Struan Farm

Trend du Jour: Village Milk, Straight from the Farm

I was away down in Nelson last week for a few days of business meetings, and stayed over at Doone Cottage with friend Glen Davenport Friday night.

While in the area I picked up on an interesting emerging trend: buying fresh, raw milk at the farmgate. Several people had mentioned to me that there were vending machines around at some area farms, so when I saw this sign I braked and went off down a gravel road to explore further:

Fortunately there was a helpful, friendly guy buying milk at the same time who explained to me what to do, but it's really easy. You purchase a new bottle from the vending machine, or bring your own to reuse, put coins into the machine and fill your bottle (1 or 2 litre options). It couldn't be easier.

 

So I arrived at Glen's with a bottle of cold, fresh milk, straight from the farm. They even have a picture of the cows providing the milk, the "team."

This particular farm in the Moutere is part of a franchised network called Village Milk, think this will really catch on, particularly for anyone wanting to make cheese at home. Thinking they should brand the bottles and make them a bit more old fashioned looking, that would be really cool.

I remember the milkman used to deliver milk to our house in glass bottles when I was growing up, we had a milkbox at the back door. While Village Milk is clearly more self service oriented, with the customers going to the farm to get their milk rather than vice versa, this is great--you know where your milk has come from.

We can get into the issue or raw vs. pasturized milk at a later date. I know, health standards would have to be very, very high and I'm assuming they are.  At least in NZ we don't have to contend with BGH (bovine growth hormones) in our milk supply. 

Dusky Dancer's First Appearance

The dark, dark purple iris I brought back from The Nelson Growables Fair last November has come into bloom at Struan Farm. Her name is Dusky Dancer, and she seems quite happy in the gardens at Paemako, Piopio.

Coincidentally, this year's fair will be held tomorrow, Nov. 17th.

Report from LA: Trends du Jour

As advised, I was away in Los Angeles recently on a brief trip to accompany John on business, and managed to stay on a wee while longer to catch up with several friends. 

I'm always interested see what's changed in California and the US since my last visit, and here are a few themes I picked up on:

• Kale. Yep, Laura, Grace and I were on the vanguard of this one at least two years ago with our obsession for homemade kale chips. Kale salads are everywhere, with and without quinoa (see comment about ancient grains further below). It is one of the most nutricious vegetables there is, so not a bad thing. Everyone should Eat More Kale, also try this delicious Kale and Quinoa Salad recipe from Pasadena's La Grande Orange Cafe.
• Heirloom everything, everywhere. I've been onto heirloom fruit trees and tomatoes for quite some time, but was struck by how almost all vegetables on restaurant menus are now designated "heirloom," including beans, carrots, etc. There's even a magazine I enjoyed reading called "Heirloom Gardener."
• New old grains. Ancient wheat varieties and new age artisanal millers are happening, see Bluebird Grain Farms, Carolina Ground, and Community Grains. Farro, quinoa are being used quite more often.
• Dogs as accessories. Paris Hilton and her chihuahua in the handbag were one thing, but people seem to be walking around with dogs on leashes in stores and into restaurants regularly. I thought there were health laws that prohibited this, except for guide/service dogs obviously. And I'm a dog person. But after watching a woman sit at a cafe for lunch, taking out a collapsible water bowl, bottled water, toys, and food for a pampered little pooch that was so overfed it didn't touch the food (all I could think of was Clifford in contrast, who would have knocked the table over to snarf down the food...!), and seeing a woman parade through Nordstrom with two poodles on leashes, I decided this has all gone too far.
• Bras. Apparently over the past year there has been a revolution in undergarments I missed entirely. I went off in search of my standard Wacoal underwire bras and had a heck of a time finding them. I was forced to explore other options, oh dear. A helpful sales associate advised me that no longer does the woman shape the bra, the bra now shapes the woman.  So my own shape apparently isn't good enough, I have to be shaped by a bra, Wacoal or otherwise. And as you might expect, at more expense.

 

So there you have it, the very latest.

 

 

 

Hairy Feet Waitomo: The Hobbit in Piopio

About two years ago The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey filmed for a week in Piopio, taking over a local family farm up the Mangaotaki River Valley from Struan Farm and along with that the entire village. 

Scenes shot on this location feature in the Trollshaws Forest, where Gandalf and this party battle the trolls and Bilbo pulls "Sting" from its sheath, amongst other things. 

So it's very exciting to hear that the Denize family are opening a tourism venture on their farm this late spring/summer called "Hairy Feet Waitomo," offering organized tours over the property and specific filming locations.

