A Very Sunny And HOPPY day

Hops Ready for Harvest!

Today was our day off from running.   Cheryl immediately regretted it because it was overcast, cool and mostly dry outside this morning.   But we sometimes have to force ourselves to take a break each week.   And the break day never seems to land on a convenient day.. Like when it is 103 degrees in the shade... Or when it is a Blizzard or pouring rain.   On THOSE days,  we end up running anyway!  Such a glutton for punishment.

Foraging on the Kewash Trail

But today,  with the only task before me completed ( yesterday I recovered the sofas...  so I had nothing else planned for the day)  We decided to take the dry opportunity to go harvest some hops by the Kewash Trail.

Everything in the poster
matches the hops near
our apartment.  ( Except the
cones!) 

I'm a little confused why the hops near our apartment are not forming cones.   I read that the first year the hops plant may not form cones...  Sometimes they might though.  Whenever I try to find the life cycle of the plant, I end up on some home brewing beer page and all they talk about is growing them from a rhizome! ( Not a seed... which is what my plant came from...  I think there is a difference..) 

Cheryl picking cones. 

Cheryl,  always the skeptic,  thinks they are probably not even hops!   Such optimism.    But as I rip my hand apart stripping the hops off the vines today,  I am reminded that everything about the plants,  Other than the fact there are no cones,  tells me it is a Hops plant.   I guess the true test will be next year if the Hops appear then.

Showing off her prizes. 

Look!  No leaves or vines. 

But we managed to find and harvest a bag full.  I later had to pour them out on the lawn and separate the vines and leaves from the cones.  ( I got a little carried away, while Cheryl carefully selected just the cones while picking them.)   I wanted to gather as many cones as possible and did not want to waste time nit-picking over the little stuff.   Many of the cones were actually pretty small,  so stripping an entire vine, leaves and all, was probably the fastest method.  Beside,  Cheryl  only has about an hour of outdoor activity (other than running) in her at any given time.  That puts a serious time limit on the gathering process.

More Hops. 

And even MORE hops. 

Various cone sizes. 

But my fingers now lack several layers of skin.   The vines on the Hops plant are like little emery boards or sand paper, abrasive string.   Over time, it strips away your fingers.   I could have worn gloves, but then you lack the tactile feel of things.  The Cones  are supposed to feel like crepe paper.   Slightly dry around the edges, sot in the middle.   (Useless information, but I'm a geek about things like this...)

Time to separate the  Leaves and vines from the cones. 

So now I'm waiting for Cheryl to clear her stuff off the kitchen table so I can begin the dehydration process.   Depending on the final product, ( Because they will shrivel up to a fraction of their weight after dried)  we may go out again later in the week.   Perhaps on one of our bike rides or daily runs.  Might as well kill two birds with one stone, right?