Hop Rigging for Ham Chowder

Last week the Beer Club, as Brandon calls our team of brewers, made a new trellis system for the hops to climb on.  We didn't go into this project with a design in mind, but instead wondered around in the back yard until we were inspired by some long wood pieces that Jamie and I recently dug out of a trash pile on the creek bank.  Last year the hops climbed ropes that were tied to the pergola above our back deck.  They obviously wanted to climb higher last year, which was their first year, so I knew we had to give them more space this year.   

It was quickly assembled, with little consideration for aesthetics, safety, stability, symmetry, or levelness.  We didn't even use a measuring tape, and I couldn't find a saw.  We also didn't spend any money, so this was my favorite kind of project!  Of course, folks are willing to put something goofy looking on someone else's house, so no one got persnickety if I didn't.  Besides, it was cold, rainy, and we had crock pot ham chowder ready to eat.  I wouldn't finish the corn bread until the hop trellis was finished just to make sure we had the incentive to finish the project.  I'm not above holding us hostage through our stomachs. 

Ever had ham chowder?  Me neither, but I've never had so much cooked ham in my freezer from an over large Easter ham before.   Sometimes my crock pot creations are great, and sometimes we just power through them, but ham chowder was really very good.  Jamie predicted it would be good since clam chowder was good and it has clams in it.  Good point. 

  

This is a cro-magnon trellis technique being demonstrated by Jamie in the the photo above as he uses his teeth to tie knots.  I'm pretty sure he was afraid to let go with both hands while he was on our rickety old ladder, even with Joe holding the ladder up.  If you can see Joe's hooded face and hand sticking up near the ladder, remember that he is  standing on the deck, which is why he can reach the top of the ladder.  I mean, he is freakishly exceptionally tall, but not that tall! 

I scrounged around until we could patch up enough rope and twine pieces to run the rope from a stake in the ground, over the wood pole, and then back down to the ground to be staked at about four feet away from the beginning of the rope. We made four of these systems so that each plant has two ropes to climb. In the photo above you can see the four poles sticking up like spears or harpoons from the wisteria that grows on the pergola.  The ropes are dangling straight down in the photo, but when I staked them down it makes them attach to the ground at nearly a forty-five degree angle, so the ropes are even longer than the height of the tip of the pole.  This way we can walk under them and the hops should be up and leaning out over our heads.  A beer canopy! 

It didn't take much training to get the hops to take to the ropes.  I think they like it!