Mrs. Hall's Fourth Grade Returns

My sister brought out another one of her fourth grade classes to visit the farm today. There were plenty of butterflies to be seen in the flight house and plenty of fish, dragonflies, and other pond animals to see at the pond.

My mother came out to help once again as the senior chaperons along with three other men who either taught at Ira B. Jones Elementary School in Asheville, NC., or who were parents of kids there today.

We really like these eager young people when they come out and explore the farm and learn about the monarch butterflies and farming. They seem to know about as much as I do at times. I hope that they get the chance to come out this summer with their parents and learn more.
Watch the video here:

Marion 4th Grade Arrives

Susan Childers, former National Teacher of the Year, brought out her fourth grade class from Marion, NC today and they spent almost three hours here in the clear blue skies of autumn in the mountains.

While here, her kids learned about medicinal herbs and why it is important to save our native species. Then they learned a great deal about conserving energy and natural resources here and at their homes. We looked at my solar panels and at the gravity feed drip irrigation system. We also looked at the benefits of composting with compost bins and talked about vermiculture.

Then it was off to the butterfly flight house. Along the way we looked at nectar plants and saw some swallowtails sipping nectar. We also visited the milkweed experimental patch and collected monarch caterpillars.

The kids took a few caterpillars back with them to school.

Then we went inside the flight house and captured four monarchs to tag them the Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas. The kids did a countdown and released them for their trip to Mexico.

I also was able to recruit 7 future crop scientist from the group. They were all given a newly rooted blueberry bush and each was given a task of using different techniques for overwintering the plants. They will all get back to me next spring with their results.

One thing I did learn was that these kids were really smart and very interested in the farm. I was amazed at how much they knew already. I only hope that a few of them will carry on and become our next modern farmers. Thanks again to Susan Childers for helping stimulate their learning abilities.

More pictures can be seen on our Facebook page for the Hop'n Blueberry Farm

Hop Harvest Goes to Pisgah Brewing and Hops U-Pick

Pisgah Brewing Company and the "Burnette Brew"


Nuggets on the vine

My hop harvest, all 18 pounds of it, went to Pisgah Brewing company last month. After 3 years of talking and working with them, and after their initial experimentation last year with wet hops, we finally got it together!

They have named the beer Burnette's Fresh Hop Pale Ale and let me tell you, I may be a little prejudice, but it is really good tasting. It is available now in the Growler or tap at Pisgah and is on tap at places like Barley's in downtown Asheville.

Let me tell you how it came down. First I had to let them know that I was ready to harvest and second, they had to get the ingredients and the boil ready. It takes a little coordination, but they have the act together over there.

Next I incorporated the help of my good friend Tony and we begin the harvest. It took us 5 hours to harvest the hops and only 7 minutes to drive over to the brewery where they dumped the 18 pounds of fresh picked hops into the kettle.

This is what fresh hop, or wet hop beer is all about. Right off the vine and into the boil. The flavor takes on a truly fresher more aromatic flavor. If you like pale ales, this is one of the best in this part of the country.

My second harvest is happening now. I have been picking and packaging the dry hops now and anticipate only about 6 ounces of Cascade, Chinook, and Nuggets combined. But, I am offering to any home brewer a chance to make their own wet hop beer by contacting me now and coming out to pick them yourselves and add them to your brew! Hurry, they may not last!

Now on the the butterfly house. The monarchs have completed one complete cycle and are now working on their third cycle of metamorphosis. I already have chrysalises forming along with eggs, and caterpillars of the third generation of Monarchs.

Outside the flighthouse, the milkweed is attracting wild monarchs and the butterfly attracting flowers on the walkway to the house are hosting hundreds of swallowtails, buckeyes, sulphurs, and fritilaries. It is a great time to schedule a tour to see all phases of the butterfly metamorphosis.

Monarch laying eggs

Inside the butterfly fighthouse

Crop Mob Invades The Farm

Wow, what's it like to have a controlled mob at your place? Usually the term mob is associated with chaos and destruction. Well, that's not entirely wrong when it happens at your farm. Only, the destruction is usually done to weeds and to the mental stability of the farm boss, me! And, the chaos is present only when the farm boss, me, leaves the mobbers to free will resulting in mass exiting of the fields to the surrounding cherry, mulberry, and blueberry plants.

No, really, all kidding aside, the crop mob is a free membership of those that are mostly city dwellers that have little or no opportunity to work at a farm and learn about all the aspects of what it is to be a farmer/producer of one crop or another.

I usually try to tell people it is the modern day version of an ole fashion barn-raising. A time when people of varied interest just get together, and put in a good half-day of hard work to get a job done at a farm with the only reward being the camaraderie of others and of course a home cooked meal at the end of the work period.

