By Ruth A. Ringelstetter
The first time Joann and I came across a hop field, it was winter and we had no idea what we were looking at. All we saw were rows of tall poles. It was a relatively small area, and pretty close to the farm buildings, which were quite far back from the road. We puzzled about it a little, but then forgot about it.
The next time we thought about hops was on a Christmas bird count, again in Sauk County. As we drove past a farm, I mentioned to Joann that I had seen one of the buildings on a Wisconsin Historical Society list of hop houses in Wisconsin.
After photographing that hop house, which was now used to store farm equipment, it made me curious about other hop houses in Wisconsin, so I searched the Internet for more information. That’s when I found a photo of an old stone building that we had taken pictures of numerous times over the years, thinking it was a stone barn. As it turns out, it also was a hop house!
Hops were first introduced in Wisconsin in Waukesha County around 1837. The first hop farms appeared in Sauk County in 1842 and the county later became the center of the Wisconsin hops industry. In 1860, Wisconsin produced about 135,000 pounds of hops (roughly 1% of the nation’s total). This was a small amount compared to New York, which was the leader in hop production at that time. New York’s production that year was well over nine million pounds of hops (roughly 88% of the nation’s total).
The “Wisconsin Hop Craze,” which is a term often used to describe the feverish increase in hops production, lasted only from 1860 to 1870. It was fueled by several factors, including failed crops in New York and Wisconsin soldiers returning from the Civil War.
In the early 1860s, as the Civil War devastated our country, the New York hops industry also suffered major devastation from a bug known as the hop aphid, which ravaged the crops. Then sooty mold attacked the hop plants and finished off the crop. The shortage created by this caused prices to increase as much as 700 percent.
In 1865, as the Civil War ended, 40,000 soldiers returned to their farms in Wisconsin and were looking for ways to make money. When they left for the war, they were simple wheat farmers. But the decade before the war saw a decrease in the price of wheat as the yields and quality diminished due to depleting soil health. There was also strong competition from neighboring states. Also in the 1860s, the Wisconsin wheat crops were devoured by cinch bugs.
When soldiers returned from the war, many decided to try growing hops and became prosperous hop plantation owners. By 1867, the state’s annual production had climbed to over 6 million pounds.
It took about 900 hop seedlings to plant an acre with a cost to farmers of $15 to $25 ($460 to $770 in today’s dollars). Hop poles were in great demand. Poplar poles would only last for two or three years. Oak poles sold for as high as $15 to $18 per thousand ($460 to $550 in today’s dollars), and tamarack made the most lasting poles. Seedlings were set at each pole; then the seedlings were trained to grow around poles 12 to 15 feet high.
Picking time began in early fall. Homes became boarding houses and gangs of men, women, and children traveled from hop yard to hop yard. The women and girls stayed with the family in the house while the men and boys slept on the hay in the barn. Young men were pole pullers, who stripped the vines and divided them among the pickers. Pickers pulled the ripe hops and filled boxes. They were paid by the box and an average picker could fill two or three boxes a day.
The most expensive part of hop farming was the hop house. There are only a few identifiable hop houses left in Wisconsin. Many others probably still exist but have been modified for other uses. Once a farm changes hands, oftentimes the historic use of the building is, unfortunately, lost.
In 1865, so many farmers in Sauk County were raising hops that the yield for the year was approximately 4 million pounds, or one-fifth of all the hops raised in the United States. The county farmers were paid a total of 2 million dollars (over $31 million in today’s dollars) for their crops that year. Seeing no end to their good fortune, they paid their bills from that year’s crop and then spent money building big block and stack houses, buying touring cars, and treating themselves to other luxuries. Unfortunately, they didn’t see the end coming.
The next year, hop production doubled in Sauk County. But in 1868, Wisconsin had an unfavorable growing season and the hop aphid arrived in the state. At the same time, the New York hop growers recovered, and that year the New York market was glutted, with prices plummeting. Some Wisconsin farmers held back their crop hoping the next year would be better and planted another crop. In 1869, however, the market was as bad or worse, and some farmers sold their crop for only half of what it had cost to grow.
