We’ve been busy, and it’s taken longer than expected to get this post up. The good news is we had a successful first year harvest in the small field, providing Cascade and Chinook to two local breweries! (More on that later.)

The especially rainy spring both delayed new planting but also caused damp field conditions that threatened the small field. Our farm was fortunate in that we did not see any powdery mildew that spread throughout the Upstate NY hop farm community this season. This mildew is partly responsible for the near extinction of hops from the Northeast nearly a century ago, but today we have access to modern methods of preventing blights like this.

We harvested our first year only with our bare hands and the kind, free labor of our family and friends. We had plans for a much larger harvest party that didn’t pan out, but we know better for next year. Here are a few photos:

The small field in it’s last throes (2015)

Never underestimate the ability of a mother’s pride to embarrass; or the temptation of cake with confetti (we couldn’t even get a picture before several people dug in)

30lbs of Cascade (blue) and 40lbs of Chinook (pink)

Find your happy place

Using the mashtun as a hop-back (photo pre-wort)

Hop-back filled with wort and fresh, wet hop deliciousness

We’re also fortunate to have local brewers and breweries that value locally-grown fresh hops!

Both beers listed below were featured during the 2015 Buffalo Beer Week as Farm-to-pint (F2P) selections at both breweries:

Pearl Street’s Harvest Edge Double IPA

I’m very proud that Pearl Street was our first customer!

Pearl Street Grill & Brewery in downtown Buffalo has been a favorite of mine since the early 2000’s… the Ketry’s and their partners had the foresight to be one of a small handful of local brew pubs in the area. We’re spoiled now that they carry such a wide variety and selection at Wegman’s, Consumer’s, Premier…you can even fill a growler at the gas station, go figure… but only a few years ago you had to brew your own, or find one of the handful of places that appreciated microbrew.

One of my favorite styles of beer is the Double IPA, slightly higher ABV and IBU’s than a traditionally IPA, when combined with light body and nice hop aroma, they are some of the boldest and most delicious beers I’ve ever had. Pearl Street makes an excellent DIPA called Sabre’s Edge, in honor of our hometown NHL team. This fall, we provided Pearl Street almost 70lbs of wet, whole-cone Cascade and Chinook for their seasonal version: Harvest Edge.

It was an immediate hit with the staff, asking if it could be brewed year round(!). We’re proud to have local breweries like Pearl Street, and brewers like Chris Herr to help make it happen!

Rusty Nickel’s Wet Buffalo Saison

In the tradition of home brewers being creative and inventive, Dave Johnson at Rusty Nickel pulled wild yeast literally from the air for his Wet Buffalo Saison.

The word is literally, constantly misused, but he actually (literally) extracted wild yeast from the surrounding air, propagated it, and used it to ferment this wonderfully funky brew.

About 30lbs of fresh, whole cone Cascade went into this brew. It’s a tough beer to pull off, but it was excellent and we’re proud to have helped just a little bit.

Thanks again to everyone that made this a successful 2015 harvest! From our family and friends that helped us harvest by hand, to the local brewers and breweries that took a risk with a new farm. We appreciate your help and support, and look forward to another successful 2016!

Cheers,
V

November is cold

In anticipation of planned field expansion this spring, we began installing the trellis in the large field last fall/winter. We had some help with the hole drilling and pole setting, but by the time we got out to begin wiring, it was November 14th. We got what we needed to get done, but it was as cold a Western New York November as you’d expect, especially so close to Lake Erie.

Large field installation, November 2015

As soon as the ground thawed in the spring, we finished wiring the trellis, in anticipation of planting. We took what we learned in the small field and made some adjustments in the large field. This has definitely been the learning experience I expected, and the hard work makes it fun.

The plants are in!

Although we picked up disease-free plants in early June, another rainy spring prevented us from planting until late July. We planted about this late last year, and the hop plant demonstrated it’s heartiness but sustaining the deepest freeze and coldest winter in a long time — so while it’s disappointing we had to wait so long, we’re confident our work isn’t for naught.

Here’s a few shots of the new plants, as well as last year’s small field…

One week old baby Chinook in new large field

New large field – July 2015

Small Field – July 2015

Majestic, second-year Cascade

Check back again in a few months to see how harvest went!

Cheers,

V