Winter in a hops field

I just looked up the number of days until spring: 33

As these images will show, there isn't a lot going on in our fields right now. While we are busy in the office planning for the coming year, the plants are blanketed in a layer of snow. 

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The snow is actually a welcome sight in our fields. The snow acts as insulation on the crown of the plants and protects them from cold winds. At the crown of the plant are the buds which will form the coming year's growth and protecting these growing points is important.

So for now we plan which varieties will go in our additional three acres this spring, meet with brewers to talk about the value of Iowa grown hops and dream of hop bines climbing to the sky this summer. 

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