Hops Progress

These are the Willamette hops I am growing in Alexandria.

As we were preparing to leave last Saturday for a week of vacation in the Valley, I made one last progress check on the little potted hops rhizomes I’ve got out in the backyard in Alexandria.  There’s a photo here of the Willamette vines – my high achievers, but the Golding vines are doing well also, and at last there were little leaves poking out of the ground on the Centennial. 

Dan's hopyard - five varieties, and a homebrew porter.

Later that evening we joined up with Sally and Dan for dinner, and while we were there we took a walk around Dan’s expanding hopyard.  The mature vines there – several of these were planted four years ago, have already taken off and are climbing up the trainer strands.  He’s going to have a crop this year that will carry him through all of next year’s brewing, probably, and then some.

Incidentally, he now has five hops varieties going in the hopyard:  Cascade, Centennial, Willamette, US Fuggle, and Hallertauer.  His production will be suited to a wide variety of brewing next year – including at least IPAs, porters, and lagers.

A vine of Cascade hops, used as decoration.

As we settled down to dinner, there was a surprise in the planters around the patio – he had used some of his Cascade rhizomes for decoration.  Since my Centennial vine looks to be a slow starter, I might use this technique this year to let it grow and establish itself.  

The Cicadas Invade

We are still waiting for cicadas at Hawksbill Cabin - maybe it is still too cool here, and maybe somehow we are not in the correct geography for them.  And we seem to have been bypassed in Alexandria also.



However, I am seeing updates from friends all around us, including Marty and Leigh in Manassas.  Marty made this video during a walk around the yard last weekend.  It's clear the cicadas didn't miss their place!

Thanks for sharing the video, Marty!

The Hawksbill Cabin Iris Patch

The irises have all come and gone at home in Alexandria, so we were happy to see that we'd have another weekend to enjoy them when we arrived at Hawksbill Cabin last Saturday.

While we have a few colors of them back in Alexandria, at HC they are all a single color, light violet, like the lilacs that I photographed earlier in the spring.

That thoughtful past owner planted a drift of them by the driveway at the front of the house with some peonies, which we should be able to enjoy next weekend.  There is also a larger patch of them in the backyard, up the hill.   That's a view I don't photograph often, so you get a look at the back of the house as a bonus.

ISO...My Driveway

Well, there was a real gully washer out at Hawksbill Cabin a few weeks ago.  I knew because my friend David showed the picture of his weather station, which reported, “It’s raining cats ‘n’ dogs.”  Then neighbor Dan sent me note telling me we’d had a washout.

So, I was prepared for some damage out there – over the course of the summer t-storms we always need to have Mickey come out with the box blade for some minor repairs, and then from time to time we have something a little more major, like this time.

In any case, while I was out walking the dog on Sunday morning, I decided it might be worthwhile to track down exactly where our driveway had gone…I found it, about a hundred yards down the road, deposited in a neat pile in the little meadow alongside Beaver Run.  It was like a practical joke courtesy of Mother Nature.

Mickey will be out soon to do some repairs.  But I don’t know if his tractor will be able to get back in there for the flotsam – we might have to fork out for some new gravel this time.

Luray-Page County - an Appalachian Trail Community!

This is the Appalachian Trail Conservancy logo
for trail communities.

Hawksbill Cabin is located in Page County, close to Luray and Stanley, Virginia, and to Shenandoah National Park.  One of the treats for me about this location is being so close to a charming, lovely, thriving small community – and the access it provides as a gateway to the park, not to mention that my hikes based out of here frequently include Appalachian Trail (AT) sections.

A couple of years ago I was talking with Howard Thompson in Appalachian Outdoors Adventures in Luray and he told me that the community was beginning the application process to become an AT Trail Town.  It’s a hard won distinction that the Appalachian Trail Conservancy awards to recognize communities that promote and protect the AT.  Here’s more from the AT Conservancy’s web site:

"…counties, and communities along the A.T.’s corridor are considered assets by all that use the A.T. and many of these towns act as good friends and neighbors to the Trail. The program serves to assist communities with sustainable economic development through tourism and outdoor recreation, while preserving and protecting the A.T.Designation as an Appalachian Trail Community™ and participation in the program is aimed to:

• Engage community citizens, Trail visitors and stewards

• Recognize and thank communities for their service to the Trail and hikers

• Act as a catalyst for enhancing sustainable economic development

• Aid local municipalities and regional areas with conservation planning

• Help local community members see the Trail as a resource and asset"

The Festival of Spring a few weeks ago included a celebration of this honor, and it was covered in the Page News and Courier.  Rereading that article now, I see where the Stanley Mayor Doug Purdham has suggested that Ed Goode Park might one day have a connection up to the trail – “It’s a big dream, and years into the future, but it’s possible.”  It sounds like a worthwhile goal, to me. 

