What a year and it all started this spring or lack of spring! Winter lasted so long and the frost stayed in the ground longer than usual. The hops and gardens didn’t sprout as they usually do. Everything appeared to be 1-2 weeks behind.
All year long the hops looked off, from sprouting late, to not reaching the top line of the trellis on time. But time and time again, I was proved wrong! Around summer solstice hops should be near the top line (18ft tall), mine were barely 6-8ft tall, which meant they had another 10ft or so to go! Yikes, I never thought they would reach that full potential, but was proved wrong again! Then the burr stag came in early august, and this crazy farmer never thought in his wildest dreams that they would ever be ready for harvest by the 3rd weekend in August! Little back information, all previous years we have picked that weekend. Some how this year felt different! I had made plans to be gone over the weekend, but for some reason I stayed home and worked on my home made mini hop picker. It turned out to be a blessing in disguises. As I worked on the picker Friday night and finished it up, I walked out to look at the hops and was shocked!!! I had checked them a few days prior and they were not ready for picking, but they were now!!! I scramble Saturday and by that afternoon my oldest son and I picked one variety! Then I made a Facebook post and some dear friends sent a message and agreed to help Sunday 8/21, they helped us pick our largest variety of hops! I’m so hoppy they chose to help! My wife and other two kiddos came home later that evening and helped us finish. She then reached out to a few her teacher friends! They save us on Monday and Tuesday along with some “Glader” help!! Very thankful for all those that helped this year and sorry to those that expressed wanting to help! Next year I will know better, Mother Nature always wins and we will be ready to pick the third week of August! Learn something new every year!
BTW: the home made mini hops picker worked great! It reduced our picking time and made picking much easier! Only one small breakdown the last day, but was up and running again in less that 5 minutes!
My biggest disappointment, there will not be a wet hop beer for the year from us. My poor planning did not provide Rapids Brewing enough time to be prepared to brew the Hoki Saaz. 😭 The hops we did pick are being dried, hopefully can be used by the local breweries to brew more beers throughout the year with our hops! All four hops varieties will be getting tested to help in the brewing process.
Big shout out to to our helpers: Brent Holcomb, Barb Glader, Chad Glader, Amanda Glader, Joan Volkers, Brian Linda, Anika Lindula, Anika Lindula, Teresa Langer, Jenny Linnell, Sonia Welk, and the Pierce Farm Crew!
2023 harvest will be better planned out!
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