A Certified Naturally Grown Farm - Saint Marys, Pennsylvania
For the Love of Farming – Before One Season Ends, the Next One Has Already Begun
Farming could be considered a variation of insanity if you truly do exactly the same thing year after year, however IMHO, a good Farmer…while toiling away in the fields year after year is the same…the tools, techniques, and tact must adapt for it to…
A Family Hop Farm’s Love of Stringing The Hopyard
For hop Farmers in the Mid Atlantic, the middle of May means it’s time to string and train the hops! That’s where we found ourselves recently @HoffAppFarm. While exhausting, stringing the hopyard is something this family hop Farm loves. We’re up in the “siege…
Spring 2024 Hops Update | Spring Regrowth | Sprouting
The good folks at Michigan State University (MSU) Extension have been a great resource to us over the years. They provide monthly webinar sessions for growers on a variety of timely in-season topics, their free Hop Management Guide, and have been available via email…
2024…Here We Go!
We’ve been waiting all Winter to dive back into the hop hills, and if Punxsutawney Phil is correct, shouldn’t be much longer now. A recent walk of the fields, checking for the emergence of shoots, although turning up negative, did once again inspire your…
Hop Farm | version 2.0
“Forward, always forward, everywhere forward“ Boniface Wimmer, O.S.B.Founder & Archabbot, Saint Vincent Archabbey | Latrobe, Pennsylvania1809 – 1887 It’s that time of year – harvest is behind us, hops are put to bed for the Winter, and there’s no work left to do in…
Snap, Crackle, POP!
The evening of Thursday, 21 July, Northcentral Pennsylvania was visited by a pretty intense storm cell. High winds, humid air, rain, thunder, and lighting…a classic thunderboomer. As is normal during the week, I was at our place in Montoursville. When Jenn woke me up…
“A Little Off The Top…Er, Bottom…Please!”
Returning to the Farm after a week away, I just never know quite what to expect. Weeds out of control? Something break? Japanese beetles show up weeks early? “Expect the worst, it can only get better” is pretty much the motto we follow. I…
The Drip Is In
With our solar-powered irrigation system installed in 2021, I sleep a little better during the Summer growing months, especially when I can’t physically be at the Farm. I know that x number of times per day for x number of minutes (frequency and duration…
Sub-Soiling Between Two Posts…Deep Thoughts
The time had come to begin preparing the large hopyard for round 2 of its existence, this time with better-prepared soils and hills. We (I) took out the remaining two hills in 2022 after we’d given up on the three initial hills about four…