Once again, Wisconsin farmers needed to find another source of income, so they turned to dairy. Interestingly, many of the farmers who settled in Wisconsin in the decades before the Civil War were from New York, which was the leading dairy producer at the time. As the dairy industry grew, Wisconsin (once considered “America’s Breadbasket”) became the Dairy State and hops disappeared from the landscape.
But now, with the push to use locally produced crops, and home and craft brewing, hops are making a comeback. The hop yards we’ve found have been small, but it is so nice to see them returning to the countryside.
If you want to be guaranteed to see a hop yard or garden, visit the New Glarus Brewery in New Glarus, Wisconsin. Their hop garden is right at the entrance. Otherwise, if you’re driving the backroads, keep your eyes open and look for a small field of poles with vines growing up them. Chances are, it will be a hop garden!
Happy Shunpiking!
Ruth
Photos in this blog post can be purchased as wall art, paper prints, downloads, phone cases, and keepsakes by clicking on the photo. You will be taken to the gallery website where you will see a big blue "BUY" button. Or to see all photos available, click on the "Browse Galleries" button on the menu at the top of this page. Thank you for your interest!
Shunpiking To Heaven Backroads Blog
Showing posts with label agriculture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label agriculture. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 4, 2019
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Melons, Honey!
By Ruth A. Ringelstetter
Joann and I travel to the western counties of Wisconsin often. We love that area and often travel the same highway to and from the area.
For several years as we neared home, we passed a small woods with a sign among the trees. The sign simply stated “Melons Honey” and just on the other side of the woods was a house selling melons and honey from a wagon in their front yard.
We turned it into a joke, with one of us often saying to the other “Melons, Honey!” as we approached the sign as if there were melons coming up and calling the other “honey.”
One day we were coming home and decided we should take a picture of the sign. If we hurried, we would make it there before dark. As the woods came into view, the sign did not. It was gone! Now we were berating ourselves. Why had we driven by all those times and never stopped for a picture?
We figured it was lost to us forever. But then, at the end of this summer, we were taking a short-cut to Halfway Prairie School. We wanted to get some inside photos during the last weekend of their open house.
As we neared the end of our short-cut road, we saw a yellow sign in the distance. Only the top line of the yellow sign was visible, and it said “Melons.” Could it be?
As we got closer, there it was! A sign that said “Melons Honey”. We weren’t sure if it was the same people in a new location, or another person who was using the same type of sign. Either way, we were overjoyed. We did pull in to take some photos and get a couple of small watermelons.
Did we learn our lesson? We’d like to think so, but only time will tell. Stay tuned to see if we procrastinate on taking any other photos until it’s too late.
Happy Shunpiking!
Ruth
Photos in this blog post can be purchased as wall art, paper prints, downloads, phone cases, and keepsakes by clicking on the photo. You will be taken to the gallery website where you will see a big blue "BUY" button. Or to see all photos available, click on the "Browse Galleries" button on the menu at the top of this page. Thank you for your interest!
Joann and I travel to the western counties of Wisconsin often. We love that area and often travel the same highway to and from the area.
For several years as we neared home, we passed a small woods with a sign among the trees. The sign simply stated “Melons Honey” and just on the other side of the woods was a house selling melons and honey from a wagon in their front yard.
We turned it into a joke, with one of us often saying to the other “Melons, Honey!” as we approached the sign as if there were melons coming up and calling the other “honey.”
One day we were coming home and decided we should take a picture of the sign. If we hurried, we would make it there before dark. As the woods came into view, the sign did not. It was gone! Now we were berating ourselves. Why had we driven by all those times and never stopped for a picture?
We figured it was lost to us forever. But then, at the end of this summer, we were taking a short-cut to Halfway Prairie School. We wanted to get some inside photos during the last weekend of their open house.
As we neared the end of our short-cut road, we saw a yellow sign in the distance. Only the top line of the yellow sign was visible, and it said “Melons.” Could it be?
As we got closer, there it was! A sign that said “Melons Honey”. We weren’t sure if it was the same people in a new location, or another person who was using the same type of sign. Either way, we were overjoyed. We did pull in to take some photos and get a couple of small watermelons.
Did we learn our lesson? We’d like to think so, but only time will tell. Stay tuned to see if we procrastinate on taking any other photos until it’s too late.
Happy Shunpiking!
