using redwood timber leftover from the building of our garage and workshop, wood that was milled from trees grown here at Struan Farm. He also found some leftover colour steel for the roof.

Once the structure is complete John and nephew Mike will take the frame and base into Piopio for onsite installation. After that we can get it signed off and officially open! They'll also need to clean up and level the site, which may happen this afternoon if it's not raining.

It seems my enthusiasm for this project is somewhat contagious! I'm hoping we can get sign off and the official sign before the stand is put on the site, we'll see what the rules are.

 

Making a Stand

Sorry I'm late with today's blog post, we've been away from Struan Farm for a few days.

But we've been busy, rest assured! One of the things I've been working on is the possibility of a "Community Fruit & Veg Stand" for Piopio. This is a movement taking NZ by storm at the moment, with people and community groups organising themselves with the help of a fellow named Mark Dennis, the brainchild behind this fantastic initiative. Mark was recently profiled on TV1 as a "Good Sort."

I've been able to talk to several locals supportive of the idea, and also about the best possible location. Thankfully the head of our local Anglican op shop, "The Mustard Seed," was thrilled to have the stand placed outside the shop in a small niche that heretofore has been a neglected garden. "Project Piopio Trust," several members of whom are also keen on the community stand idea, agreed to move the children's art currently displayed in this area to allow us to erect the stand here.

For those who aren't familiar with the movement, it encourages people with surplus fruit and vegetables from their home gardens to donate that to the community. People can then swap what they have for what they might not, or simply take what they'd like so the food doesn't go to waste. It's a great idea, isn't it?

So here's the site:

Here's John measuring:

I'm hearing hammering coming from the workshop already. Here's the recycled base we'll use:

John and nephew Mike are going into Piopio this afternoon with the trailer to clean out the ground for the site.  Mark Dennis signs us off, provides signage and puts us on the "Community Fruit & Veg Stands" map as well.

Will keep you posted on our progress and the grand opening! Right now Struan Farm has got walnuts, lemons, mandarins, rhubarb, herbs, maybe some greens, silverbeet/swiss chard and beetroot to share. I've bought some little bins for the produce and will make little signs for what I put in there.

Hope our local friends and community will support the cause, it's a good one from my perspective. I'll be taking flyers to the schools when things are up and running too.

On a Mission

John and I recently took a detour on our way home to Struan Farm from one of my local heritage fruit tree adventures. We wanted to see a swing bridge constructed by locals to allow for easier access to an historic Wesleyan Maori mission site at "Whakatumutumu." A very visible cross marks the site on the hilltop, but apparently there is also a cairn commemorating the chapel established by the Rev. Frederick Miller. Miller was sent out from London to New Zealand in 1840. He died eight years later of tuberculosis at age 32, but he and his wife lived on the remote location, ministered to local Maori, and raised three children.

We didn't have time to hike up to the top, which we'll do when some grandchildren next visit. I suspect the views will be amazing. We did see the swing bridge and an old apple tree right near the entrance to the track.

I seem to be finding old fruit trees wherever I look at the moment. This one needs some TLC, a bit of a prune. Although we've been advised it is most likely a "wild" apple grown from a seed, I can't help but wonder if it was somehow associated with the mission. Historical records note that there were apples and fig trees planted at the site.


 

Thank Heavens for The Fat Pigeon!

We're thankful here at Struan Farm for Piopio's award winning cafe, The Fat Pigeon, for many reasons. Most people in the know would agree that the cafe literally saved our provincial King Country village many years ago now. 

During 2006 it was publicised in the region that Piopio was "dying." It had become increasingly difficult to recruit new staff from outside the district to the town's school and shops, for farm managers and workers, mechanics and vets.

Something about the stigma of being labeled as "dying" galvanised the community to take action. This is a rural area with a rich Maori history, where families have farmed for several generations and still do. Public meetings were held, consultants retained, and working groups established to generate ideas to turn the situation around. A public survey confirmed that three essential services were desired: doctor, postal service, and last but not least: a good cafe. 

Piopio is situated on the main road south, SH3, midway between Hamilton to the north and New Plymouth to the south. Convincing some of that traffic to stop was critical to Piopio's survival and commercial success.

Four families got together and established a privately funded community development company. The group soon grew to sixteen. Research on a cafe business followed with the assistance of Craig McFarlane (New Plymouth based Ozone Coffee). It was clear from the start that there was only one person to run Piopio's cafe: local Melanie Simpson.

As you might expect, there were fits and starts, but to make a long blog post short, The Fat Pigeon Cafe was built next to the public toilets and Kara Park in April 2009, and opened in June. The Piopio College carpentry class constructed a fence and bridge across to the park. Investors cracked in on the landscaping. The builder spoke to local school groups. Excitement was in the air, and everyone in Piopio felt part of it.

