[development] Add node without node/add

[Sean Wingert]

Is there a (programmatic?) way to add a node *without* using node/add/something and still gain access to hook_validate(), hook_insert(), hook_update(), and hook_delete()? I'm trying something like this but hook_validate does not seem to fire...

function property_menu($may_cache) {
  $items=array();
  // Do not cache this menu item during the development of this module.
  if (!$may_cache) {
    $items[] = array(
      'title' => t('Review'),
      'path' => 'property/create',
      'access' => user_access('create property'),
      'type' => MENU_LOCAL_TASK,
      'weight' => 1,
    );
  }
  return ($items)
}

function property_validate($form_id, $form_values) {
        //validate property number
        if (!preg_match('/^\d{1,4}$/',$form_values['pnum'])) {
      //watchdog('security',t('Bad property number entered'), WATCHDOG_WARNING);
      form_set_error('pnum',t('The property number does not appear to be valid. It should be 3 numbers long.'));
    }
}

Thanks!

Sean