I AM SO HOPPY TODAY
I am also happy, but still hoppy for sure.
Grandma and @grandpa-pepper arrived in Arkansas today, and they brought me a present from one of my brothers. A brother of mine enjoyed growing hops and making homebrew, so he had some to spare. Since my parents were visiting his family prior to coming to see mine, they brought me some bags of Hops rhizomes.
My brother runs http://www.highhoppage.com/ and has been experimenting with growing different varieties. He was thinning his varieties from five kinds down to three, so he sent me the Golding and Sterling varieties.
Last year, I had received some Chinook and Cascade Hops rhizomes from him, which are still alive and well. It is so encouraging to see them breaking through the top of the soil once again.
Just because @papa-pepper doesn’t drink anymore doesn’t mean that I cannot find uses for Hops. These plants have other uses besides being a bittering and flavoring ingredient in the production of beer.
The long stems, called bines, can grow 20 – 30 feet in one season once the roots are established. They will die back at the end of the growing season, and then regrow the next year. For this reason, they can be an excellent source of shade in the summer without preventing sunlight in the winter.
Honestly, I received a lot more of the rhizomes than I was expecting. I’ll be able to plant all the Hops that I want, and still have some to share.
If you look at these rhizomes (roots), you can see the new growth (in white) already starting. This is where the bines will grow from. Hopefully, but the end of the growing season, I will have some mature Hops cones.
The part that people harvest and use are the seed cones, which are actually the flowers. It’ll be interesting to see what happened. I’ll keep you posted!
As always, I’m @papa-pepper and here’s the proof:
proof-of-papa-being-hoppy
Until next time…
FULL STEEM AHEAD!
When they start sprouting, collect the sprouts, cook them in milk and serve with a poched egg.... Delicious !
You know what's good! I eat my hop shoots, too, when I thin them out. : D
good posting friend...^^
Thank you @abdullar!
Why did the Easter Bunny request a pint of IPA at the bar after his long day of hiding eggs?
He heard it was extra-hoppy!
LOL!
Ahh.. I love the smell of hops in the morning. It smells like..... Beer! ;-)
The other thing you can do with your hops besides making beer, is trade them with home brewers. So your shade plants become a useful trade good.
With the growing number of home breweries becoming established you should have a good market for the hops at the end of the season.
I spent a summer picking hops in Kent, in the south of England. I could tell some stories about that time, but I doubt anyone would believe them ;-)
That sounds very interesting! I'll have to check out the market!
Glad you are Hoppy!! Steem on!!
Thanks!
I'm so hoppy for you!!:) I can't wait to see an update post in the future about how your hops are progressing; they are such a fantastic landscape plant! Good luck planting all of those rhizomes, lol, that is a pile!
Need any?
LOL! You know me, I am always up for any plants or seeds! I'm going to be propagating lavender soon, would you and mama enjoy some baby lavender plants?
Deal.... Perhaps I'll mail tomorrow!
Sounds awesome! Thanks! The babies should be good and rooted sometime in May, I'll let you know when I drop them in the post!
Ah... the blessings of being a generous steemian surrounded by generous steemians!
I was thinking of throwing in a few bareroot Red Mulberry Trees if you are interested... I also have American Gooseberries or Elderberries that I could send cuttings of. Let me know and I'll try to mail early this week.
Oh You are so very awesome! Anything you want to mail my way will be truly enjoyed! Thank you so much! I haven't had a good gooseberry fight in years, but I guess I might have to be more adult about them now, lol!
You could grow them as a cash crop...local hops are always in demand, after all.
I intend to write a post about my experience stumbling upon a large amount of wild hops in the foothills of the Rockies. I ended up brewing a wet hop pale ale with it, and it turned out pretty darn good.
Link me that post if you make it. Wild Hops would be so cool to find! Did you take photos too? That cash crop idea sounds good!
Yes! I have photo's somewhere, and will include them in the post. It was quite a neat find once we stumbled upon them.
We have a lot of hops in the yard, we are fighting with him! He has a very large root, branched and long, we dig it out and throw it out, because there is no use for it.
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