No Surprises - Part One

Ever found a Band-Aid in your french fries? What about feathers in your McNuggets? Metal in the dog's food?

Gross, right? 

When we buy something to eat, we don't like surprises. It's unnerving to discover that Wal-Mart's ice cream sandwiches don't melt, despite the fact that the ingredients added to the ice cream to keep it from turning to, well, cream, are as natural as they come.  

At Sun Dog Hops, it's important for us to know where and how our food is made. We think a lot of you feel the same way. So with that in mind, here's a bit about how we grow our hops: 

Our field was home to gophers and nettles for about a decade before we planted the first rhizome this spring. With the help of a local farmer, we were able to get it cleared and leveled as soon as the season's heavy rains ceased. 

Once we created our hills and planted our rhizomes, we looked to keeping them clear of weeds. To keep the hopyard free of chemicals, we've managed our weeds in three ways:  

1. We use plastic sheeting (white on top, black on bottom) to kill the weeds on the hills and around the hop plants. It's been the subject of much debate, but most of us found laying the plastic the most miserable job of the summer. Still, it worked to keep the areas around the hops moist and (mostly) weed free. In addition, we also put straw and some wood chips around the base of the plant to keep weeds down. 

2. Here's our white clover. Nice, isn't it?  The clover is good looking, and it pushes out most of the weeds. Bonus: Clover grabs valuable nitrogen from the atmosphere and "fixes" it in nodules on its roots — meaning it's great for improving the nitrogen content of the soil. 

3. Pull em'. Cut em'. Rip em' to shreds. When all else fails (and you don't want to spray) then put on the gloves and dig in. We use our tractor with an attached brush hog to cut down the rows between the hop hills. A weed-eater helps to keep the spots near the plastic free of weeds. And strong hands are best for the ones right next to the plant. 

That's it. Did I mention it takes a lot of time? 

In the next post, I'll go into how we organically fertilized our plants and how we harvested poles from our own woods. 

Cheers!

It's All Coming Together

The hops were winning.

I'm not afraid to admit it. Since my last post on April 30, they were in charge. My life — and the lives of my wife and in-laws — were entangled like so many hop bines on string. We were desperately behind in the construction of our hopyard (thanks in part to an unusually wet June), but our plants were already in the ground. In four months we've managed to fell more than 90 trees, become Bobcat drivers, earth movers, tree lifters, rhizome planters, mulch layers and cable runners. We've built an 18-foot tall scaffolding on a trailer. We've finished an acre-sized drip irrigation system that can pump 12,000 gallons of water for our thirsty plants. We have a dryer to process it all.

Our vocabulary has changed, too. Oast, cone, lupulin roll of our tongues easy now. Dinner-table discussions about alpha-acids or nitrogen fertilizer happen regularly. And amidst all the work, the hops kept growing.

Fortunately, they aren't winning anymore.

With our first-year harvest looming, the plants are healthy and tall. Our daily list of projects is winding down, just like our short northern summer. Hops take a few years to come to full production, but right now it looks as if we'll have a good starter-crop that will help us work out the kinks in drying and packaging the plants. It's been an amazing summer and we still have so much to look forward to. Enjoy a few pictures of our process and I'll delve into all the various parts of setting up the field on here later.

So we started here with the holes:

Until we were ready to plant our rhizomes:

It was a lot of fun:

But it was also very tiring:

And despite the heavy rain in June, we still needed to water in July and August:

 And to put down plastic, as well as our twine:

Our arms took a beating from the scratchy hops: 

But we'll take this as a sign it was all worth it:

Because now we have something beautiful to sell . . .

. . . and an excuse to enjoy a good beer. 

Cheers!

Hops: Fine for Some Pets, Dangerous to Others

Hi everyone. 

April at our farm is ending pretty much like it began, cold and wet. But there are a few new additions that will brighten up the place in the months ahead. First, meet Fern: 

Don't worry. I didn't let her drink the whole thing. And although she liked the idea of a pint of Bell's Smitten, we all know giving beer to dogs probably isn't a good idea. But what about hops? Most dog owners know that chocolate can be dangerous, as can avocados. Fortunately, those two things rarely go together. But both alcohol and hops are plentiful in Wisconsin, particularly on a hop farm. Puppies experience the world with their mouths — biting, chewing and licking anything that crosses the path between it's nose and the rest of the world. Right now, Fern is partial to deer feces and leftover cat food, neither of which is particularly harmful. But once the bines start producing, we'll be taking every step we can to keep her out of the yard. 

