A few weeks ago a friend called to let us know that his neighbor's hops were doing their thing. The house is rented by a bunch of college students who probably drink lots of beer, but were oblivious to one of the essential beer ingredients growing all over their porch. A knock on the door and a promise of a six-pack of the resulting ale allowed us to pick all we wanted.
The essence of these beautiful sticky flowers lingered on my fingers well beyond the bit of picking the little one and I joined in with our brewer. And the house smelled distinctly ale-like as they spent an afternoon and evening in the dehydrator. It's not clear what variety of hops we now have dried and awaiting the brew pot, so they'll probably be used to add hoppiness to an upcoming ale.
I'll get back to cloth and paper and string soon, I promise. I'm noticing that I've taken to behaving like the squirrels -- hoarding all of the abundance for the months ahead.
