# Left my home town of Huntly, # headin' out in the cold. From the sunny north to the wild south, NZ is overflowing with breathtaking backdrops, heavenly harvests and a whole lot of fabulous foodies. So jump on board with us as we hang out with the locals, wrangle some wildlife and feast our way around this magnificent country. Come on, Toppy. We got people to meet and food to eat. Yee-hah! # Nga iwi e. # I'm just a local farmhand... # This week we get floral with some wild-flower fanatics from Wellington. To most it's rabbit food, but this week we're the guinea pigs. Then we get to smell the roses in Tasman Bay. Roses en masse like this make you feel giddy with joy ` and they taste great, too. But first up ` we're getting light-headed in the lavender patch. Graeme and Carolyn Barrell had their first waltz together when they were 13 years old, and they've been dancing together ever since. They've now got six children, 27 grandchildren and 10,000 lavender plants. And we found them bustin' some moves on their Graelynn lavender farm in Woodville. It's an amazing smell and colour. I mean, you just sort of flick your hand like that and then get this incredible waft of lavender. What possessed you to plant all this lavender? My wife. Your wife? (LAUGHS) Basically, we had the land, we heard that there might not be a national super scheme going, and so we thought, um, what are we going to do to live on? Oh, OK. So we went looking for something to do. We started off with 3000 plants and gradually extended until we had 10,000. Now you're an expert on lavender. Oh, I wouldn't say an expert, but I know what I'm doing. (LAUGHS) Here we come, Toppy. She's away. Whoo-hoo! Look at that. Whoo-hoo! Yoo-hoo! Well, there you go. We got a whole bagful each of lavender. Look at that ` beautiful. And I got a bee sting. That little thumb` finger's all swelling up, there. But it didn't hurt, because the lavender oil stopped the sting. Righty-oh, we've done all the hard work out in the fields, and all the lavender's in here now. Yep, all this work, we've got to turn into oil. Righty-oh. Time to get in the vat, is it? Yep. Get in there and boogie. Stamp it down, because otherwise, if you leave it loose, the steam will just go straight through. I'm doing all the work and you're doing all the watching. No, that'll do, we'll put another one in. Here it comes. Haul her in. Watch out it doesn't go down your trousers. Hey, I'm wearing the wrong colour. I'll get lost in here. (LAUGHS) Climbing a mountain this time, you guys. Yeah. I didn't think we'd get those three in there, actually, but it's squished down quite a lot. Jase, give me a hand, buddy. (CHEERS) Cowgirl and the lavender farmer. So, in here we've got culinary lavender. Yeah, and it's got to be culinary lavender? It has to be culinary lavender if you're going to eat with it. So that's just sitting on boiling water, there` That's right. ...for about 20 minutes, you reckon. Yes, then I strain the lavender out, and we end up with that. And that beautiful colour. (SNIFFS) With that lavender smell. Certainly has. Next thing that goes into the infusion is the jelly crystals. We've got lemon? Well, I like lavender with citrus. Give that a whisk? A little whisk. That will be a wee bit difficult to mix, because there's oil in the lavender. Lemon. Now we add the lemon juice. And about a quarter of a cup of that, you reckon? Yes. And we give that a little stir-up? We do. We stir that in. It's just incredible smell. (INHALES) In this bowl we have mixed evaporated milk, cream cheese, some vanilla essence and some sugar. Combine infusion into the mixture. How's that looking? It's looking beautifully blended. Next step, the base is a biscuit base. Yep. Just plain biscuits, 100g butter and some cinnamon. This is gonna be a taste sensation. Oh. It's incredible. That's good. A little citrus, a little lavender. (LAUGHS) Have I got anything on my nose, Carolyn? (LAUGHS) That's ready to go, is it? What do we do now? Now we have to set it in the fridge, probably for three or four hours to get a really nice set on it. Look. Here's one that Carolyn prepared earlier. (LAUGHS) And there's only one thing to do now to finish it, and that's to decorate it. OK. So what I've done, I've mixed up lavender flower heads with granulated