Happy Holidays from Simple Earth Hops

What an exciting first year 2010 has been - wow! Thank you to everyone for making time to come to the hopyard to talk about sustainable hops, work together and contribute to the Simple Earth Hops community.

 

Merry Christmas and have a safe and happy New Year!

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Mulchfest Beer Exchange Hopyard Event on Oct 9th

RSVP at the official Facebook Event Page.

Come back to the Dodgeville, Wisconsin hopyard on October 9th, 2010 for our Hopyard Mulch Fest Beer Exchange. We will be mulching hop plants and trading, sampling each others' beers.

Bring a six pack or growler of your favorite local beer to share and pass. It's a beer potluck!

This will be a low key work event where we will be passing some beers, eating light and mulching the hop plants within the rows with wood chips, straw, hay and other soil enriching sources.

Where?

• The Hopyard by Simple Earth Hops @ Greenspirit Farm
  - 4352 State Road 23, Dodgeville, WI

When?

• Saturday, October 9
  - 11:00am - 4:30pm

Interested in attending?

Please bring:

1. a positive attitude
2. a 6-pack or growler of your preferred brew (or food if you prefer not to drink)
3. a long sleeve shirts and
4. a lawn chair if you want 

We will provide:

1. Directions on how to mulch lasagna gardening style
2. Pint glasses
3. Lots of mulch material and shovels
4. a growler or 2 of local beer from Mineral Point's Brewery Creek Inn
5. work gloves
6. hay rides with the tractor

More information:

• RSVP at the official Facebook Event Page
• Google Docs presentation on how to mulch lasagna gardening style

Schedule for 2010 Hopyard Grand Opening

Simple Earth Hops
Grand Opening Schedule

Grand Opening Guests:
please sign in at the Hop Tree tent, guest sign-in table when your first arrive where we will: cross off your name or add you to the guest list and; check your ID and give you a serving glass.

11am

• Volunteer meeting

Noon

• Grand Opening begins
• Beer taps open at the Hop Tree tent 
• Beelzebillies on stage at the Hop Tree tent [12pm-3pm]

1pm

• Guided hopyard tour

4:00pm

• Logueflower & Friends performance at the Hop Tree tent

4:30pm

• Last guided hopyard tour

5:30pm

• Hopyard ribbon cutting
• Press conference

7:00pm

• Grand Opening Potluck
• Bring a dish to pass, utensils and plates and a chair

Throughout the day

• Self-guided hopyard tours
• Hop info handouts and fliers at the Hop Tree tent, guest sign-in table
  
• Face painting
• Farm tours
• Hay rides 

 For more information:

• View the Simple Earth Hops Grand Opening event on Facebook
• View the official Grand Opening announcement

Hopyard Grand Opening Labor Day 2010

You Are Invited!
Please RSVP on Facebook for the Simple Earth Hops Grand Opening

When?
@ noon-7pm / Sept., 4, 2010.

Simple Earth Hops is proud to present the 1st installment in a series of hopyard event titled "Brewing Up a Community".

The Grand Opening is family friendly, free and open to the public. This event will feature tours of the hopyard, live music, tours of the Organic farm and more (from Furthermore). The Grand Opening will start at noon to 7pm and a potluck will begin at 7pm (bring a dish if you are staying after 7pm).

When?
Saturday, Sept., 4, 2010, Labor Day weekend

Hopyard Grand Opening Location
The Hopyard @ Greenspirit Farm
4352 State Road 23
Dodgeville, WI 53533

Hopyard Tours and Furthermore sampling

• @ noon-7pm
• limit 2 samples

Potluck 

• @ 7pm-9pm 
• Be SURE to bring a dish to pass and...
  a plate and utensils to eat with.

What Else?

• Volunteer for this event
• View this event on Facebook
• Bring a chair and a cup
• View the Grand Opening flyer
• Must be 21 w/ a valid ID to sample local brew
• Please bring or arrange for a designated driver if you are going to sample local brew

Volunteers Wanted for Hopyard Open House on 9-4-2010

Registration for this free Open House event has not yet begun. The Open House will be on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, in this year of 2010.

