Author: crhopsfarm

The farm is finishing the last few items in the hops yard and preparing for the hops plants to arrive. That cable for the trellis is run, and will be anchored once the frost leaves the ground!! We will be getting the veggie gardens tilled and prepared for planting very soon too!! Can’t wait for fresh veggies out of the garden! Keep us in mind if you looking for veggies: small or bulk orders for canning!!

The Pierce’s

The last two days have been fun, exciting, and a bit intimidating. We learned a lot about what we are doing right and what we need to get in to place be for our first harvest. We are super excited to be a part of the MN Hops Growers Association. What a great wealth of knowledge to have access too!

The order is in for our Hops plants! We will officially be growing Cascade, Willamette, Chinook, and Saaz Hops. The plants will be delivered around the end of May and hopefully they will be able to go right into the ground.

We are super excited to finish up the last few items on the Hops yard, building a drying oast, and the expansion of the vegetable gardens.

Looking forward to longer days and warmer weather!!

CR Hops Farm!!

Well CR Hops Farm had officially opened and was selling over this past weekend.  We were able to put up a booth during the Hwy 38 sales.  Unfortunately, we were unable to advertise a lot this year,  but we still feel it was a success!! We were selling home grow (without chemicals) produce.  We were well received by those that stopped in to just purchase items and or those that just wanted to chat and learn more about our new farm.  We are already looking forward to next year and planning bigger and better things to come in the future! Next year, we will be adding more produce options and of course our HOPS! We are very excited to get them in the ground next spring and to help out all the local home brewers and any other breweries looking for locally grown hops.

We still have pumpkins for sale, a limited amount of jalapeños,  tomatoes,  and lots of wonderful cucumbers.  Please feel free to email us with your order and we will do what we can to fill your order for those in the Grand Rapids area.  crhopsfarm@gmail.com 

CR Hops Farm,  will also be donating a number of pumpkins to the Community Connect program that will be on October 5th at the IRA Civic Center from 1-6 pm. It’s a wonderful event for families!

 Thanks again, It was fun to meet and chat with many new people.  Thanks for buying from us!  

We look forward to serving you again! 

Thank you,  Craig and Rachel Pierce  

I just watch my wife, best friend, co- owner operator of our small farm get wheeled off to surgery.  It is a routine surgery that will help allieviate a lot of the pain that she has been dealing with over there last couple of years.

She is an amazing woman that is a great mom, wife, teacher, sister, friend, and daughter!  She touches many people with her fun loving personality.  So, to get her pain free will be great for all!  

We are hoping to be home in a couple of days and start the recovery.  And if she is doing well the Hops Farm will be selling a number of home grown veggies at the Hwy 38 sale north of Grand Rapids.  We will be located near the corner of Hwy 38 and south shoal lake road.  So,  if your gearing up for fall decorating or baking please stop.

Thank you all, for all the prayers and well wishes!

Craig Pierce

It’s been a busy week on the farm.  After nearly 10 months of waiting and searching we hired a new farmhand.  We hired him on 7/25 a little early in the morning but at this point we weren’t complaining.  We needed the extra help as things are getting real busy on the farm.  Final prep work will be done in the spring and planting too!  This farmhand will come in handy with the rest of the projects!  Time to try and get some sleep! 

Welcome Carson Shawn Pierce!  His brothers are pretty excited!

My last day of vacation I was able to spend some quality time with two of my Hops employees!  I was able to take them fishing and had a great time.  My oldest son and I got out early one the lake and we’re able to catch a number of quality smallmouth bass,  4 or them we’re over 19 inches.  Once my youngest son was able to join us we were able to catch a number of blue gills!  I was a proud father watching these to little guys enjoying fishing as much as I do. 

This past week was able to make some great progress on the Hops yard!  I’m getting excited to start growing and brewing some beer.  Unfortunitly we will not be able to plant till next spring, but we gave plenty of other things growing.  We will be selling pumpkins this fall and other veggies.  There will be more information coming regarding sales.

We’ll it’s been a long time in the works,  but I finally got my poles put in the ground.  I want to thank RC’s rental in Grand Rapids, MN! They are great to work with!!!!  Without the rental of the ASV,  there would be no way I could have placed the 22 foot poles in the ground!  They are very reasonably priced and courteous!!!

Now, I need to align them and back fill the holes. In the next few weeks I hope to have the cable run for the trellis and to continue preparing the rows for planting. Many “little” things to do yet,  but making great progress on the Hops yard.

I also have to give a huge thanks to my lovely wife! I happened to pick the hottest day of the year to do this work, and she made sure I had plenty of water and rest throughout the day! Not to mention my oldest son sat and watched me for a few hours! He and his brother were so excited to watch the ASV!

Thanks again RC’s Rental!!! And thank you Tyler Kasper for recommending them!! If you find yourself needing to rent any machinery, I would  highly recommend contacting them.

Craig

Well the whole process is taking longer that I had hoped.  To many distractions between family and the outdoors!  I’d never change any of it!  It’s always good to surround your self with good family and those that support what your doing!

I hope next week to be renting  machinery to dig the holes for my poles and help put them in their new homes!  I’ll have a few more steps to go before I’m ready to plant but he Hops yard is moving along well!!

We are about to starting to build the Trelles.  All the Hops poles are staged and ready to put in the ground.  There are a few last minutes items to do to the poles which should happen in the next few days.  And then the hard part starts!  I will be sinking the poles four feet down and starting to run the cable!  I’m hoping to be able to show a lot more progress in the next few weeks!  We will be excited when this part is done!

CR Hops Farm