That's because ingesting hops, whole and pelletized, can cause hyperthermia in dogs. The rapid increase in body temperature can damage the animal's organs and lead to death without a prompt visit to a veterinarian. Hop growers and home brewers should watch for restlessness, excessive panting, seizures and muscle tremors. Here is a good explanation of the dangers. 

If you live in the River Falls and Hudson areas of Wisconsin, or the Twin Cities, a good number to keep handy is the Animal Emergency & Referral Center of Minnesota. They have a 24-hour emergency room in Oakdale (651) 501-3766, and an office in St. Paul (651) 293-1800 that keeps regular hours. 

In other news, we added 20 new chickens to our flock in April. The birds, which are tanning under the red glow of our heat lamps right now, are going to work as pest control for our field. It's yet another reason we'll be investing in some quality fencing around the hop yard. Dogs and deer out, chickens and farmers in. Here's a short video of the chicks. They are currently living in a kiddie pool on our kitchen table: 

Thanks for reading. Our rhizomes arrive real soon. I'll update then. 

Cheers!

When You Attend a Beer and Hops Class, You Don't Expect to Talk about This:

There's a lot to consider when starting a farm business. For months, I've been filling my head with the names of plant varieties, soil compositions, water tables and irrigation techniques. Not long ago, I'd have guessed the lupulin gland was something that swelled when a werewolf got the flu. And isn't a rhizome a kind of Transformer?

To keep my ignorance at bay, I've jumped at the opportunity to attend classes and to talk to anyone with experience growing plants. But farming is unique. Along with weather, bugs, funguses, weeds, and water, there's the actual business to consider. Sales, budgets and (gulp) taxes. I'm still learning so my only advice there is to start keeping your receipts and get a good accountant.

And there's something else. Farming affects the environment. Farmers take from the Earth, and they don't always give the right stuff back. The Gulf of Mexico, right near the Mississippi Delta, is home to the second largest dead zone in the world, and it's caused by modern farming.

I bring this up because while you're considering cover crops and manure, the government is considering what you're putting in, and on, the soil.

Frankly, it was a surprise to hear Jane Larson and Jennifer Statz, both from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade & Consumer Protection, talk about safe pesticide and herbicide use at the UW Extension's Hop Production for the Wisconsin Craft Beer Industry seminar. I'd never considered using much of them, but chemicals are the lynchpin of modern farming. And with downy mildew, powdery mildew, spider mites and aphids all looking to feed on your humulus lupulus bines, they are often necessary.

So, what did they say? Well, if you plan to hire workers, or your in-laws and cousins, then the Worker Protection Standard applies to your farm. See the link to the EPA's website for the nuts and bolts of the standard, but the gist of it as it applies to hop farmers is this:

1. Keep information on pesticides at a central location — have an EPA WPS poster, documentation of pesticide applications (time, location, description, date, restricted-entry interval). 
2. Provide worker training — check the EPA WPS website for these materials. 
3. Keep decontamination supplies accessible — this includes water, soap, single-use towels, clean coveralls. 

A more comprehensive summary can be found on pages 15 and 16 of the WPS handbook:

There's a whole lot more to complying than just the few points I listed. That's why I suggest you check the links I embedded in the post. 

It's not as much fun as thinking about your hops filling a brew kettle, but it's necessary. I hope it helps. 

Thanks for reading. 

What Wisconsin Craft Brewers Want — Notes from the Hop Production for the Craft Brew Industry Seminar

Bo Belanger is a bald, barrel-chested Detroiter who had one message for the room full of hop farmers: Grow more product. 

Belanger, the brewmaster and owner of South Shore Brewery in Ashland, Wis., spoke as bottles of his Inland Sea Pilsener were eagerly gulped by more than one-hundred thirsty growers at the UW Extension's Fifth Annual Hop Production for the Craft Brew Industry Seminar at Great Dane Pub in Wausau. With a PowerPoint presentation trotting along behind him, Belanger acknowledged the hurdles facing the state's fledgling hop industry — high startup costs, labor-intensive production and a general lack of knowledge about a plant that's in high demand across the nation. But he added that there is a lot of capacity to meet the demand, if farmers organize effectively and grow a quality product. Wisconsin brewers want locally grown hops, but they won't sacrifice their their standards for proximity, he said. 

