The Big Freeze & The Big Bad Trellis

Here at Bitterbine Farm/Ranch (we haven't quite figured out which description best describes our 18 acres...) we bring in the New Year with a half-finished trellis for the one-acre hop yard. There has been a Herculean effort by friends and family during the fall to get us to this stage. The majority of their sweat was poured into making the 88 hand-made cedar poles - the cellulose bones of the trellis system.

After getting a much-needed tutorial from our neighbour Hal on the ins-and-outs of working with such massive raw timber, we pulled out or brand new Stihl Farmhand Chainsaw and started cutting the cedar timber to size.

We found it fitting that much or our Lumberjack work occurred during the month of Movember while Tim and I were sporting our magnificent moustaches, which brought in hundreds of dollars for Prostate Cancer research!

Each pole was measured to 21': 18' out of and 3' into the ground. The final product was just the right size for one person to maneuver with only partial back strain. We split the poles to have substantial girth (a few additional inches than what is recommended) to withstand Lillooet's infamous wind gusts that shoot through the Fraser Valley during the hot summer months.

We're also putting our faith in the natural strength of Thuja plicata to flex and not break in the face of gusts exceeding 80 km/hr. We were given a taste of what's to come on the night of November 30th after putting up a dozen poles: Strong winds and torrential rain fell that night, forcing over poles that were only partially back-filled.

With the pole yard count reaching the magic 88, we set our sights on getting them into the ground before freeze-up. With the help of Hal and his hard working Deere, we managed to install the perimeter poles to the yard by the end of Movember. But with forecasts calling for some serious sub-zero nights for the first week of December, we had precious little time to get the rest of the poles in before the ground became like hardened concrete. Turns out Mother Nature gave us one last day - December 1st - to install the remaining 50 interior poles. Good luck, we thought. Nevertheless, we added a powerful skid steer to the equation and managed to push through the encrusted piles of soil to infill about a dozen more poles.

By about 2:30 pm, we looked at our progress and Garrett the skid steer operator said, "Boys, winter will be here in about 20 minutes." He was right, the sun was heading back behind the mountains and a rapid chill could be felt in the air. Although the unfinished trellis was a little disappointing, we figured to just pick-up where we left off come spring time.

In the mean time, let's make some hoppy beer!

Welcome, the training of the bines

Welcome to the Bitterbine Blog! There are are few reasons why I started a blog detailing the progress at the Bitterbine Farm.

First, I hope to keep in touch with my extended family who mainly reside in Ontario. Having a Catholic background you might guess that I am part of a rather large family and it's simply too difficult to reach out over the phone, e-mail, or snail mail on a regular basis. Instead, I thought I would join the world of blogging as an alternative means of keeping in touch.

For those who are interested in actually growing hops yourselves, well then you are in luck! My second goal with this blog is to document our hop-growing project every step of the way. I hope to shed some light on the biology of Humulus lupulus, report on how the varieties fare in the unique climate of Lillooet, British Columbia, talk shop from a farmer's perspective, and generally showcase the herculean growth potential of hops throughout the summer season.

Lastly, The Bitterbine Blog will act as a show-and-tell of sorts. Every week we will have photographs of the hops as they train themselves up a ten-foot trellis, and hopefully lots of pictures of friends and family helping out as farmhands along the way!


THE TRAINING OF THE BINES

Last weekend, co-CFO (Chief Farming Officer) Tim Hazard, my brother Paul, and our amazing neighbour Hal fixed the trellis system of the hop nursery. The week prior, wind gusts in excess of 80 km/h tested the structural integrity of this 10' trellis system, causing the posts to sway widly in all directions despite the guy wires. We decided to make some adjustments to the design by affixing the posts to each other with 1"x4"s to form a more unified structure. We think the changes produced a much stronger system. Special thanks to Hal for his sage advice! We will need to continually monitor the trellis as the hops begin to grow upwards adding hundreds if not thousands of additional pounds of vegetation to the system. We'll keep you 'posted'.


We were also surprised to see our hops taking off in their vertical pursuit for more sun! First out of the gates were the Willamette plants, with bines about 3 feet long by May 22nd. This particular variety originated from Left Fields Farm, the home of the coveted organic Crannog (pronounced with a long, drawn out 'O', NOT Crann-awe-g) Ales Farmhouse Brewery. The other 9 varieties came from a large conventional hop farm in Oregon. We think that the organic upbringing of the Willamette rhizomes is the reason for its early, vigorous growth to date. However, once established at our hopyard, all 10 varieties will soon produce certified organic hops!


At three feet in length, it was definitely time to train the hop bines up their respective climbing routes. We tossed 20' lengths of braided sisal over the horizontal trellis rope and brought a line down to each pot where we wrapped the bines clockwise in an east-west direction. The bines stuck like glue to the sisal with their velcro-like stalks. I'll have to post a macro-shot of the bine stalk to really demonstrate its gripping abilities. It's quite amazing!





Enjoy the blog!