The Day After (Picking Hops)

6:59

7:08

7:10

It's ten minutes after 7:00 and I have been sitting on our porch steps, watching the sun rise, from a wafer over the Eastern shore, to a bright orange disk, filling the lake, sky and yard with light, a miracle each morning.  I am back to routine, waking at 5:59, sensing the light in our bedroom which meant it was time to get up.  In fact, since we moved here to the lake six years ago, I always have looked forward to getting up early, not wanting to sleep in and miss dawn, the changing sky of each mornings sunrise.

Yesterday was a good day despite the fact that it was not much different from any other the past few weeks, enjoying life outdoors, either on the dock, the lake, the yard, the porch or picking hops.  As I mentioned yesterday, a good friend had started a hop field three years ago and needs many friends to help pick hops when they are ready.  If you wait too long, the hops are ruined.  So Evie and I and our neighbor, Jim Fox, drove to Jack's 80 acre farm, dreading somewhat having volunteered to pick hops. We envisioned sitting out in the 85º sun, under a hop bush, picking hops, like the slaves picked cotton before the Civil War.

One Hop At A Time

Well, we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived, as there were two circles of pickers, one in the sun, one in the shade, sitting in chairs, with bines (not vines) of hops sitting on their laps as they picked.  We quickly chose the group in the shade, put down our chairs, were shown how and what to pick (not too small, nor brown or open) and began, sitting there with eight other pickers, kibitzing, talking about hops, brewing beer, the like for a couple of hours.  It reminded me of a quilting bee or a sewing circle, a group of friends sitting around doing fret work(picking hops) and talking.  After about five minutes, we got the knack and though it's a slow, laborious process to fill a bin with the feathery, light hop, like a large, soft kernel of wheat, we enjoyed it. A couple of hours, however, was enough.

Happy Hop Picking

JIm Fox, Picker

We got to know some interesting people, as well, one a guy who just bought an abandoned farm down the road and will start a farm brewery next year.  When going through the abandoned house on his property, he found a couple boxes of vintage baseball cards worth over ten thousand dollars, according to his nephew.  Others were an older couple from the Chautauqua Institution, a guy from Cincinnati, who is a higher up in the Coors/Miller brewing company, and a friend from our breakfast club.  We got there just before 10:00,  picked for a couple of hours, had lunch around 12:15, ogled Jack's garden, then went home, stopping for lamb spiedies at the Light House (marinated lamb cubes) and for some corn for dinner.  And that was our activity of note for the day.  It was enough fun that we would not minding helping out for a couple of hours each year.

Volker Garden With Hop Poles In Background

Lunch Time

Hops Are Ready For Drying

When we got home, we almost wilted from the heat and humidity, both inside and out, so we closed the windows, turned on the air conditioner, and went outside to enjoy the lake and dock.  And we stayed out there for the next couple of hours, reading and swimming and marveling at the busy lake, a perfect Sunday for boating (and everyone seemed to have their boat out).  About 3:30, we decided to join the parade and took a long, slow, leisurely cruise along Wells and Bootey Bay, then over to a crowded Bemus Point and back along Lakeside Drive.  We went just fast enough to have a breeze, to keep cool.  It was a perfect way to spend an hour.

Chautauqua Belle

We then sat on our dock, as the afternoon waned, reading, as the heat began to subside, the dock sitting more pleasant.  Around 6:00, we went for a swim and came in to get dinner and our pre dinner appetizers ready.  We had cheese and crackers on the porch, along with a celebratory Manhattan and sat out there for at least an hour and a half, just talking, enjoying the view, and we sat on the couch, going back through all my blogs from the past three months, loving the pictures, especially those of family and friends, a trip down 'good memoreis' lane.  Around 8:00, in the dark, I donned my headlamp and grill the lamb shish kebabs out on the grill and Evie made home fries and corn.  The lamb, unfortunately, was not as good as I expected, a bit tough from either under cooking or overcooking  but the potatoes and corn were delish.  We watched Bill Maher but were not much into it so we went up to bed around 10:30.

Today, Labor Day, we are going over to the Viking Club for 'Clucks and Bucks,' a benefit barbecue chicken dinner and a chance to win a raffle for ten bucks a piece.  We have gone before, enjoyed the the chicken and the crowd of people, celebrating the end of summer of so it seems.

It's now just after 9:00 and I just kayaked and went for a swim before finishing up this blog.  A great way to start the day.