"Do brewers want your hops?" Belanger said. "Yeah, we want them! But you gotta make good stuff. Just because it's local, doesn't mean it's quality."

Belanger compared the state's hop industry to the craft brewers of 30 years ago. Hop farmers lack the organization and scale of today's brewers, not to mention their political clout. 

With that in mind, Belanger offered the following suggestions to Wisconsin hop farmers: 

• Organize and share information — Growers should use each other's knowledge to further the industry. Don't go-it-alone. Band together and help one another. 
• Be prepared to get political — Be aware of your political clout and use it. Much like craft brewers — who attract tourists to the state, support agriculture and feed the tax base — the hop industry has similar benefits to Wisconsin. Make sure your legislators know this. 
• Quality is essential — Belanger buys hops based on the price and the quality. It's a safe bet that other growers do too. Strive for consistency and the best product possible. 
• Brewers need hops all year, not just in the fall —This makes pelletizing essential. 
• Know the competition — Growers in the Pacific Northwest.

Keep checking The Hometown Hopyard blog for more tips and highlights from the conference. I'll be posting all week. 

Cheers and Happy St. Patrick's Day. 

We're Sun Dog Hops, pleasure to meet you

In a few weeks, about 1,000 hop rhizomes will land on my doorstep and the reality of my long, strange journey from newspaper reporter to farmer will have officially begun. Like a first-time father, I've been planning for my baby hops to arrive for nine months. I've read the books, attended the classes and I finally feel (at least a little bit) prepared for this latest adventure.

Still, as I look out my window in the first week of March, it's obvious that while my rhizomes may be ready, my slice of Wisconsin turf may not be. There's about two feet of snow on the field, and much more than that in some of the drifts:

In anticipation of the long, fun growing season to come, I'm launching this blog. I hope to make it a place for learning about hops, craft beer and life on the farm. I also want it to serve as a record of my mistakes and successes in building a hop yard. That way, my dear reader, you won't be doomed to repeat them.

At this point, you may be asking yourself, "So, who is this guy and why do I care what he thinks?" You might also add, "What business does a reporter have farming hops?" Or even, "What the hell is a hop?"

I guess a little introduction is in order: Call me Adam. Some years ago — never mind how long precisely — having little or no money in my purse and nothing particular to interest me in the south, I thought I would move about a little and see the snowy part of the world (and steal from Melville). With my wife, Morgan, and my yellow dog, Emma, we purchased a 40-acre farm in River Falls, Wis. With its tin roofs, red barn, strands of crisp looking birch trees, and fields blanketed in prairie grass and wildflowers, the farm was beautiful in its own right:

It had been a labor of love for the previous owners, and so it would be for us. We decided that to live on land and to not improve upon it was, in the most basic sense, wrong. And what better way to improve upon a farm than to fill it with plants and animals again?

The granary, which once housed lawn furniture and an old wood stove, is now the home of three rowdy chickens (two of whom may actually be roosters). In the spring, an additional 20 egg-layers will be moving in. Our field, which seemed to only be growing ticks last summer, will soon be planted with corn or soybeans courtesy of a neighbor-farmer. My wife has picked out a half-acre spot near the composter we built last autumn to start her vegetable garden.

And then there is me. With the help of my father-in-law, whose expertise in all things I'm not naturally good at makes this venture possible, there will soon be 100 hop poles standing in the field. Felled from the pines growing on our property, the poles will be the sturdy bones to support our climbing bines of Centennial, Cascade and Nugget hops. It's going to be a beautiful sight to see.

Sun Dog Hops, we're calling it. We'll be growing, drying and packaging our locally-raised hops for your locally-brewed beer. Why sun dog? A sun dog, or parhelion, is a luminous ring or halo around the sun during the winter months which forms when sunlight reflects off of ice particles in the air. They are  beautiful, majestic and unique to the north, all qualities that we hope to instill in our hops. I spotted this one in January and it inspired the name for our business. You can almost imagine the halo giving a warm embrace to our future hop yard on a very cold (20 below zero) morning:

Pretty, huh? So check back here for information about hops, brewing and for tips of setting up a yard. I'll also strive to share any information I gather from hop conferences and events. Coming soon: highlights from the Wisconsin Extension's Hop Production in Craft Brew Industry class, which was held at Great Dane Pub in Wausau on March 1.

Thanks for reading.

Adam