Vote In The "Best of WNC"

There is a great opportunity for the farm to get some focus on us.  It is Mountain Express magazines "Best Of WNC".  In this survey, you can vote on things like your favorite restaurant or swimming hole.  One category, "Favorite Farm to Visit" is especially important for our farm.  Please vote for us there and there are other categories like most sustainable business where you could vote for us as well.

Here is the link:
 http://vote.bestofwnc.com/388241

Hops On The Vine--Finally!

Nuggets on the twine, hop stain on the hand

It has been a really chilly spring so far.  Lucky for me and my hops and blueberries. For one thing, it has slowed growth and allowed me to get out there and prune up my vines and select the ones to grow.  This time last year, it would have been a tremendous mess to get in there and do that.  Just in the past few days, growth is now at the six inch a day stage. 

I am selecting just three vines this year to grow.  Last year I experimented with allowing 5 or more grow and found no benefits to the production.  I am also not cutting back my vines to the ground.  Two and three years ago I also experimented cutting all vines back some plants within the rows when they reached two feet or more to see if that would stimulate later cone production.  I found no later cone production and no increase in harvest.

All of my experiments were carried out within the rows of different varieties leaving some untouched and some altered.  It is my firm belief that our main problem in cone production is the day lengths associated with our southern most latitude.  I would love to experiment with night lights to see if there might be a change.  More about that later.

I have noticed this year a tiny (1/8 inch) fly or wasp? on the tips of my vines.

Tiny sucker

This insect is usually seen on the tips of the vine and all of those tips don't particularly seem healthy looking.  I have sent in photos to the insect folks at NCSU and hope to hear back from them soon.  They attach themselves with a long pointed mouth part and don't move when you pull them off.

Highbush blueberry blooms

This is the first year that I am letting my blueberries go into full production.  In the past three years I have been pruning the blooms off to allow better root production.  They are loaded with blooms but I have seen a decline in native pollinators.  Did you know that blueberries are only pollinated by native bees such as the bumble bee? 

Don't be confused though.  There are lots of carpenter bees out there on them that look like a honey bee.  These devils are nectar thieves and do not pollinate.  Note below

 See the holes in the bottom of the bloom?  The carpenter bee will drill that hole in the base and suck out the nectar, never entering the top of the flower where the stamens and pistils are therefore not passing on the pollen to create the fruit.  Honey bees will use those same holes to steal the nectar.  They are not pollinators either.

I am hoping to open the U-Pick up next year, stay tuned for that.  We are also going to try some rabbiteye varieties this year.  I am just about 200 feet above where they are safe to grow, but I feel I should be OK.  We will see.

Learn How to Grow Hops

 

 

 

 

It's been a while since our last post and a long winter here on the farm, but due to some extraordinary warm weather, 84 degrees here today, we have had things going crazy to catch up in time for our April 13, Saturday event, "Learn How To Grow Hops" at the Hop'n Blueberry Farm.

 

It will be an great time to see first hand in the field what it takes to grow hops.  We have all of the visuals necessary for potential growers to learn techniques to successfully start hops from the ground up.

 

This Saturday the event starts at 1pm. with your host Van Burnette.  You will see how the beds are prepared and see one being started.  You will see how to select and prune your vines to grow.  You can witness Van's unique trellis system and see how the twine is placed on the cable down to the hop vine.

 

No questions will be unanswered and everyone is invited to go over to Pisgah Brewing Company afterwards for tasting and more touring of the Brewery.  Don't miss this hopping good opportunity to learn about the much talked about vine with the cones of flavor. 

 

Cost is $10/person. For more info call us at 828-664-1166.

 

 



The Farm Featured on UNC-TV

I wanted to share with you this recent publicity we got from producer John Litschke who produced a segment on our for the popular UNC-TV show, "NC Weekend"
It was aired Sept. 6, 2012.  He did a great job with our farm and I am honored that our farm was featured. 

Here is the site, we are the first segment of the show.

Watch September 6, 2012 on PBS. See more from NC Weekend.

Farm Tours Come To A Close For The Year On A Soggy Note

Van Burnette tags a monarch butterfly

The past two weeks have been very busy for the farm and were a great way to end the 2012 tour season.  On Sept. 22 and 23 we hosted the ASAP Family Farm tour.  Around 120 people visited the farm where non stop tours were given by Van for both days.  It is rather grueling but hopefully people learned a lot about what all we do here on the farm.

Hops, as always, seemed to demand the most attention for the Farm Tour.  We also seemed to raise awareness for the importance of creating and maintaining native bee pollinator habitats and with our native blueberry study.  We also tagged a couple of monarch butterflies that were passing through.

The major tagging event for the monarch butterflies was reserved for the next weekend, Sept. 29 and our last official tour of the season.  Around 60 people showed up for this free event.  Folks started gathering early and so did the clouds.

The rain started during the release

 I managed to tag three monarchs and let the kids and adults release them after we taught the butterflies a few crucial words in Spanish.  Not all of the butterflies we eager to fly off as the one seen below seemed to wanted to stay on this young ladies hair.

All in all it was a good year, but we hope next year will be even better and hope to sponsor many fun events and have great Saturday tours with lots of folks.  The last shot seems to be a good ending for this blog.  You can just make out a monarch flying south after being tagged, saying goodbye to the farm.

Wet Hop Beer From The Native Ground Brewery

Earlier in the season, I held a few sessions of "work for learning" at the farm.  I had some home brewers and potential commercial brewers come out to the farm and learn the art and the pains of growing hops with dirt in the fingernails learning.  The rewards are the learning experience and hops from the vine.

Two volunteers from Columbia, SC. came up and helped out quite a bit.  Lee Snelgrove and John Codega were two of those folks.  Lee actually came up again and help at the filming for the UNC-TV show, "NC Weekend" which aired two weeks ago and featured the farm. 

Lee took back some fresh hops a few weeks prior and he and John created a fresh hop beer, the one shown above and sent it to me.  Their hope is to start up "Native Ground Brewing" in Columbia.  After tasting this, the best wet hop beer I have ever had, I am sure that they are going to do well.

  Their label is so funny.  It is from a picture I took of myself, a take off of the Dos Equis ad on TV, "The Most Interesting Man in the World". Good luck yall.

Highlands Brewing and Monarchs

How in the world does the title of this blog have anything in common.  Well if it is my farm, the Hop'n Blueberry Farm, then the answer is obvious if you know anything about us.  The title relates to two of our most popular products, hops and butterflies.

Highland Brewing Company, Western North Carolina most prominent and successful brewery, is getting ready to release their newest seasonal premium beer.  One that was made with hops from our farm.  It should be available to folks next week.  Be sure to check with Highlands to get the release date for sure. 

The hops were picked fresh by yours truly and help from Grant DaSantos, the tasting room manager, and John Lyda, the head brewer, three weeks ago and added to John's secret recipe.  If it is anything like Highlands last local hop beer, made from my friend Josh Smith of OB Joyful Hops Farm, then it is going to be a most tasty treat! 

Now on the other part of the title.  These are the first pictures of the young babies, or eggs, that will develop into the butterflies going to Mexico. These Monarch eggs, we have over 300 of them,  are scheduled to fly in about 5 weeks to Mexico.

We are the only place in America that teaches our Monarchs to speak Spanish.  Be sure to keep up with our tagging day to come in late September.  As a matter of fact, we are already tagging Monarchs on the farm, just in case there is a early departure this year.