sugar. Use this piece of card. Sprinkle some of this in the middle, and with a little pastry brush, we very gently brush it around the edge. Take the knife, lifting it carefully. Let it run off over the back. Whew. Look at that. Look at that. It is ready to go. (LAUGHS) COUNTRY MUSIC So tell me a bit about the process. Put the basket into the still. Turn on the steam, which is superheated. Very hot. And the steam goes through the bottom of it, takes the oil out, goes through the condenser, cooled, and into the separating tank there. The oil floats to the top, and we turn the tap on over there and take the oil off. Yep, we've struck oil. We've hit the big time. Whoo-hoo! So that's the finished product, eh? The essential oil of lavender. Now, you'll find that helpful, because we've got the odd flying insect out here. They won't eat you now. You think that you and Graeme would be doing lavender at this age? Opportunities came along, or things happened, and so... give it a go. Well, Graeme, you've been a lavender farmer for 17 years... Mm. but you've been a husband for a lot longer. 54. 54 years you and Carolyn have been together? Yeah. It was right back in the 1950s and '60s. Yeah. I was about 14. We were boyfriend and girlfriend for, uh, five or six years. ROCK N ROLL MUSIC Ray Columbus and the Invaders and all those people. I played the guitar and I've played music, I'm still playing music. What's the best thing about Carolyn? Her love of people. She's got a heart of gold. And you're a real team, are you? Yeah. That's the trick, eh? You're right, we are. Yeah. Yeah. When did you meet him? He had to go on a waiting list. Um... (LAUGHS) What's his best quality? When the chips are down, he is always there. He's always been there for the children, and always for me as well. We're actually very very good sparring partners. And there is an old saying ` never let the sun go down on an argument. (LAUGHS) # It seems like progress. # It's something we're killing for. # And when are the old folks all gonna be heard? Yeah, here we go, now. # Cos yesterday is history round here. # Whoo-hoo! Oh, 3 litres, buddy! We did 3 litres. OK, so you think you did pretty good. Wait until you taste our lavender cheesecake. OK, I'm going in. Righty-oh. Here we go. Into it. Wow. That's the best cheesecake that I have ever helped make. LAUGHTER It's been like being with family, here today. Mm, it has. It's been a great day. You know, you can meet people just for one day and feel like you've known them forever. Thank you. Exciting, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. We struck oil today. We're millionaires now. Get the Jag out, we'll go for a ride. LAUGHTER S Welcome back to Topp Country, with Lorna and Mavis in the kitchen. Today we're making a blooming breakfast treat. Yes, we're making a floral and fruity bouquet. We've taken the segments out of our grapefruit and added a can of peaches, muesli and yoghurt. And now it's straight back in the grapefruit. And I'm decorating with marzipan daisies. And top it all off with a glazed cherry. Perfect for breakfast in bed. Not a dish to be done. Which leaves a lot more time for rooting in the greenhouse. When city life gets all too hectic, taking time to stop and smell the flowers is medicine for the soul. But why stop at just a sniff when they taste great too? Johanna Knox has been foraging for flowers since she was a little girl, and here, in the middle of urban Wellington, her and her daughter Nova are taking flower power to a whole new level. Mmm. Guinea pig moment. (LAUGHS) I mean, most people looking at this would say, you know, 'Look, it just needs a weed eater, doesn't it?' Yeah, most people would say that. Nasturtium flowers here, these really beautiful bright orange ones, they have a beautiful mustardy taste. Yeah. What about my fuchsia here? Can I pick that? Uh, yep. Lots of people don't know that fuchsia flowers are all pretty much edible. What about this little yellow fella here? This is a plant in` in the mustard family, which broccoli and cabbage and radishes all come from. Cos what are we making today, Nova? What are we making? Flower fritters. Flower fritters. There you go. Is that a dandelion there? It's not a true dandelion. That's ox tongue. Yep. Yeah, don't have to go to the supermarket