We are still working out some of the details on this Open House event but in the mean time we need to begin recruiting volunteers to assist with a number of duties including:

• Servers: needed to pour Furthermore Beer.
• Info Booth: these lucky volunteers will hand out 2011 harvest fliers and will manage the information booth table.
• Raffle: responsible for selling raffle tickets and will run the raffle at 5pm.
• Designated Drivers: these volunteers will be giving people a ride home if they need it. No alcoholic beverage sampling while working on this volunteer assignment.
• Set-up / Tear-down / Clean-up: this team will help setup, tear down and clean up at the Open House location.
• Cup Distribution: these volunteers will distribute our earth-friendly cups to guests and will also need to check the ID's of anyone who looks under 21.
• Greeters and Volunteer Managers: this team will show arriving guests where the Open House is located on the farm, will work with the bouncer at the end of the night, will check-in all volunteers and will show volunteers what their assignments are and where they will be working at the Open House.
• Bouncer & Traffic:  Show guest where to park as they pull in the farm driveway. Greeting guests and assisting hopyard Open House attendees with entrance and exiting the farm at the end of the event. No alcoholic beverage sampling while working on this volunteer assignment.

Volunteers are requested to serve on 1 of 2 shifts from 12pm to 4pm (1st shift) or 4pm to 8pm-ish (2nd shift) or you can indicate that you would like to work as a volunteer for both shifts of the event.

Benefits to being a volunteer include participation in this Open House event and sampling of beer while you are at this event while you work (except for some team members like the designated driver and bouncer teams).

• You will receive your team/shift assignment for the Simple Earth Hops Open House by email.
• The Open House will take place at 4352 State Road 23, Dodgeville, WI 53533 on Saturday, Sept. 4, 2010.
• All the information you provide here is strictly confidential! We promise not to share it with anyone.
• All volunteers must be a minimum of 21 years of age before the event to volunteer. IDs will be checked!
  Please be aware that volunteers represent Simple Earth Hops. 

If the thought of bringing a water bottle and remaining sober during some or all of hopyard event is not what you are in for, volunteering may not be for you. We want friendly, fun and dedicated volunteers only.

**Waiver of Liability: By submitting the Volunteer Registration Form, volunteer agrees to bear full responsibility and full liability for any and all damage or injury which might result from volunteering at the Simple Earth Hops Open House. Volunteers also releases and agrees to hold harmless and indemnify the Sweeny family of Simple Earth Hops, the Kerr family at Greenspirit Farm, event sponsors and their insurance carriers from any and all claims, actions or damages without any limitation whatsoever, whether consisting of personal injury, property damage or death that results in any way from any act of the volunteer while attending or volunteering at the Simple Earth Hops Open House.

NOTICE! Completing this volunteer application does not guarantee your participation in the volunteer program. We will confirm your volunteer involvement as soon as possible so that you can enjoy some other fun, local event if you need to.

Thanks to Furthermore Beer of Spring Green, Wisconsin for providing the brew for this Open House venue.

PRESS RELEASE -- Hopyard Takes Root In Dodgeville, Wisconsin

Simple Earth Hops to Provide Ethically Grown Hops for Local Beer Producers

DODGEVILLE, Wisconsin (May 27, 2010)--Today, Matt Sweeny announced the launch of Simple Earth Hops, a Dodgeville, Wisconsin new farming business, who will provide ethically grown hops to local beer producers.

Simple Earth Hops is a new 1/4 acre hopyard located at Greenspirit Farm CSA in Dodgeville, Wisconsin. The hopyard was founded with the idea of providing a much needed agricultural product for local craft brewers. Simple Earth Hops was established to demonstrate that local farmers can produce a consistent, sustainable supply of ultra high quality hops by working directly with local craft brewers while still maintaining a focus on ecology, the land and the people involved.

"Craft beer producers have made it clear that they desire a local source of hops. Simple Earth Hops will address this need for a local sustainable supply of hops by small locally owned craft beer producers."

Look for Simple Earth Hops to elaborate more on the details of a Grand Opening hopyard tour/beer tasting event in late July, 2010 and for the hopyard harvest tour and beer tasting in early Fall, 2011.