Details to follow, but Struan Farm is just down the river and not far by car! If you're going to Hobbiton in Matamata, best not to miss Piopio either.....

Community Character

Cruising along on my way to Mapua this past weekend I noticed this roadside sign in the settlement of Tasman:

I suspect the point of this originally was to flag that it was getting hard for working artists to be able to afford to live in the Nelson region. But since the sign went up certain other residents decided to note their presence in the community--with tongue in cheek-- as well! Looks like the artists are still winning though....

 

Richards Orchard, Deja Vu All Over Again

Pitstop at my favorite roadside fruit stand, Richards' Orchard Fruit Stall in Mapua. I've come home with some "Black Twig" heirloom apples from the USA (1833), can't wait to bake a pie with this crisp, tart apple variety.

Here's a sampling of what else was on offer this past weekend:

Additions to the Orchard

I actually do some useful things for Struan Farm on my periodic jaunts to Nelson. Really I do! This trip on my regular call into Mapua Country Trading I ordered Granny Smith and Liberty apple trees for delivery and planting in July, along with one more Giant of Gascony quince tree. We'll plant them over by the site for the "Chateau des Chooks," aka the chicken coop. 

Love Mapua Country Trading, definitely check out their website if you can't get there!

p.s. I've also special ordered some seriously cool recycled/repurposed/upcycled cake serving pieces. Once they arrive I'll post some pictures, I can't wait.....

Sunrise & Morning Mist At Doone Cottage

I spent the past weekend in Motueka, outside of Nelson, with my friend Glen Davenport at Doone Cottage. Yes, a weekend getaway to my happy place once again!

And I was even up early enough to catch the first light on the hills and the morning mists floating along, magical views from the Garden Chalet.

 

 

 

Bliss, really, even if it was a bit chilly! And reports from Struan Farm that John has managed to get the birdnest(s) out of the chimney at the Cottage, hooray.

Postcard from Fiji

I recently celebrated a birthday (not a biggie) and a wedding anniversary (a reasonable milestone) on the same day in late April. John decided to take me along on a business trip to Fiji to mark these events a few days after the fact.

We don't really do resorts well, John and I, but it was a relaxing time at the Radisson Blu Resort Fiji Denarau Island. One quickly learns that "Bula" means "hello," while "Vinaka" means "thank you." 

We visited nearby Port Denarau for a change of scenery from the row of resort hotels, but the most interesting thing we did from my vantage point was to go into the market in Nadi, where all sorts of produce, fish, Indian spices and kava are sold. Not many tourists seem to venture there (I seemed to attract quite a bit of attention walking around), it's really where the locals shop. But vendors were quite happy to tell us about what they were selling, and what things were used for in cooking. 

I'm leading off with the requisite palm tree/beach shot, since as you'll see that really wasn't what captured my eye during our visit!

In addition to the ragged shag carpet above, what was amusing about this was that there were no seat belts in the taxi, nor in most we rode in!

The above is "kava," which is sold in a separate, darkened room at the back of the market, by men only. When John and I walked into this area it had an illicit feel to it for some reason. Kava is used throughout the Pacific Islands for its numbing, relaxing effect. Apparently some medical research is uncovering potential benefit in the treatment of cancer. While a vendor suggested we try some (what's a visit to Fiji if you don't try kava?!), we took a pass!

Vintage Finds

During my recent visit to Nelson with friend Lisa we had fun poking around the various antique shops in town, several of which have great vintage textiles.

My favorite haunts include "Eclectic," "Richmond Antiques & Collectables" and now "Vintage Antiques & Collectables," where I scored two cute hand embroidered aprons, "Two Little Girls in Blue" and "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree."

Special, aren't they?

 

Travels with Lisa: South Island

With limited time left during Lisa's recent visit to New Zealand, you will (of course) know where I decided to take her on the South Island. What destination has it all? Nelson, of course!

We stayed with my friend Glen at Doone Cottage in the Motueka River Valley. 

No complaints from either one of us about the views from the garden chalet above...and the ducklings I saw on my most recent visit are now fully grown. They followed us while we walked around photographing:

We toured Nelson and surrounds, Mapua, and went over into Golden Bay. We braked for trees laden with autumn fruit, fruit stands, rusty caravans and sheds, and the spectacular landscape.

And no visit to Mapua is complete without a stop at Richards Orchard Fruit Stall. I love their weathered shed stand:

This trip I picked up some Dunns Cooker apples (Australia 1880), and beautiful Forelle pears. 