The Fat Pigeon Cafe opened its doors during the global financial crisis, in the middle of winter. The cafe succeeded, undaunted. It turns out there was real demand for a cafe in our country town on the main road. Especially one serving amazing, delicious food and excellent Ozone coffee. Word of mouth spread, awards were won. The line of customers is often out the door. 

More good news: in 2011 Peter Jackson's Hobbit crew invaded Piopio, filming a segment of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" at Denize Bluffs in the Mangaotaki Valley (now open as Hairy Feet Waitomo Film location).

So Piopio is now thriving. We have visitors from New Zealand and overseas flocking to our town (excuse the sheep analogy), the country town "saved" by our cafe. This week we have both Japanese and Australian guests staying here at Struan Farm.

But while these visitors are important to commercial sustainability, The Fat Pigeon wouldn't be the success it is without continued community support. Locals frequent the cafe and book catering for important occasions throughout the year.  Here at Struan Farm we use the catering team for events held at the farm, and direct our farmstay guests into town to the cafe and its sister Night Owl Restaurant for dinner.

I am personally thankful to have the Fat Pigeon for two reasons in particular. In winter when John is up north on business and the rain is going sideways, I am happy to have a local cafe for friendly faces and an excellent coffee (and perhaps breakfast or a baked treat) when I make the weekly trip into the dump.

What's prompted this post today is that at this time of the year, The Fat Pigeon is happy to take my garden surplus as/if/when.  As you might suspect, at the moment that's TOMATOES. 

 

I'll trade tomatoes for coffee vouchers any time! 

In the Holiday Mode

Here in New Zealand our Christmas desserts tend toward pavlovas, trifles, and peak summer fruit. And here at Struan Farm we are very lucky to have Piopio Berry Orchard on our doorstep, lavishing us with a "berry trifecta" of amazing strawberries, blueberries and raspberries at this time of the year.

This weekend John and I have a special visitor from the UK staying with us, grandson Charlie. We're going to the Piopio Santa Parade tonight, but for tomorrow night I've decided to make a special festive dessert, Mindfood's "Christmas Berry Tiramisu."

Trifles tend to taste better made ahead and macerating in the fridge, which works really well at this busy time of the year. But do you think he'll like it? I know John and I will!

 

First Berries of the Season

Piopio Berry Orchard is open for the season, woo hoo! And even better news, they are starting to pick strawberries, woo hoo! Usually they do a soft opening Labour Weekend, selling ice creams, coffees and asparagus until the berries start to come on, so I hadn't expected berries to be available quite this soon. We had both farmstay guests staying at Jim's Hut and friends for dinner this weekend, and of course everyone got to sample the first of the season.

I'd planned to make Annabel Langbein's sticky date pudding with Chelsea Winter's easy caramel sauce for dessert (forgive the name dropping, but there are different versions of these out there, including by these two cooks, and I prefer these particular recipes). With strawberries available, however, the menu was changed to feature our local Piopio berries. A "strawberry wreath" it was, in fact John asked me to make two, one for each end of the table, to make sure there were plenty of strawberries for our guests.

 

 

Struan Farm, You Media Darling

Just kidding, but I was very pleased to pick up the latest issue of North & South Magazine, NZ's #1 current affairs publication, to see an article on the recent "Running of the Sheep" in Te Kuiti. The team that wrote and photographed for the article stayed with us at Struan Farm during their visit to the area, and we were hoping we might get a positive mention.

Well, guess what? It was more than a "mention!" Several lovely photos by photographer Ken Downie, of the track that passes alongside the pond, a delicious-looking bowl of my homemade muesli with Piopio Berry Orchard berries, and one of John & me (both of us are rather camera shy, so we're flinching a bit about that one...). Jenny Nicholls, who authored the article, was kind enough to send along Ken's photos for us to share with you.

And to quote what she had to say about Struan Farm:

A drop-dead gorgeous 25 ha sheep farm north south of Piopio studded with two blocks of QE2 Trust-covenanted native bush, plus park-like stands of established exotic trees planted by the owner's parents before the mid-1950's. Accommodation options are private and self-contained, and consist of a lovely homestead built in 1908, a three-bedroom farm cottage, and a mega-cute riverside hut. You will find plentiful breakfast ingredients, including homemade bread and muesli and local berries. For a bit of an adventure, we loved the awesome "Jim's Hut" next to the Mangaotaki River."

Many thanks to the team at North & South for this. They also had great things to say about Piopio's "legendary" Fat Pigeon Cafe and its owner Melanie Simpson. Our friends at Hairy Feet Waitomo also were mentioned. Hooray for Piopio!

This Week's Slice

We're into week 11 with the contractors staying at the Cottage here at Struan Farm. They're still working hard to reinforce those unstable Paemako roadside cliffs.