no more, eh? We can eat just about everything here, but not this one. This is hemlock, so that's highly poisonous. Highly poisonous. You don't want to do anything. That one there` That one there is totally poisonous. Don't eat that at home. Yep. Right, have we got enough? Beautiful. A beautiful array of flowers for fritters. Righty-oh. I've got a lovely display here of all our food we're going to cook. I've never cooked a flower before, but my junior forager here, Nova, is going to show me how to do it. So, first you need one cup of flour. Yep. Three teaspoons of caster sugar, and then just stir it. What are you going to do when you grow up, buddy? I really like performing, so... You're going to be a performer? Yeah. Mighty fine job. I've been doing it for quite some time myself. Now you get one cup of water and then you stir it again. We just need the white of the egg, right? No pressure (!) Here we go. Is that enough, darling? Yeah. It looks good, does it? Yeah. And then you just fold it. Yes. Like a good pair of sheets, when you're doing your washing. Mm hm. OK, we've got mustard, dandelion, clover, fuchsia, and nasturtium, the last one. Look at that ` flower power. It'll be the prettiest fritter in the world. There's a lovely fennel patch over here. Fennel's in flower at the moment. Here it is. And fennel's just got this beautiful aniseedy, licorice-y flavour and scent, which goes right throughout the whole plant. Like old black balls. Yep. And it has this pollen. If you just, sort of, if you brush your finger on it, you'll get little yellow bits` Oh yeah. ...coming off. Wow. And fennel pollen is actually a real delicacy. So I thought we could just use some of the pollen on the fritters. You can just see it. That's the sexy bit of the plant. We're gonna sprinkle that all over our fritters. (CHUCKLES) But these aren't natives to NZ, are they? No, no. They came with the settlers. So they were actually brought in as a food plant? Well, fennel's well known as a digestive aid. Oh yeah. People eat it before and after meals. Oh, hang on. I'm caught up in there. What's happening? (GROANS) Hang on. Hey, look. Oh. What is that? That is cleavers, um, and it's, you know, lots of people call it` Biddy-bid. Yeah. That's what that is. Now, that'd be useless for anything, wouldn't it? No, it's often used in green smoothies or medicinally. People juice it. Sort of supposed to cleanse the lymph system. Can you eat it right now? Yep, the leaf. I wouldn't try eating the biddy-bids. Righty-oh. It's really like Velcro. Yeah, Velcro's on your tongue. So that's why people put it in their smoothies. Mm. Righty-oh, let's get some fennel. What we want to do is just collect it in the bag so that we don't lose any of the pollen. If I hold the bag... I'll get the ones looking the most yellow. That's a good one. We'll just shake that up a little bit, and all the pollen will come out, eh? Yeah. Fennel. All over NZ, this stuff, everywhere. It's a crazy weed. Just cover the whole thing in batter, right? Oh, look at that. Whoo-hoo! Does that look good? Yeah. Righty-oh, I'll just keep doing 'em. That one there's got a big bug on it. We'll give that one to Lynda. BOTH LAUGH They've got a real good look to them. Now, the nasturtium's good. There's a little bit of orange coming through there. We can see the flower. Go in for those` That one's burning. Get it out, quickly. Over here. No pressure. (LAUGHS) Where's Gordon Ramsay when you need him? (LAUGHS) (SIGHS) This is quite nice, sitting in the, uh, salad bowl, isn't it? Yeah, it's lovely. It is like a giant salad bowl. Yeah. Yeah. You've written a book about foraging. Yeah. Was that`? How did that come about? I always thought of myself as kind of just a conduit for information. I mean, I love just things like the` the plant families. Putting plants into` into categories, and like, for example, um, the family that dandelion is in, which also has the lettuce, and puha. Yeah. That family's pretty much safe across the board, but fennel is in the same family as carrot, dill and hemlock. (LAUGHS) But that's kind of weird that hemlock and` and carrots` Yeah, yeah. ...are in the same family. But one's, you know, really good to eat, and hemlock is really poisonous. Yep, and there's a section in here on poisonous plants. But` But, you