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Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Warm climate crops


You'd be surprised what grows down here in the reputedly-cold South.
This is a hop flower, one of dozens on a vine that has draped itself over one of my sheds.
Hops are grown commercially in Motueka and Riwaka where the summers are hot and long but they thrive here in Riverton where the conditions are less certain.
I've figs, feijoa and loquats as well.
Who'd have thought?

2 comments:

Shane Pleasance said...

You mean, as in 'make my own beer?'

robertguyton said...

As in 'flavour your own beer' Shane.
Making your own begins with barley, usually and I've posted on how that's done here:

http://robertguyton.blogspot.com/2010/05/brewing-no-trouble.html

It's a pretty gratifying activity and if you're interested I can give you the contact for the guy who ran the course we did out here - Roger Hodson. He runs an excellent 'learn to brew' day and brews extraordinarily good beer himself, all from the ground (grain) up. I'll give you as many hops as you want, gratis! Mind you, the pros use pelletised hops of various forms (don't chew one! They're lethally strong tasting!).