Regenerative & Sustainable Agriculture
Our conservation and rehabilitative approach to farming includes strengthening the health and vitality of soil with an organic approach, recycling farm waste, adding composted material for soil health, planting border crops as habitats for pollinators and other beneficial insects, and increasing resilience to climate change.
Established in 2017
Fawn Hill is quite unconventional compared to other hop yards. In 2017, we set our first poles in the ground for our trellis system. We chose to utilize black pipe and aircraft cable to construct our trellis. We dug our holes and set each pole by hand, mixing three bags of concrete per pole. We also decided to construct our trellis on a hill :) In total, we have installed 67 poles, 20 anchors, hand mixed 261 bags of concrete, and utilized approximately 6,000 feet of aircraft cable.
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Our irrigation system is approximately 8inches off the ground, equipped with numerous drip emitters. For the first few years, we transported rainwater collection bins up to the top of the hopyard. Our irrigation was gravity fed, until we installed an agricultural well in 2020.
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We purchased hop plants via Great Lakes Hops & Sandy Ridge Farm and planted them in the spring of 2018. We have approximately 700 hop plants spanning over one acre.
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Here are a few pictures of our journey -
Our Organic Approach
As we are not certified organic because of our small-scale yard, we have strived to use organic interventions and remain chemical free from day one. Many challenge the idea of growing hops organically. In working with Organic Approach LLC, located in Lancaster Pennsylvania, we received great recommendations in an effort to develop natural interventions and spray schedules in an effort to keep our hops healthy.
We utilize the following products:
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Disease Prevention: Actinovate AG & Cueva (Copper).
Pest Management: Grandevo & Neem Oil.
Micro-Nutrients: GroBiotix Px3 (beneficial microorganisms), Nature's Essence LSD (Seaweed/Kelp),
Tera Vita LC 10+7 (Humic Acid), Tera Vita LC 12 (Humic Acid), & ThermX-70 (Yucca).
Fertilizers: LC 5-0-0 Nitrogen & Vine Vitality.
Growing Hops
Our season is pretty short overall. Our hops start emerging in March and we cut back /prune all the shoots until about April, when we start stringing coir. As we mentioned, we do everything by hand. What we are using here is a tool called a Pardalera, which we received from a friend who grows hops in Brazil. This mechanism ties knots in the coir at the top wire, while we remain on the ground. The bottom of the coir is tamped into the ground with a W-clip, which holds the coir in place throughout the season.
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We generally lump hop growth into two phases–vegetative and flowering.
Video: Stringing Coir
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1. Training & the Vegetative Phase
We train each plant by hand to make sure it is growing up the coir, towards the sun.
During the spring months, growth occurs in the main bines, which climb upright, while leaves form on the bines. While the day length continues to get longer, the bines grow as tall as possible. Hops are vigorous and can grow up to a foot each day.
The amount of vegetative growth ultimately determines how much the plant will yield, so it is important to manage plant health during this time. During the growing season we meticulously scout the yard and maintain a spray schedule to assist with combating disease and pests, and to provide the hops nutrients.
The summer solstice (June 21st) generally marks the transition from their vegetative growth to the flowering phase.
2. The Flowering Phase
& Harvest Window
By Summer Solstice, hopefully the main bines have reached the top wire of the trellis system. Since the days get shorter after that, the plants transition to the flowering phase. The plants may grow a bit taller, but vertical growth generally slows and lateral shoots (side arms) will form. After this, burrs will develop into cones. Hop cones contain oils and acids called Lupulin, that bitter and make beer smell delicious. Lupulin is the yellow powder that is contained within the hop cone. When brewers brew with hops, the intention is to extract these acids and oils.
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Each variety has its own harvest window. To determine the harvest date, we examine the lupulin glands with a microscope or use our senses to examine the amount and color of the lupulin and the hop's smell. Ideally, hops will be picked when the lupulin glands are fully matured and not overly ripe. With a microscope, lupulin glands will start out perfectly round, but start looking more like a raindrop as they ripen. Also, squeezing the cones will help to estimate maturity. Young cones will feel waxy and squishy and mature cones will feel papery and springy.
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Producing hops on a commercial level takes an incredible amount of commitment and devotion.
It can't just be a hobby at that point, it becomes a lifestyle.
Video: Welcome to Fawn Hill!
Video: Bienvenidos a Fawn Hill!
Post Harvest
After everything is harvested, or cut down, as hops are perennials, they remain in the ground until the next season.
We continue with yard maintenance and disease prevention in an effort to keep our plants happy and healthy in preparation for the next season.
This is a bittersweet time of the season, as mentioned above, the season goes by very quickly.