Howard is quoted in the piece as saying, about the hikers that visit the area from the AT, "They stay in our hotels, visit our shops, eat in our restaurants - hikers have an economic impact."  He added that between 200 and 300 AT hikers visit the store during the hiking season.

Here’s to all the AT enthusiasts in our community who were part of this effort.  I’m proud of y’all.

The Honey-Lavender Kolsch: Part 2

It’s my least favorite chore in brewing, but when the time comes, it has to be done.  And after all, it’s a kind of payday.

I brewed the honey kolsch kit five or six weeks ago.  We’ve had a cold spring and the temps in the basement led to a very slow start for the years – so I let the beer sit in primary for two weeks, and then let it ride for three in secondary. 

Hey, I may not have posted this, so here is the catalog copy from Northern Brewer for this one:

A variation on our extremely popular Kölsch recipe with the addition of honey and a new yeast strain for a lighter body and flavor. This pale, light-bodied golden ale is traditionally given a long, cold aging period which makes it very smooth and clean. "Spritzy" is a word often used to describe Kolsch - very refreshing, and a popular lawnmower beer for beer snobs!

As an extra, which may turn into a gimmick, I added a lavender tincture to the brew at bottling time – see yesterday’s post for some highlights. 

After all that, the beer looks to have a golden color like you would expect from a kolsch – although when it comes time to drink it in a few week, it will probably be more of an amber color.  Here’s a shot of it passing through the siphon.

When all was said and done, I had a nice output of the beer.  I made a few extra 22 oz. bottles since my beer has been a popular giveaway at the office and with the neighbors, and I like this bottle size for that purpose.

I’ll let it bottle condition for three weeks now.  Planned release date is June 7.

The Honey-Lavender Kolsch: Part 1

For a spring brew I decided to pick up the Honey Kolsch kit from Northern Brewer.  I thought it might be even more interesting to add some lavender – that is an ingredient that they feature on their site, after all – and I had a small sachet that our friend Lilly gave us last year.  The question was how to use it as an ingredient in the kit beer.

I did some research on the topic, and one suggested way was to create a tincture – infuse the little herbal flowers with a 40% alcohol solution.  I combined two shot glasses full of the flowers with three shot glasses full of Absolut Vodka (80 proof!), and voila – I had my tincture!

(If you're interested in the process, Wikipedia is a good place to start.)

Here are a couple of photos of the final steps in the process, filtering out the flowers, and the final product. 

I bottled the kolsch on Sunday, adding the tincture and the priming sugar to the big bottling tub.  I’ll have a post on that tomorrow.

Saturday Night Trout Dinner

We went to a party on Saturday afternoon at one of the local branches of Rocklands barbeque (see link below) – one of our favorites.  I had grilled some chicken thighs on Friday night, and knew that I was going to cook some ribs on Sunday (heads up – there’ll be a blog post on this later in the week).  I decided to have the brisket so I could be sure I covered the full range of animal proteins…leaving the dilemma of what to cook for dinner on Saturday night.

Well, fish is the natural choice if you can check off beef, chicken, and pork in a weekend – and if you don’t have any venison laying around in the freezer.  So I went down to Whole Paychecks and found these whole trout – good looking fish. 

After browsing on line and checking out my “For Cod and Country” cookbook (check the Amazon link below) – I decided to brine the fish and then stuff them with some fresh rosemary sprigs from Mary’s herb garden and slices of fresh lemon.  I cooked them on the backyard grill in my little fish basket.

We decided that, it being spring and all, we might pair them up with a bunch of asparagus.  Asparagus in the spring, by the way, always reminds me that The European in Glover Park calls this season “Spargel Fest.”  I was a little worried about the fish – I usually do fillets – but they came out fine, as you can see in the money shot!

Rocklands link:  http://www.rocklands.com/

For Cod and Country Amazon link:  

The Backyard Hopyard

We had a couple of social obligations to take care of this weekend, so we stayed home in Alexandria. 

Besides the excellent party we went to and a quiet mothers day, I took care of a few little chores on the barbeque and brewing front.  So this week will feature those errands – starting today, with a short and sweet post.

I started three hops rhizomes in pots in the backyard this spring.  We’ve had a ton of rain, and not much sun – as vines, hops like sunny weather, so I’ve been worried.  Finally, last week I saw some leaves break the soil.  I have some survivors!

I bought Centenniel, Willamette, and Goldings hops varieties.  If I get crops of these I can do a lot of brewing, and I figure I can trade a few here and there with Dan and the other Blue Ridge brewers. 

