So the new season has arrived after a busy break it has seemed none stop, but very excited to wake our hops burst from their slumber.
The big news is the poor winter weather we have had. We have been dumped with rain, wind and now snow. Luckily last year we mulched our hops beds with manure from our resident horses unfortunately they are now leaving us but they have left there legacy behind to last another year or two. Any way the covers are now off and ready for business.
We also launched this brand new website where we will be selling all our hops direct to home brewers and micro breweries as well as showcasing some brewing equipment we us on the farm. Check out our mini keg. We have been using the mini keg now for a few months it – it’s like having a bar with out the hassle of building one and you can take it with you. You will be guaranteed i’ll be taking mine down to beach whilst my wife is surfing.
We have also extended our hop yard and trialing out a horizontal yard. As with our traditional yard we are looking to pick the hops by hand and allowing the hop plant to grow beyond its harvest, creating a stronger plant for the following year. The new horizontal yard is going to home for some new varieties of hops Prima Donna, Phoenix, Fuggle, Willamette, Sazz, Hallertau, Perle and Magnum. We planted just before the snow and rain, so a little concerned to there well being, hopefully spring will revive them to life.
We are also trying a new weeding technique called nickname the “flamethrower” basically a pipe attached to an LGP bottle that burns a flame at 1000 degrees – take that nettles, thistles and other undesirables. Rock On!