I'm starting to run low on different slice/bar/cookie recipes, have pretty much exhausted my standard repertoire. I sent out an SOS to my friends at Piopio's world famous Fat Pigeon Cafe, who generously shared their "Snickers Slice" recipe. I'd tasted it in the cafe and was rather blown away by how delicious it is. Although it is the sort of thing you don't want to have sitting around the house asking to be eaten, or at least I don't. It's far too tempting and indulgent!

While relatively easy, this is not a quick recipe. It has a number of steps with the various layers involved. A crumb base is made with two types of flours, coco, coconut, brown sugar, melted butter and peanut butter. While this is pre-baking the caramel is made, then poured onto the cooled base. (This is pretty standard protocol for most types of caramel slice.) When the slice comes out of the oven and is still hot peanuts are sprinkled on top. This then cools before the dark chocolate icing is made and spread on top. Then everything must set until firm--I put it in the fridge to make sure it was solid to cut.

So far the guys have liked the Chewy Fudge Brownies, Coffee Walnut Slice and Caramel Oat Slice the best. But word came back that this one was voted #1 by them all!

Welcoming Special Guests to Piopio

We're very excited to have a team from North & South magazine staying with us at Struan Farm for two nights this weekend.

They've come to Piopio and the wider Waitomo area to explore some of our more "off the beaten track" visitor attractions such as Hairy Feet Waitomo and the Timber Trail cycleway, also to attend Te Kuiti's annual "Running of the Sheep" at The Great NZ Muster.  They'll be covering quite a bit of ground in a short time.

Lots of flowers to welcome them to the Cottage, along with our signature chocolate chip cookies, freshly baked wholemeal bread, homemade muesli, homemade jam, Piopio Berry Orchard raspberries and blueberries, etc. etc.

Hope they have some time to stop and smell the flowers!

Tractor Training Programme

Friends Rob and Lin visited us at Struan Farm over the weekend from Cheltenham, UK. In addition to visits to nearby Hairy Feet Waitomo and Waitomo Caves, we had dinner one night at Piopio's Night Owl Restaurant.

Rob also wanted a chance to drive our vintage David Brown 850 tractor (aged circa 1965 or thereabouts). Fortunately the weather cooperated, and he was able to get out in the Pet Paddock for a spin. Once he got the hang of it John had him go up the hill on the Old Orchard Paddock, and through a gate. 

 

Quite the expert, Rob!

Strawberry Fields Forever?

I wish! Strawberry season is coming to a close this week at Piopio Berry Orchard, and I'm quite sad.

Normally by the end of the season each year I've had my fill, and am ready for a change to blueberries and even raspberries. But this year I don't feel like I've had enough strawberries just yet. Or blueberries either for that matter. Maybe it's because we really haven't had much of a summer.

I'll get over it, but I'll miss them until next year.

Let's Not Forget the Strawberries

Just because the blueberries are peaking doesn't mean we've stopped eating Piopio Berry Orchard strawberries just yet here at Struan Farm!

My latest experiment involved strawberry sorbet. We had a friend visiting who is both vegan and gluten free due to a serious health issue. That meant no meat, fish, eggs, wheat flour or dairy at meals, rather lots of veggies, non-gluten grains, and fruit. I've found it very easy to contend with gluten free cooking without much thought, but the combination of gluten free along with no dairy or eggs is a bit more challenging.

So for dinner we had zoodles (zucchini noodles made with the spiralizer) jazzed up with lots of garlic, veggies and fresh herbs, quinoa tabbouleh, and a bean salad, along with eye fillet on the BBQ for the carnivores.

I decided to test out making a strawberry sorbet for dessert, since sorbets are made with no dairy. I'm very glad I did, it was AMAZING! Really intense strawberry flavour, much better than the ice cream....recipe once again from David Lebovitz' "The Perfect Scoop."

David recommends serving this with a Plum Compote, easily made with fresh plums simmered in a simple sugar syrup with fresh blueberries (or raspberries) mixed in after cooking. I made this for our guests (always good to have a use for our plums....), but the next night John and I finished the rest of the sorbet up with some fresh blueberries. I'm thinking I need to make a few batches of the sorbet for the freezer before the strawberry season is finished...

Peak Blueberries

You've heard of "peak oil" and "peak stuff" no doubt. But "peak blueberries?" Yep, it's happening right now in Piopio. Mike from Piopio Berry Orchard has told me so, and he would know! The blueberries are peaking for this season. 

The good news is that this means the price has come down a bit, and it's time to make blueberry jam here at Struan Farm. While strawberry seems to be the favourite of our farmstay guests, I prefer blueberry (or blackcurrant), since it's not as sweet. So this batch is really for us with the random jar for a farmstay guest or two.

I've realised I need to make a few more batches of strawberry jam for the pantry as well. While I could use frozen berries during the year to make up jam and restock my supply, I think the fresh berries make superior jam. And our guests seem to think so too.

Jamming at Struan Farm, yet again!

First Piopio Blueberries of the Season!

Called into Piopio Berry Orchard this morning to restock our supply of fresh strawberries. Good news--both the blueberries and raspberries have landed! Prices are a tad high on the blueberries and raspberries right now (don't tell John, puleese...). So I restrained myself on the raspberries (for now) and bought just strawberries and blueberries. 

Am devouring these by the handful....good for my brain and vision I think!

It All Happens in Piopio....

Last Friday night a fundraiser was held in Piopio to benefit Project Piopio Trust, a community trust that does lots of good works and beautification projects around our village. NZ chef, restauranteur, author, and all-around-nice guy Al Brown came to town with his brother to speak to a group of about 200 guests. Piopio's Fat Pigeon Cafe catered drinks and nibbles. It was a fun, successful evening.

Of course I managed to score one of his cookbooks:

And p.s. guess where he stayed?!

He's promised to come back. Fingers crossed!

Wedding Whirlwind

It was quite the week here last week at Struan Farm--we're still recovering!

Our farmstay accommodation had been booked out for over a year now for family and friends attending the Piopio/New Zealand wedding of local girl Gemma to her husband Jamal, with many guests travelling from overseas.

Arrangements had been made to have both the ceremony and reception at a remote rural airstrip on a private farm, sitting atop a cliff with 360 degree views of rather spectacular "Middle Earth" landscape. An amazing glass-walled marquee was to be erected, with guests ferried to the site by van.

Weather forecasts for the week started to look rather grim. One particularly bad day of high winds and heavy rain was predicted. A Plan B was required, and with family staying here the couple decided to have the wedding ceremony instead in the gardens at Struan Farm, with the reception at the original location.

Suffice it to say that everyone kicked into overdrive. I spent much of the week on my knees trimming and weeding, while John lived up to his reputation as the "Mad Mower." We wanted everything here to be beautiful for Gemma and Jamal and their guests.

It poured rain on Friday. Saturday was wedding day, and guess what? It was sunny and beautiful. Guests were brought from Piopio here by bus. The wedding ceremony was held beneath the flowering dogwood tree in the Homestead gardens, the symbol of "love undiminished by adversity." Following the ceremony Gemma and Jamal were whisked off by helicopter for photographs on the coast. A drone filmed around the farm during all this, can't wait to see the footage from that!

We will eventually have some professional photographs to share, and did not photograph during the actual ceremony. But below are some pics from the day, including the cliff top reception afterward. Piopio's Fat Pigeon Cafe catered drinks and nibbles at the farm and the reception dinner, Piopio Berry Orchard supplied ice cream cones, and Lee Alcock did the beautiful flowers. There were also quite a few adorable little girls running around in tutus!

It was a special day, and we were pleased to have been asked to share it. We wish them a long and happy life together.

 

Jammin at Struan Farm

We've had a rainy day this week at Struan Farm, so I was able to run off to Piopio Berry Orchard and pick up strawberries to make the first batch or two of strawberry jam. 

It's quite easy to make, I use the Edmonds Cookery Book when making jams. For strawberry jam, one batch (five 250 ml jars) takes one kg of hulled strawberries and (gulp!) six cups of sugar, along with 1 1/2 teaspoons of tartaric acid. 

The berries are mashed in a pan, after which the sugar is added and stirred until dissolved. It then boils for 5 minutes, the tartaric acid is added, then it boils for about another 5 minutes. I keep a plate in the freezer and drizzle a line of jam on it that I then test with my finger to see if it's set. If it doesn't run the jam is done. 

Ahead of all this I've washed and sterilised jars, which are waiting in a warm oven, with lids in a pot of simmering water on the stovetop. The hot liquid is poured into jars and sealed.

While I actually prefer blueberry jam, and am going to try black currant this year as well, our guests and grandchildren LOVE my strawberry jam. I'm convinced it's because of those amazing Piopio Berry Orchard berries.  So I need to keep cranking on this for awhile yet.

Christmas in Piopio

Need to catch you up this week since things have been busy at Struan Farm!

John and I managed to get to the annual Piopio Christmas parade this year for the first time in years. As you can see, it's definitely a small town event, not the Pasadena Rose Parade, but that's why we love it:

 

Christmas dinner was a relatively low key affair given our annual Boxing Day extravaganza. John's brother Carrick and sister-in-law Norma joined us. Christmas would not be Christmas for John without baked ham (while for me it would be turkey, really don't eat much if any pork). This year I baked a ham for the first time, while Carrick brought the Christmas pud.

Looks like ham sandwiches well into mid-January......