I went to the initial crop mob meeting early this spring to help get the idea going, but missed the first 2. It was like a "catch 22" for me. I had so much work here on the farm that I couldn't get away. I finally realized that I needed to get away for a half day to get involved with the mob. Besides, you can only get a mob at your farm until you participate in a mob. That's how it works.

It was fun from the start. My first experience showed me that these "mobbes" worked rain or shine. I also met a bunch of folks that I had something in common with. A great way to tangle with a bunch of folks and enjoy an ole fashion spirit of community, which sadly, is so lacking in today's society.

What I didn't realize was that it is a lot more fun to have them over to your farm. The amount of work that gets done with everyone seemingly having a good time is something that I rarely, if ever, see over here for sure. It was great. And, if I must say, so was the food.

My wife, Martha, fretted forever about this thing for two day, but ended up putting on the best show of the day with a dinner ( southerners eat dinner usually on Sundays in the afternoon) that was spectacular if I must say. A fresh ham, greenbeans, corn, pasta salad, green salad, fresh fruit, rolls, spinach dip, cut vegetables, and cookies. Nobody complained, even after a thunderstorm cut us short for the day.

My advice. Join a crop mob and have some fun, we sure did. To get in touch with our mob go to

cropmobwest@googlegroups.com

Raleigh News and Observer Article

Jay Price, staff writer for the Raleigh News and Observer, recently interviewed me about the Hop'n Blueberry Farm's adventure into hops farming. You can check out the article online at

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/05/15/483234/brewers-have-high-hopes-for-nc.html

The butterfly flighthouse is still a work in progress. The frame is up and much detail is being planned for the eventual finish. I am so tired, that you will have to come back to see pictures and find out all the progress.

The above photo shows Tony shooting grade on the greenhouse site. It is 40 x 16 and will be covered in shade cloth. More pics to follow.

Cascade Hops Flowering Now

Cascade Hop Flowers

I noticed the burs of the Cascade hops yesterday. Almost all of the plants are simultaneously flowering at the same time. I have allowed 4 vines to climb and they are at around 15 + feet in height now.

I have been pruning and weeding and have a lot more to go. My experimental project with cover crops is now out of control! I am far behind on getting rid of the cover crops of Crimson Clover and Winter Rye. It is going to take some real time to catch up.

One reason I am so far behind is the construction of the green/flight house. I have been working full time on this project now for 7 days. I hope to get gravel on the base by Monday. Then start putting up the frame work. I laid out the final foundation grading and drainage for the house and waterfall were done today as well.

You Think You Had A Bad Day?

Really now, how many things did you have go wrong today? Well, I am here to make you feel better about your rotten day, if you are in that category. And if your not, then just read this and see how good your day was comparatively!!!
This was the first day for the actual construction of my greenhouse after all preliminaries were completed like grading, receiving and unloading the greenhouse kit, purchasing and hauling the concrete and wood, getting my good friend Tony over here to help me, and calling up my part-time employer and telling him I would not be in this week.
Right off the bat, within 15 minutes after Tony arrived at 8 AM. trouble started. I had borrowed an 3-point hitch auger to help me drill the 22 holes I needed for the greenhouse/butterfly flighthouse, each of which was 30 inches deep.
I had never hooked one up and had to go through a learning curve which cost me a snapped 3/4 inch 5 inch pin that nearly hit Tony in the brain! After I wiped the sweat off of my brow and continued on, finally getting the device to work, the tractor broke down. The transmission froze up. I worked on it for 2 hours almost burning out the clutch in my truck as I tried to haul it up to level ground.
Meanwhile, Tony worked on digging the first hole for the greenhouse post by hand. He hit a rock, believe it or not, here at the North Fork Rock Nursery, at 12 inches down and had to dig out the hole twice the diameter in order to get it out. I still was having the stress of my life trying to free up the transmission with bolts, steel plates, oil soaked hands, and a lot of cussing.
When I finally got the tractor moving, I realized that I still had work to do on it and had to take the plate off again and beat things with a hammer. 20 minutes later, I ran out of gas before I could dig the first hole.
Before that, I realized that the grade was off where the greenhouse site was and I had to grade it with the tractor. A process similar to brushing your teeth with a shovel. In other words, something that takes a lot of practice and luck and shouldn't be done in the first place.
It was getting late in the afternoon by this time and I started noticing that my neck was burning. Yep, I had severe sunburn going on. Not having a minute to myself, my exposed skin to the clear blue, 80 degree temps, had played havoc on me, burning me to a crisp! Plus, I was getting dehydrated and not thinking straight.
Now comes the fun part. The second hole I was to dig with the now working tractor and auger, I hit a rock again. It cost us another hour of digging, pounding, and cussing. We finally got it set and called it a day at 7pm. this evening.
There is always a silver lining and I am still trying desperately to figure out what it was today. Maybe it was the fact that Tony helped me and didn't expect to get paid. Maybe it was that it didn't rain on us. Maybe it was the fact that if I didn't have a bad day, I wouldn't have any day at all!