About Simple Earth Hops

Midwest hop varieties planted this weekend

Thanks to everyone who helped out with planting the hops on Saturday including:

• Josh Soboleski
• Darryl Moffitt
• Charlie Rohwer
• Beckie Sweeny
• Steven Shoemaker
• Renea Sweeny

250 plants went into the ground thanks to these generous volunteers.

Hop trellis upper cables complete

Yesterday we finished the upper trellis cables by stringing the cross and main row cables on the top of the hop trellis poles using a 2-man aerial lift rental. All the hop trellis cable hardware installation was done by the generous Mike Karnatz of Chicago.

Next up is to till the existing 10 rows of hops, mulch the rows with straw, transplant the sprouted hop plants and seed and plant some beneficial insect attracting prairie plants, herbs and flowers into the hopyard.

A press release will be distributed in the next few weeks followed up by an open house once the plants are in the ground. Hope you can make it to this next event and I will share the dates with you once we have nailed them down.

Building the hop trellis

This weekend we built the 1/4 acre hop trellis in the rain.

There are so may team member volunteers and others to thank including Bryan Nelson, Aran Madden, Scot Hansen, Mike Karnatz, Andy Anderson, Matt Girman, all of the Kerr family, Gene from the extension office, my lovely wife Renea Sweeny, my sister Beckie Sweeny and bro Darryl, Bob Matts, Barb Kalicki, Roger Reynolds and all of the crew from the black locust hauling mission.

Here are some pictures which were taken by Barb Kalicki... thanks Barb!



Here are some pictures taken by the Simple Earth Hops Resident Photographer, my sister, Beckie Sweeny.

Simple Earth Hops - Trellis Setup

Hop Trellis Setup Weekend

Two weeks ago, the hop rows were plowed and the hop rhizomes which were potted a month ago are sprouting like crazy.

This weekend, a crew of 10 will volunteer their time to help set up the hop trellis at our Dodgeville hopyard. Aran Madden of Furthermore Beer has been confirmed as a guest along with a few others.

This is a private event which we will be providing food and drinks all weekend long including breakfasts, lunches and dinners and beer.

Hauling hop trellis poles

Thanks to Brad Butnik at the WI DNR, Simple Earth Hops acquired a permit to cut and remove 30 black locust hop trellis poles. These black locust hop trellis poles where hauled out of the woods in Avoca, Wisconsin on Friday, April 2, 2010 thanks to the support of an awesome crew including: Beckie Sweeny, Bob Matts, Darryl Moffitt, Greg Erickson, Larry Hale, Roger Reynolds, Todd Lippert Smith and Trey Matts. Then unloaded at the Simple Earth Hops hopyard in Dodgeville, WI.

Simple Earth Hops - Hop Pole Haulin

Simple Earth Hops SARE Grant Approved

We are proud to announce that Simple Earth Hops grant proposal which was submitted in Dec., 2009 has been selected for funding by the NCR-SARE (North Central Region - Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) program.

Additional SARE Grant Resources

• fattymattybrewing delicious SARE bookmarks
• SARE grant writing notes on fattymattybrewing.com
• 2008 NCR SARE Farmer and Rancher Grants Videos
• North Central Region SARE
• Other hop project grant funds awarded

Locally harvested black locust hop trellis poles

One of the greatest assets to living near the Wisconsin River - besides canoeing, camping, and swimming - is easy access to black locust trees. The sandy banks (read: exactly the kind of soil which black locust trees thrive in) of the Wisconsin River are completely covered in black locust forests.

Here are a few pictures of cutting the trees in preparation to move them from the woods and load them onto the trailer.

It's super exciting to cut the black locust poles ourselves for use on the Simple Earth Hops trellis!

Quarter acre hopyard location - aerial photograph

Thanks to Andrew and Jennifer Kerr at Greenspirit Farm, we have an excellent 1/4 acre hopyard located just off WI Highway 23.

This aerial photo shows a blue line around the 1/4 acre hopyard where we will be putting in 250 hop plants. This aerial shot can also be viewed on the Simple Earth Hops Google map which also shows our black locust pole harvest site and more too.