know, Google Images is your best friend, really. Just be absolutely certain what you're eating, before you eat it. Yeah. You've got to put some icing sugar on these for us, have you? Yeah. Oh, very nice. What do you think? They look pretty good, don't they? Yeah. Is that awesome, or what? Looks amazing. The girls have turned our weeds ` ` flowers, really, they are ` into an edible delicacy on a plate. And we've got one last final bit of flavour ` fennel pollen. Sprinkle on top and it will give it a really nice sort of aniseedy flavour. Cool. Wow. (LAUGHS) Looks just absolutely amazing, doesn't it? OK, we're going to do a bit of hard work, now. We'll do a bit of weed eating. ALL LAUGH Have a go, Toppy. Righty-oh. GENTLE MUSIC Wow. That is the dandelion that I just ate. Explosive. Amazing. That is the perfect summer dessert ` deep-fried wild flowers. What a great day. (LAUGHS) I ate biddy-bids today. No you didn't, you weed-o. Yes, I did. You should weed her book. Nah. I already weeded her driveway. s GENTLE MUSIC PLAYS Ruth Pratt is one lucky woman. She was promised a rose garden, and boy, did she get it. Her husband, Ben, has rose-growing in his blood, and here at their Tasman Bay nursery, they're living a life filled with love, music and more roses than you can shake a cutting at. With over 300 different varieties in their collection, this garden has to be seen to be believed. This is the most glorious place to hang out, because we're surrounded by all these beautiful roses. How did all this start? Started by my parents... Yes. ...back in the '60s when we were children. You` You lived in this garden all your life? Yes, and then left school, and then joined the business, yeah. It's all I've ever done. Have you always been into roses? No, I was in insurance when I was in England. Ah. I thought you could only get one rose ` the red Valentine's rose. Yeah. But, um, I was wrong. It's the flower of love, isn't it? Well, it is. It is. I'm feeling it. Yeah. Smell that little baby, Toppy. (INHALES) ALL LAUGH You know what it smells like? What? Grandmas. Yeah. GENTLE MUSIC That is the most glorious rose. It's just opened perfectly, isn't it? It looks like it's all just been burnt with a little bit of colour, really autumn colours on that. Well, this rose is called Hayley Westenra. Wow, we all know Hayley. She's just a bit of a sweet rose herself ` Yes. Yeah. Hayley. Do you burst into song when you're round here picking roses? (CHUCKLES) Nearly, nearly. (SNIFFS) Mmm, she smells good too. Oh yeah. We also named the rose beside us here, which is Ali Mau. We're really in the big celebrity garden here, big time. Yeah, we are. Yeah, we donate, for every rose sold, a donation to UNICEF, and` So our beautiful roses here are saving the world. Yep, I` I believe at the moment they're pumps for Third World countries, for water. Well, what better way to do it than to` to` to give those beautiful girls a rose, and name them after them. Very pretty. You pick them so they're quite tight in a bud, as well. Mmm. You smell that? Beautiful. Did you ever think in your wildest dreams you'd be standing in fields of roses? Not at all. (CHUCKLES) Just didn't even enter my mind for one minute. No. Because you were an English rose to begin with, weren't you? That's right, yes. Well, I was playing in the village band, and, um, when Ben came on his overseas, he happened to join that band in the same village. Was he a good horn player, or was he just good looking? No, I don't think looks came into it, at that point in time. I think it took him about four months to pluck up the courage to actually ask me out on a date, and that time coincided with Valentine's Day. Did he come with a big bunch of roses? No, he didn't, actually. He just took me to the local pub for a pint. BOTH LAUGH He's a very sensitive man. He's a very kind man. He's just lovely. I couldn't have wished for better, really. Yeah. I'm very lucky. Was he your first boyfriend? Do I have to say that? BOTH LAUGH Uh, yes, he was. Well, Ben, I know you've lost your parents and your dad died recently. When did he pass away? Yeah, poor old Dad. Uh, December. Really really recently. Well, your mum and dad left you a beautiful heritage, didn't they? Uh, certainly did. Yes, I was the lucky one, cos Dad and I worked together for so many years. You know, I'm just so glad of the quality times we had together. Yeah. Yeah. You know, there's not a day goes by where I'm not reminded. You know, it's` it's hard. And what about your kids, buddy? And will they carry this on? I'd like to think one of them might. We've gone back long generations, haven't we, to get here? Third generation. Cos we've all got a dear old dad. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, and they're never very far away. No. Was it hard to leave England, you know, and your family behind? It was hard because I think I was so young, but then it was an adventure as well. Yeah. Pretty beautiful adventure. I'd never` Never been out of Norfolk, and, yeah, to the other side of the world. I guess I couldn't have gone much further. Yeah. (LAUGHS) Took a while to settle down, but, you know, Ben's parents were lovely. It must have been hard when Ben lost his mum and dad, was it? That was very hard, because we were all so close. Yep. It was quite` quite tragic, really. Yeah. But having this legacy is pretty exciting though, isn't it? That` That's right. This is a legacy to Julie and Nigel. We will continue to carry on the business. Yeah. GENTLE MUSIC Here's a special little rose for you, Jools. Oh, thank you, Ben. That's the sweetest, cutest little rose I've ever been given. Well, you're a real charmer, aren't you, Ben? Uh, well... (LAUGHS) Roses is what I do best. That's right. Sure do. This particular one is known as the original sweetheart rose. Wow. Bred in 1881. Believed to have been brought out to this country, um, by the early settlers, in either a bit of cloth or in a potato, as a cutting. Oh, OK. There was enough moisture in the potato to keep it... Yeah. Sustain it for that long, long journey. It's the original spud rose. (LAUGHS) OK, Lynda, so here we're gonna make an English rose cake. Yep. But what I'd like you to do first is taste one of these petals for me, please. I'm gonna eat a raw` raw rose. Yep. (SPITS) (LAUGHS) It's like leather, and it's quite bitter. (LAUGHS) Right, OK. But we're going to do something, apparently, to make 'em good. This is just whisked egg white in here. Yep. And then we just gently paint either side. And caster sugar, here. For best results, dry overnight. And then the next day they're nice and crisp, and you can decorate with them, and when you eat them, you can actually taste the fragrance. Look at that. Yeah. This is called Rosa omeiensis pteracantha. It's so old, nobody knows how old it is. Cut me a bit off so I can see it. Yeah, um... Look through the light. Isn't that cool? Oh, it's three-sided, isn't it? This rose, with its thorns. It's absolutely lethal. We've come a long way from little cutie, haven't we? If I was fighting in the War of Roses, I would choose this as my weapon. (LAUGHS) As much as I like? As much as you like. Is that an English thing? Maybe. (LAUGHS) Final layer. Yes. OK. There it goes. Wow. Look at that. (CHUCKLES) Is that looking good? It's looking good. Rose syrup icing. Yep, so it's got rose water. It's actually got some raspberries in it too, to give it the colour. OK, so under here are some petals that I prepared yesterday. And they go four all round. All round. All round. Those are beautiful. I'm just gonna put that right there in the middle. A little rose. I believe that we might even be able to put that into a show and take first prize. Do you think? (LAUGHS) GUITAR MUSIC PLAYS # I said high time, high time you were home. # There you go, Jools. Our English rose cake. Look at that little beauty. # And I can see my mum standing on the front porch yelling at us kids. # She said it's high time, you've been gone too long. # I think it's time we have a Topp Twin rose. That sounds good to me. Yeah? > Yeah, what would that one look like? It'll be colourful, for sure. It would have to be a double-headed one, wouldn't it? Yeah, like a monster. ALL LAUGH You used to give them to the missus, tied up with bows and strings. And now they tell me, Ken, you can eat the bloody things. That's right, Ken, a salad of nasturtiums. A cake of floral art. A lavender infusion and a roadside harvest tart. (LAUGHS) So head into the meadow and get yourself a damn good feed. Forget about your meat and veg. The next big thing is weed.