I'll make a rustic apple pie from the Dunns Cookers for Lisa's farewell dinner, also to thank John for working away at Struan Farm and babysitting Clifford while I've been galavanting around the countryside. (Think he may need some ice cream on top, since there was alot a wee bit of shopping this trip too!)

Travels with Lisa: North Island

During Lisa's visit to New Zealand from the USA I wanted to take her around to see as much as possible of the country before and after the Embellishment Workshops at Struan Farm. We had a day in Auckland after her arrival (as we waited to see if her suitcase was going to arrive.....).

Once we gave up on waiting around for the suitcase and landed at Struan Farm, we were able to head off on a number of interesting, easy day trips with Piopio as our base.

These included Lake Taupo and Rotorua, New Plymouth and Taranaki surrounds, and last but not least our nearby World Heritage Area, Tongariro National Park, along with Utiku/Taihape (latter best known as the Gumboot Capital of NZ!). 

While the serious drought we're experiencing is wrecking havoc on the land and our farmers, the beautiful sunny days did make for great touring:

The Bath House in Rotorua above dates back to 1908, and is the only remaining structure that was part of the first Rotorua Spa, NZ's first investment in the tourism industry. It was an Edwardian attempt at Elizabethan design, is an iconic symbol of the town, now housing the Rotorua Museum. The surrounding gardens and bowls and croquet lawns also make for interesting touring and people watching!

On another day heading south to New Plymouth along the coast we stopped just north of Mokau to wander along the rugged, black sand beach with views of Mt. Taranaki in the distance:

It is one of those spots where we both could have spent hours photographing water, rocks, patterns in the sand, etc., but I finally had to tear Lisa away to continue our journey:

After hitting some antique shops in Eltham and Hawera, we drove around the backside of Mt. Taranaki on the Surf Highway, where we stumbled upon the Bread Capital of New Zealand:

We rushed to get back on the coast road up to Piopio in time to catch the sun setting into the Tasman Sea:

Wow, it was a great way to end this day!

The next day we found better views of the National Park's celebrated volcanoes Ruapehu, Ngaruhoe, and Tongariro from the Desert Road around the back side, after having only peeks through the clouds from the other side of the park, so we were glad we took a bit of a detour to drive north:

The tussock landscape is also interesting to see:

After driving back south to Utiku to buy possum yarn and possum and merino sweaters at The Wool Company, we had coffee at Brown Sugar Cafe in Taihape. We were sad to learn that we'd miss their annual Gum Boot Day due to the Embellishment Workshops at Struan Farm, darn!

Moreporks!

Our native owl, the morepork ("ruru") is frequently heard at night but rarely seen. My friend Glen Davenport just shared this beautiful photo of two moreporks they discovered around Doone Cottage in Motueka, outside of Nelson:

Aren't they amazing?

A is for Apple, G is for Gravenstein

Managed to have time for some baking at Struan Farm over the weekend, so I used the beautiful heirloom Gravenstein apples I'd brought back from Richards Orchard Fruit Stall in Mapua. I made a delicous apple sour cream pie, recipe from the most recent issue of NZ House & Garden magazine (currently can be found on their website here).

Seriously good. The crust is sweet, with flour, sugar, eggs, ground almonds and milk, while the filling has apples, sour cream, sugar, corn flour/starch and mixed spice. The recipe called for baking it in a metal pie tin, which I didn't have (mine are ceramic and glass), so I improvised and used a cake tin, which worked just fine.

Repurposed Cutlery, Thanks to Mapua Country Trading

Mapua Country Trading is always on my flight path when I visit the Nelson area, although their website also allows for great shopping online from home too. The business supports those of us wanting to grow our own fruit and veggies, make our own cheese, raise bees and chooks, etc. They work with local artisans to offer practical items that are interesting too.

This time I was captured by these recycled spoons and fish knives, flattened and lettered to create garden tags for herbs and cheese knives, respectively.

Oh, there are also ones for "weeds." Of course I got several of these for use at Struan Farm, not that I need to really point them out, do I?! But I suspect the weeds will have a good laugh about these too. They're winning most of the time and I might as well give them their due, with tongue firmly in cheek. 

A Plum Assignment

Pitstop per usual at Richards Orchard Fruit Stall on the Coastal Highway in Mapua during my recent visit to Nelson. Big news, they now have both a website and Facebook page providing updates for customers!

The Akane and Gravenstein earlier fruiting apple varieties are in (latter is a Danish variety dating back to 1600's), so I came home with some of those, as well as some William bon Chretien pears (English variety dating back to 1770's).

