Laying Out the Hopyard

We used a long tape, a long string and a lot of orange and white flags to layout the position of our poles, end anchors and fencing.

At 15 rows by 300+ feet each, this is quite an area to layout.

Next we'll moving the poles and getting them prepped for underground contact.

Best Product of the Month 12-12

Oh yes, it is a life saver.

It's not the grill, it is the aluminum foil. In this case it allowed me to turn a grill into a smoker on Christmas day. I smoked a 13 pound turkey on this grill at 300 degrees. Without the foil I couldn't have kept the tempature above 270 with all the burners on high. It didn't help that the outside temp was in the twenty's. With the foil I used the far right burner on low.

Thanks Aluminum Foil!

Tamarack Poles

A semi truckload of tamarack poles for the hop trellis. Our friend Randy up at Wildland Hops in Wisconsin sent a few poles down to get us started.. oh my.

Yeah, it was a bigger truck than I thought it would be.

 

Now those are going to leave a mark.

Over the Winter we'll be setting those poles in a grid out in the field. The first hopyard will take up just over an acre.

Stay tuned or sign up for automatic update to see this trellis go up!

Worst Product of the Month 11-12

That's right. The dreaded measuring cup from Walmart.

Only use this to measure dry stuff. If you try to pour a liquid out of it, it will dribble down the measuring cup and onto your counter or whatever you happen to be holding it over at the time.

Get your frustration device here.
Anchor Hocking 4-cup Decorated Glass Measuring Cup

That's not even my review.. lol.

P.O.S.

Gorst Valley Hops - training

We are now Gorst Valley Hops - Charter Growers

 If you're going to grow hops, it can be done the hard way or the harder way.

We would like to think that we can make an income on small acreage. This is one of the most promising ways in the Midwest.

We'll see how it goes!

Best Product of the Month

I've been doing some electrical work and my old auger bits are so far gone it would take a lot of work to get them back in shape.

I picked up these Irwin bits from the local lumber yard. The whole set was around $10.

They work awesome. So fast.... it's amazing. Of course I haven't hit a nail with them yet so they could be non-repairable. Until then, thumbs up!

Pork Butt On a Cheap Gas Grill

That's right! You do not have to have a 'smoker' or a 55 gallon drum or nearly anything smoke up a butt. As long as you can provide indirect heat and control the temperature, you can do it.

I smoked up this pork butt on a pretty inexpensive LP gas grill by Thermos. I recently bought the grill on sale at a local hardware store for less than a hundred dollars. It's not great and cooks uneven, but that doesn't hurt smoking or BBQ'ing.

Because the grill has three separate burners, I am able to use the burner on the right hand side of the grill and keep the meat safely on the left side of the grill.

You really don't even need a smoker box. If you have some aluminum foil, you are ready.

First I score the fat and spice it up. I'm using the Weber Smokehouse spice. It is pretty good.

Here it is all spiced up. This will caramelize nicely as the days progresses.

I have an abundance of hickory trees and it's a good thing. I'll be using it all winter. Here I have the pork butt on the cool side of the grill and some fresh cut hickory over the burner.

I add some aluminum foil over the hickory and kind of tuck it under. This keeps it from flaming up and just burning.

I got the grill going and kept it at around 300 degrees all day. It took so long I actually had to take it with me to another location to finish. Here it is during the 180 degree stall, looking really good and we're darn hungry.

I wrapped it in foil to help it along. It will not take any more smoke once it is wrapped but no worries, it has had plenty of smoke during the previous hours.

Finally, up to 200 degrees. I took it off the grill and put it in a cooler to rest for a while. During the rest period I started prepping my other dinner ingredients.

Now its time to pull it all apart. Here it is as it leaves the foil and then as a couple forks tear in.

It's about darn time. Dinner is served, and late. Don't start your pork butt in the afternoon unless you want to be dealing with it at 10 pm...

Here I've got BBQ pulled pork with bacon and regular bruschettas. Yum.

Worst Product of the Month - Ziploc Bag

Sometimes it is necessary to let folks know about products they could avoid and have a happier life.

This month that product is Ziploc brand 1 gallon freezer bags. Yes... it's true. The ones with the slider.

I can remember only a few occasions that the bags have actually sealed after using the slider. Many times the slider has even come completely off the bag.

You have been warned!