Ruth
Photos in this blog post can be purchased as wall art, paper prints, downloads, phone cases, and keepsakes by clicking on the photo. You will be taken to the gallery website where you will see a big blue "BUY" button. Or to see all photos available, click on the "Browse Galleries" button on the menu at the top of this page. Thank you for your interest!
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Golden Summer Harvest
By Ruth A. Ringelstetter
For the most part, Joann and I are not summer people unless the summer is cooler than normal. One thing we do try to catch in the summer is the harvest of wheat.
Every day driving to and from work, I would check out the wheat fields waiting for the harvest to start. When the harvest started in July of 2007, we headed out early one morning to see if we could capture some wheat fields before the harvest was finished.
As we started down the highway, I told Joann to take the first right turn. Somehow, we both missed it, and as Joann was trying to find a spot to turn around, I looked at the map and said we could just take the next road.
What a wonderful mistake! Driving down this road, we found a lot of wheat fields and, in one spot, both sides of the road were golden with the ripe wheat. We had to stop and take quite a few photos of the wheat fields and some close-up photos of the wheat.
Then we continued on to look for more wheat fields and anything else we found worth a photograph.
Heading home in the afternoon, we decided to take the same road back. To our surprise, the field that was untouched in the morning was now in the process of being harvested.
Of course, we couldn’t help but stop to take more photos. The combine moved quickly across the field, and the colors of the bright green combine, golden wheat fields, bright blue sky, and white clouds was unbelievable.
Winter wheat has a long history in Wisconsin. In the mid-1800’s, Wisconsin was the lead state for growing wheat. Since crops were not rotated, the soil was soon depleted of nutrients and the yield fell sharply.
Around 1870, settlers coming from New York decided that the land would suit dairy farming, with which they had experience. This helped make Wisconsin the dairy state but, thankfully, wheat didn’t disappear totally from the Wisconsin landscape.
For many years, Joann and I did not notice wheat in the south central and southwest portions of Wisconsin. In recent years, we have noticed more and more wheat fields, which are rotated with corn and soybeans.
In 2008, we made another trip for the wheat harvest and found a field in the process of being harvested. It was early Sunday morning and the combine had been parked in the partially harvested field waiting for the harvest to continue.
We took the opportunity to take photos of the field and the combine. It was nice to be able to get so close to the machine. We didn’t have a combine on the farm growing up; we hired someone to come with their combine to harvest our oats.
The last several years we have missed the wheat harvest. Looking back at the pictures we captured in other years makes us want to be sure to not miss it next year.
This hasn’t been a good year for farmers in so many areas of the country, and our hearts go out to them. We so enjoy watching the farm fields from planting to harvest and hope they manage to pull through somehow to plant again next year.
Happy Shunpiking!
Ruth
For the most part, Joann and I are not summer people unless the summer is cooler than normal. One thing we do try to catch in the summer is the harvest of wheat.
Every day driving to and from work, I would check out the wheat fields waiting for the harvest to start. When the harvest started in July of 2007, we headed out early one morning to see if we could capture some wheat fields before the harvest was finished.
As we started down the highway, I told Joann to take the first right turn. Somehow, we both missed it, and as Joann was trying to find a spot to turn around, I looked at the map and said we could just take the next road.
What a wonderful mistake! Driving down this road, we found a lot of wheat fields and, in one spot, both sides of the road were golden with the ripe wheat. We had to stop and take quite a few photos of the wheat fields and some close-up photos of the wheat.
Then we continued on to look for more wheat fields and anything else we found worth a photograph.
Heading home in the afternoon, we decided to take the same road back. To our surprise, the field that was untouched in the morning was now in the process of being harvested.
Of course, we couldn’t help but stop to take more photos. The combine moved quickly across the field, and the colors of the bright green combine, golden wheat fields, bright blue sky, and white clouds was unbelievable.
Winter wheat has a long history in Wisconsin. In the mid-1800’s, Wisconsin was the lead state for growing wheat. Since crops were not rotated, the soil was soon depleted of nutrients and the yield fell sharply.
Around 1870, settlers coming from New York decided that the land would suit dairy farming, with which they had experience. This helped make Wisconsin the dairy state but, thankfully, wheat didn’t disappear totally from the Wisconsin landscape.
For many years, Joann and I did not notice wheat in the south central and southwest portions of Wisconsin. In recent years, we have noticed more and more wheat fields, which are rotated with corn and soybeans.
In 2008, we made another trip for the wheat harvest and found a field in the process of being harvested. It was early Sunday morning and the combine had been parked in the partially harvested field waiting for the harvest to continue.
We took the opportunity to take photos of the field and the combine. It was nice to be able to get so close to the machine. We didn’t have a combine on the farm growing up; we hired someone to come with their combine to harvest our oats.
The last several years we have missed the wheat harvest. Looking back at the pictures we captured in other years makes us want to be sure to not miss it next year.
This hasn’t been a good year for farmers in so many areas of the country, and our hearts go out to them. We so enjoy watching the farm fields from planting to harvest and hope they manage to pull through somehow to plant again next year.
Happy Shunpiking!
Ruth
Sunday, May 30, 2010
A Bucket or a Quart
By Ruth A. Ringelstetter
While Joann and I were in North Carolina on our recent photography trip, we were travelling down a road behind a prison work crew bus. (If you’ve read our April 2010 blog story entitled “A Case of Mistaken Identity,” you’ll notice this prison work crew thing is sort of a theme for us, and we encountered them twice on this trip!)
Finally, the bus turned off on a road to the right and we continued straight. We much prefer not to be behind any sort of bus or large vehicle, because it makes it hard for us to see what is coming up, and we might miss something important. And sure enough, shortly after the bus turned, we came up to a field planted with rows of strawberries and we noticed that there were people walking among the rows. There was also a sign announcing a farm market, and since we had driven past several already and hadn’t stopped, Joann suggested we stop at this one.
We turned toward the tent which was set up next to the field of strawberries. This wasn’t any old farm market – this was a market selling only fresh, sweet strawberries! As we pulled into the parking lot, we could see buckets and buckets of the bright red berries sitting on tables under the tent. We jumped out of the car and got some money for strawberries and Joann got her camera. Then we went over to check out the strawberries and to ask if Joann could take some pictures.
There was a very friendly young woman under the tent selling the berries and handing out buckets for the “pick your own” visitors. When Joann asked if she could take some photos, the woman said, “Of course!” and then went about her business. But she didn’t want to be in any of the photos, so she kept stepping out of the way as Joann went about taking photos of the gorgeous red berries. The table had a few quart boxes of strawberries and many buckets.
I watched her work as people came in to buy strawberries and to go into the field and pick their own. She would hand out buckets, and with each one, she would explain that the already picked buckets were $10, and the “pick your own” were $8, as long as “yur buckets are like ar buckets” . (I mean no disrespect, but want to put a bit of her accent into this). “If they’re a lot bigger, like if they’re up to here” and she motioned her hand high above the top of the bucket, “I’ll have to charge you more, so maybe $9”.
As I watched, kids were coming back to the tent with buckets partially filled with strawberries, and the parents had also partially filled their buckets in hopes of paying for just one full bucket. One young girl, who appeared to be about three years old, was swinging her bucket of strawberries. As her mother tried to take the bucket to combine them, she began to scream. (Wouldn’t you scream if someone were trying to take away the sweet, red strawberries you had just picked for yourself?)
As Joann finished up her photos, she asked me if we should get a quart or a bucket, and I said I didn’t know if we could fit a bucket in the cooler. She said she thought we could and then the young woman spoke up.
Joann: “I think we should get a bucket.”
Ruth “Are you sure? Will it fit in the cooler? Will we get them eaten before they spoil?”
Young woman: “I think you need to buy a bucket because if you don’t, you’ll regret it later.”
Joann: “That’s true, and then we’ll be down the road and we won’t be able to come back.”
Young woman: “I’d buy the bucket, you won’t be sorry. And I have some paper towels here, so you can eat some right away.”
Since we always travel with a roll of paper towels for emergencies and for preparing meals on the road, we told her we would be ok, and paid for our bucket of strawberries. We returned to the car and rearranged the cooler so the bucket would fit. Then we each picked out a handful of big strawberries to eat immediately. As we drove down the road eating those sweet berries, we planned what we would do with the whole bucket.
We had strawberry yogurt parfaits for breakfast and strawberry spinach salad for supper. And best of all, we had fresh strawberry shortcake for dessert!
So take a drive and visit some country farm markets to see what you can find. The weather has been warm and fresh strawberries can’t be far behind!
Happy Shunpiking!
Ruth
Photos in this blog post can be purchased as wall art, paper prints, downloads, phone cases, and keepsakes by clicking on the photo. You will be taken to the gallery website where you will see a big blue "BUY" button. Or to see all photos available, click on the "Browse Galleries" button on the menu at the top of this page. Thank you for your interest!
While Joann and I were in North Carolina on our recent photography trip, we were travelling down a road behind a prison work crew bus. (If you’ve read our April 2010 blog story entitled “A Case of Mistaken Identity,” you’ll notice this prison work crew thing is sort of a theme for us, and we encountered them twice on this trip!)
Finally, the bus turned off on a road to the right and we continued straight. We much prefer not to be behind any sort of bus or large vehicle, because it makes it hard for us to see what is coming up, and we might miss something important. And sure enough, shortly after the bus turned, we came up to a field planted with rows of strawberries and we noticed that there were people walking among the rows. There was also a sign announcing a farm market, and since we had driven past several already and hadn’t stopped, Joann suggested we stop at this one.
We turned toward the tent which was set up next to the field of strawberries. This wasn’t any old farm market – this was a market selling only fresh, sweet strawberries! As we pulled into the parking lot, we could see buckets and buckets of the bright red berries sitting on tables under the tent. We jumped out of the car and got some money for strawberries and Joann got her camera. Then we went over to check out the strawberries and to ask if Joann could take some pictures.
There was a very friendly young woman under the tent selling the berries and handing out buckets for the “pick your own” visitors. When Joann asked if she could take some photos, the woman said, “Of course!” and then went about her business. But she didn’t want to be in any of the photos, so she kept stepping out of the way as Joann went about taking photos of the gorgeous red berries. The table had a few quart boxes of strawberries and many buckets.
I watched her work as people came in to buy strawberries and to go into the field and pick their own. She would hand out buckets, and with each one, she would explain that the already picked buckets were $10, and the “pick your own” were $8, as long as “yur buckets are like ar buckets” . (I mean no disrespect, but want to put a bit of her accent into this). “If they’re a lot bigger, like if they’re up to here” and she motioned her hand high above the top of the bucket, “I’ll have to charge you more, so maybe $9”.
As I watched, kids were coming back to the tent with buckets partially filled with strawberries, and the parents had also partially filled their buckets in hopes of paying for just one full bucket. One young girl, who appeared to be about three years old, was swinging her bucket of strawberries. As her mother tried to take the bucket to combine them, she began to scream. (Wouldn’t you scream if someone were trying to take away the sweet, red strawberries you had just picked for yourself?)
As Joann finished up her photos, she asked me if we should get a quart or a bucket, and I said I didn’t know if we could fit a bucket in the cooler. She said she thought we could and then the young woman spoke up.
Joann: “I think we should get a bucket.”
Ruth “Are you sure? Will it fit in the cooler? Will we get them eaten before they spoil?”
Young woman: “I think you need to buy a bucket because if you don’t, you’ll regret it later.”
Joann: “That’s true, and then we’ll be down the road and we won’t be able to come back.”
Young woman: “I’d buy the bucket, you won’t be sorry. And I have some paper towels here, so you can eat some right away.”
Since we always travel with a roll of paper towels for emergencies and for preparing meals on the road, we told her we would be ok, and paid for our bucket of strawberries. We returned to the car and rearranged the cooler so the bucket would fit. Then we each picked out a handful of big strawberries to eat immediately. As we drove down the road eating those sweet berries, we planned what we would do with the whole bucket.
We had strawberry yogurt parfaits for breakfast and strawberry spinach salad for supper. And best of all, we had fresh strawberry shortcake for dessert!
So take a drive and visit some country farm markets to see what you can find. The weather has been warm and fresh strawberries can’t be far behind!
Happy Shunpiking!
Ruth
Photos in this blog post can be purchased as wall art, paper prints, downloads, phone cases, and keepsakes by clicking on the photo. You will be taken to the gallery website where you will see a big blue "BUY" button. Or to see all photos available, click on the "Browse Galleries" button on the menu at the top of this page. Thank you for your interest!
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