But what were particularly interesting for me this visit were the plums. Green gage were on offer, but also "pink" and "amber" gage, somewhat rarer varieties. So of course I returned home with a bag of each. I can feel a plum crumble coming on....Plums seem to thrive in our orchards at Struan Farm, so I may need to look into where I can find trees if they are as delicious as I think they'll be.

Here are the plums before I put the crumble topping on the dish (they're a beautiful color, aren't they?), and the crumble after it was baked (topping is Annabel Langbein's crumble topping from the first Free Range Cook):

Need to start a search to see if I can find trees, fast!

 

Things to Love About Nelson

A business trip took me down to Nelson, at the top of the South Island, last week. It's one of my favorite places in NZ (except of course for Piopio!). So I stayed over Friday night to have the day on Saturday to visit the market and putter around to various local haunts.

Just a few of things I love about Nelson:

1. The hanging flower baskets on Trafalgar, the main commercial street that leads up to the Cathedral:

2. Hopgood's Restaurant, serving outstanding food, wine and craft beer, much of it locally sourced (I ate there both nights!):

3. Page & Blackmore Booksellers, offering an ecclectic mix of books and customers the option of "eco-delivery:"

4. Amazing vistas like this one from the wharf in Mapua, where there's now a little ferry to carry cyclists across from the new cycleway:

5. The Saturday Nelson market, with growers, food suppliers, artisits and artisans galore:

6. Artists, artists everywhere. This trip I discovered Neudorf Hall, which has a lovely studio attached to their B&B where they sell "french country" items crafted from recycled french oak wine barrels and grapevines from nearby Neudorf Winery, also interesting sculpture. I've shipped back a neat serving tray made from the end of a recycled wine barrel, can't wait to use it for serving food at the upcoming Embellishment Workshops with Lisa Cruse at Struan Farm.

The ceramic eels are made by well-known local potter Steve Fulmer, available at South Street Pottery. I almost came home with one, but decided not to risk raised eyebrows from John, at least this time!

It was a very short visit but this is a place that always manages to restore and ground me. And Lisa Cruse and I will be coming back for a visit in March after the Workshops at Struan Farm, hoorah!

 

On The Hobbit Trail

A business meeting took me down to Matamata last week. It was great to see this provincial town buzzing with visitors coming to tour the Hobbiton movie set. The local farm used to film parts of The Hobbit movies as well as The Lord of the Rings is now open to the public.

The Matamata I-Site has been transformed into a Hobbit House, including a round green door.

Clearly this is a community celebrating its fifteen minutes of fame, and good on them!

An Unexpected Journey

No, this post isn't about The Hobbit, although we did travel down to New Plymouth from Struan Farm in Piopio over the holidays to see the movie, in 3D, fast frame. It was fantastic, and I can't wait for the next installment, but that's another story. 

Heidi, Carrick, Norma and I decided to venture up to Tongariro National Park World Heritage Area one day during the holidays. I sometimes forget how close it is, but it's only two hours from Struan Farm, so an easy day trip. 

Driving out we were afraid that clouds would obscure the three volcanic mountain peaks, Ruapehu, Tongariro, and Ngauruhoe, but we managed to see all three (Ngauruhoe just briefly, thanks to wind). I learned that geologists consider Ngauruhoe to be part of Tongariro, but they look like three distinct peaks to the average person. Recently Tongariro has been active but nothing was happening this day. 

It's a high alpine, volcanic landscape. We bundled up and took the chair lift up Mt. Ruapehu to walk around, see the views and have lunch at the highest cafe in New Zealand at 2020 metres, went down and visited the interesting information centre to read about the geology and flora/fauna, and then stopped into the Chateau for a quick peak. 

Here are some photographs from the day:

And yes, if one is to believe the road signs, there are even real kiwis running around up here!

Hobbit Hubbub

I was down in Wellington last week and had lunch at a restaurant nearby Sir Peter Jackson's Weta Workshop in Miramar:

Absolutely a kick to walk around and see overseas visitors excitedly touring the "Weta Cave." Several were rigged out in Hobbit tee shirts and hats (okay, I'll confess they were Americans, but I can say this since I'm American?!). Their enthusiasm was contagious--they advised me that the hats had been purchased at Hobbiton in Matamata, so these tourists are definitely making the Hobbit rounds and supporting the NZ economy. I know, I should have told them about Piopio!

Upon leaving I was hissed off by Gollum looking for his Precious, suspended from the ceiling in the domestic terminal: