Saturday, Jul 09, 2016 @ 11:52 am
It is a season of growth and proloferation of all things living! Most of us have a host of projects - some fun and some not - that we want to get accomplished before the snow flies. Well... We are about to tack something else to your list.
This month, our guest speaker for Nerd Night: Growing Hops is Hennepin County Volunteer Master Gardner, Sarah Green Toews. We have given her green thumbs the reins on our blog this week, and we don't think you will be dissapointed. If you have been pondering growing your own hops, just for fun or for adding to your homebrews, here are five crazy reasons why you most definitely should.
Five Crazy Reasons You Need to Grow Your Own Hops
One Minnesotan decided to grow her own -- and you’ll be surprised at what she learned!
1. Have a terrible, neglected, hell-strip area in your yard? The one where grass doesn’t grow and even weeds avoid? Great. Hops LOVE that place.
2. Finally -- the answer to, “What am I going to do with this twenty-foot trellis just laying here?”
3. One extra excuse to cash out a homebrew keg: hops-harvesting party.
4. You own a box fan, right? You can find a couple of old window screens on Craigslist, right? Sweet -- you are now the proud owner of an oast.
5. Plus, you’ll make awesome new friends, like this guy:
Ready to learn more? Tin Whiskers gets taken over by garden nerds in July, and I hope you can join us! Grab a cold pint and geek out with me about growing hops in your garden on Thursday, July 28th at 7p. You’ll walk away knowing where hops will thrive in your yard, how to get the best yield, when and how to harvest the goods, preserving your hops, and the friendly garden flora and fauna you’ll meet along the way.
Because, at the end of the summer, what brew nerd doesn’t want the smell of this wafting through the house:
