The last year and a half sure has gone fast. We went from and idea and research for 8 months to starting CR Hops Farm in January of 2017! I was finally able to convince the boss one of my ideas was a good one. (Thank you Rachel)
It all started when my wonderful mother in law was telling me about the Wild hops she found growing! From there I figured I could grow hops. The spring of 2017 I got busy getting ready to set up a hops yard. I used ash poles off our property.
We then waited for summer, when I could sink the 22 foot poles in the ground. All the while designing and redesigning the hops yard to use the maximum amount of space to plant the most plants I could in my half acre yard.
I believe I picked the hottest day of the summer in 2017, to put the poles in the ground! I did get great advice from new farmers: do not order plants unless your hops yard is up and ready to go!
The rest of 2017 was spent figuring out where and when to order plants! The spring of 2018 came super fast! The yard needed the cabling system set up, prior to plants showing up in June.
We were able to get all 420 plants in the ground, relatively quickly, with some help from my brother Brice, his wife Kelly and their son Taylor. We were grateful for the help!!
It has been amazing to watch them grow all summer! First year plants didn’t grow as large as the will in year three. To date, less than 10 have died!
The hops farm has finally hit our FIRST goal! Yesterday, the boys and I finished up our first harvest of the hops! It was a very small harvest, but that was expected. In two short years we should be at a full harvest!
The next step in the journey is to sell to breweries or home brewers! …. We’re optimistic and hopeful that part of the journey will happen next year, and the HOPS journey will continue!
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The Pierce Crew 😄