please forget about this blog and instead watch the face book group here http://www.facebook.com/#/pages/Blythewood-SC/Clamp-Road-Hops-and-Other-Beer-Musings/174238068279?ref=ts

and the website, which is under construction at www.clamproadhops.com

Well darn if Im not having all sorts of trouble with the plow. You see, the plow is 30+ years old and the tractor is less than 5 years old. They are not compatible. Ive been trying to find a place that has an adapter of some sort, but everywhere suggests I try somewhere else.

My trips up to the farm have mostly been taken up by moving the refuse from the fallen oak tree down to the burn pile; its getting pretty sizable. Ill probably have a huge bonfire around the solstice. Perhaps Ill throw a trellis christening/bonfire party. Ill keep everyone up to date on that.

My compost is not composting. I think I need more nitrogenous material in it. the horse manure is mostly wood-chips. I may have to buy a dump-truck load of pig manure, which is really something I look forward to dealing with. Im going to have to make some money if I am going to be able to afford all of this. Ive still got to buy rhizomes, an irrigation system, and any compostables I get delivered. It seems a waste to spend the christmas money I don't even have yet on pig shit, but Oh well, you've gotta do what you've gotta do.

Things are going well here. I went out to the farm two weekends ago to drop off the Cable for my trellis system and to measure out the plot. Surprisingly, 65 feet does not seem like far at all when you are out in that field. The actual planted area is going to be about 60' x 65' which I finally did the math on and discovered that it is only about one TENTH of an acre. I will have plenty of room to expand in that field if I want to in coming years, and getting enough manure and other compostables for my field will not be as hard as I had thought. My father and I went out on Saturday and Sunday to cut up a large oak tree that had fallen in the front yard, miraculously missing the farmhouse completely. I spent the afternoon the next Friday chopping up wood for the Wood-stove. Weather has been nice, and the Scuppernongs, pears, and apples are ripe and delicious. With my new agrarian lifestyle comes new responsibility; I don't know why, but I suddenly feel like maintaining the dams and the fences is up to me. Its going to be horrible if these hops don't do well, Ive already sunk so much money into this project. I hope that I can baby them enough to get a great product. I cant wait to stand In that field watching the laden bines sway gently in the late summer breeze, rustling quietly. Maybe Ill brew the day before harvest, choosing a bine to release from the trellis and hold over my kettle, popping hops into the boil off the still living plant. Worlds freshest hops. I feel like such a dork thinking about things like that, but I guess that's what makes me who I am. I am a dork, nerd, geek... at least when it comes to beer.

I'm debating how to build my Irrigation system, Im either using 1/2 inch PVC or soaker hoses... As of right now, I'm leaning towards PVC: Its cheaper, and more modular, so I can replace peices as the wear out, it will also allow me to direct the water more accuately to the plants, saving us water.

Tractor Fever!

Yesterday I went out to the farm and learned to drive the tractor, I also got the auger set up... Its pretty amazing, it will dig a hole in 5 seconds that would take person with a set of post hole diggers 30 minutes. Wowza.

I called DHEC last week to see what needed to happen for the dumpster service to be able to dump manure on the farm. Surprisingly, they were very helpful and explained the process (which is relatively pain free) to me. Problem is, when I called the Dumpster service back, they said something about it being more expensive for them to dump at my farm... I couldn't quite understand them. Anyway, I know that it would not be more expensive for them to dump at my farm, they would have to go 5 miles out of their way, but it would save them a lot of loaded driving, and Im pretty sure they would have to pay the landfill to take their crap, Id take it for free.

I guess I'm gonna have to write the president of the company a letter.

Well, Somehow I managed to delete all my posts. So Ill start over.

My name is David Hicks. I'm a freshman at the USC Honors College in Columbia, SC, and I am passionate about beer. Over the next few months I will be transforming an unused field on my family farm into an organic Hop Farm. I hope to have 160 plants the first year, possibly more in coming years, split between 4 varieties (cascade, golding, columbus, and willamette). My goal is to plant barley as well, learn to malt (at least how to make a consistent base malt and crystal malt) and, in collaboration with a local microbrewery, brew a beer completely from ingredients grown on my farm. This beer will hopefully function as my Senior Thesis Project for the Honors College, and as the ultimate beer learning experience. To be knowledgeable in every aspect of making beer, and capable of squeezing a delicious beer from the earth would be such a fulfilling achievement. So, over the next two years, I will be preparing myself for the day in my junior year when I will turn 21 and be able to enter the brew-house and, under the guidance of some more experienced hand, craft a beer that will hopefully be both one of a kind, and absolutely delicious.

The Farm:

My family's farm in Blythewood has been in my family for nearly 50 years. When we purchased it, The farmhouse had no plumbing and had 2 or 3 families living in it. My grandfather made numerous improvements, including four ponds, a septic system (which Incidentally is an issue, because no one is quite sure where it is, Ive got to find it before I start plowing), and electricity. For a while we kept horses, but now it lies mostly unused except for thanksgiving and Christmas when we fire up the old wood stove and cook the turkey. The land is gorgeous: something like 150 acres of pasture and deciduous forests, peaceful, except when the dogs start barking.

Hops:

So I said to myself, why not use some of that land? Why let the land lie unused, when I can use it to fulfill my own aspirations, make a bit of money (maybe? Eventually?) and live out my agrarian fantasies without actually buying land? So I thought of what I would do, what could I do with land that would further my goals of becoming a brewer. Grow hops and barley, but wait, do hops grow here? Does barley grow here? Yes, they both do, but not to maximum yields, which isn't really a problem considering the abundance of land to be used and the relatively small amount I could actually consume. With 16o plants, I may have 500 pounds yield or 1000, I really dont know, in any case, I will have enough to supply a couple brewers in sc/nc/ga with fresh hops for wet hop ales (Brewers, please email me if you would like to work something out concerning this: Orangevango@gmail.com) which would be a rare opportunity for a brewer in the southeast, so far removed from hop country. Hops grow on bines (a type of vine) about 20' high, which means I will be making a 20' high trellice. I actually ordered the cable and fittings I need for that today.

The Beer:

As I said, I hope to find a brewer who is willing to take me under their wing in my junior year to brew a beer completely from my own malt and hops, a single estate beer. The beer I imagine myself making is an English Barleywine or Old Ale, aged in used wine barrels, and perhaps with Brettanomyces Bruxellensis, a type of yeast originally isolated from British old ales, added in the barrels (if the brewer is comfortable with this; a lot of brewers are not, because Brett adds flavors that is considered a fault in most beer styles and can "infect" brewery equipment.) Obviously, anyone who operates a commercial brewery knows more about brewing than I, and it would be their good name on the line if the beer didn't turn out, so I would definitely expect to play more of an apprentice role than guest brewer.

The Progress I Have Made:

So far, I have:

• Ordered a tractor mounted auger for planting hops and building the trellis
• Ordered the cable and fittings I will need for my trellis
• Started my compost pile, though I need to contact DHEC to see if the USC equestrian team can start dumping their manure at my farm rather than at the landfill... My little truck is just incapable of moving enough manure.
• Begun sourcing and pricing rhizomes
• Pulled the old plow out of the barn and oiled it up, its built like a tank.
• Started talking to a man at Clemson who is in charge of Organic Certification
• Done a lot of research

Me next to 3 truckloads of Horse Manure, sure isn't much, eh?
The old plow, old as dirt and still kickin'.