Mid-June Monday Morning

The yard is looking fantastic on this glorious morning. Toby scouts the yard with his mom and dad. One day after the summer solstice and so many varieties have hit the 18 foot wire, as we'd hoped. Post solstice,the plants will change their focus from growing up to growing out. Side arms will continue to develop as will buds, burrs, then cones. Different varieties are at different stages of this development already. A couple Ultra plants have cones! Find them in the slideshow. The first cones of 2015!

Our Farm Brewery Baby

Thankfully, the hops training got done before Baby Toby arrived! He was born on Sunday, May 31st. Our hearts are fuller and our lives busier than ever before. 

Hops wait for no baby!

Since the birth of our son, we've all been playing catch up in the hop yard. Our plants' growth in their second year in the big yard is hugely outpacing their first year growth. Pruning and stripping the bottom leaves are a major priority right now. An urgent priority! Saul and Fran have been working overtime and making headway. Last weekend, we enlisted the help of some of our most earnest Griffin Hill supporters and make a party of it. Baby's first party, in fact! The late afternoon rain may have cut our work day a bit short but it didn't interfere with reveling in our late spring homemade pizza/beer/Toby-snuggling fest. 

The yard is shaping up and we are expecting quite a harvest this year. I'm already dreaming about the beer we'll make. Now that Toby is born, I'm looking forward to imbibing this year's harvest in the glass! 

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