So far though, I’ve only got sprouts from the Willamette and Goldings vines, no sign yet of the Centenniel.  That’ll be a shame, but I will take what I can get.  I’ll put up a post here and there about the progress of my hopyard.

Visiting Beaver Run Brewery

Tess had a good time running around the yard,
so when we went into the brewery she sacked out.

During the winter, I made a check-in spot on Foursquare for Beaver Run Brewery – that’s my neighbor’s garage near Hawksbill Cabin, when Dan has outfitted a pretty sophisticated operation that includes about a quarter-acre hopyard.  On Sunday, Mary and I made a visit over there to check in (I'm the mayor, after all, with four check-ins in the last 60 days), and to offer a sample of my latest batch of honey porter, which was reciprocated with Dan’s new pilsner.

We had a good visit out in the garden, comparing notes about how busy we’ve been.  Dan and Sally have been following the crew circuit around the mid-Atlantic – their daughter is a junior at WVU.  And we’ve had a lot to do that kept us away from the house more than usual.  We decided to make up for that with a brief stopover this weekend.

The hops are climbing past 6 feet already.

We took a walk through the hopyard, where Dan showed me that he now has five varietals going:  Willamette, Cascade, Centennial, Kent Goldings, and US Fuggle.  I have some packs of the Cascade and US Fuggle I’ll be using soon, by the way.  After that it was over to the brewery.

Quite the set-up they have over there at
Beaver Run Brewery!

Dan added a couple of new pieces of equipment in there, including a new floor that was recycled from a river raft, and a new kettle that he hand-fitted with a new spout.  He can do an all-grain batch now, and it’s an automated set-up with a pump and plate wort chiller.  We chatted about my plans to do an all-grain batch using the Brooklyn Brew Shop recipe for Honey Grapefruit Ale, so I have that to look forward to!

Dan’s moved on up like this because he’s had a couple of requests to brew for parties and celebrations – he even has one of those kegging set-ups that he can use for this purpose.  He tells me he’s been a very busy brewer!

Not to mention a very busy hop farmer!  

Rusti's Yellow Iris

Irises are a highlight this time of year – there are still blooms on the dogwoods, and the azaleas are past peak, so the stage is set as the weather warms up for these beautiful flowers to come into their own.

A few years ago my Aunt sent us a bunch of heritage varieties in several colors.  They are spread around the front and back yards in Alexandria, but this yellow one is planted out front, right by the walk as you approach the front door. 

You can’t miss it when it comes into bloom.  It has divided a time or two and now we have three stems there – hopefully we’ll see that continue to happen and someday we’ll just have a bunch of them.

Pruning the Old Apple Tree

We’ve been talking about getting the old apple tree pruned for years now.  I’ve written about our plans to do just that quite a few times – check the link at the end of this post and you can see that I’ve been writing about it since 2008!

The winter this year, with at least four decent snow falls, took a toll on the pines around the Hawksbill Cabin yard.  We figured that as long as we were having so much tree work done – we took down about five mature pines, a couple of dead trees in the side yard, and one dead dogwood – we would have the tree guys prune back the apple tree.  And instead of a careful prune of just a third of the tree, we pruned hard, since I am sure that tree hadn’t been attended to in close to 40 or 50 years.

Our timing was good, as friends had told me that March is the time to prune your apples.  Another bit of advice I got was that apple trees aren’t supposed to be pretty – they’re supposed to grow fruit, and you get that by pruning.

Last week I saw a few blossoms, not nearly as many as in years past, but we know we haven’t killed it, and it is leafed out nicely.  Next year we’ll pick some of the small branches to keep and prune off the rest of them, and hopefully we’ll be back to full crops again in a few years.

In the meantime, I collected a bunch of the old branches and had them sawn into firewood length.  The wood is curing out on the brick terrace.  We’ll look forward to some fragrant camp fires out on the brick terrace next fall.

Incidentally, a quick look at those old posts reminded me that we seemed to have good harvests in even-numbered years.  I am sure that is just a coincidence, but who is to say.  In any case – here’s the link to the old posts about the apple tree:

http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/search?q=apple+tree

The Pork Diaries: Brats

When Mary isn't able to join me for weekends at Hawksbill Cabin, I usually head over to Luray for dinner - a take out from Anthony's, a burger at Artisans, or those Oysters Rockefeller that I love so much at the Speakeasy.  With my ankle injury tying me down, I decided to stay in and grill on the brick terrace.

I found a small pack of brats in the freezer - from the pig Pork Chop, Jr. and this year's butchering outing. I grilled them up with some summer squash and a red pepper on the side.  I got a nice spicy brown mustard for them - tasty!

Incidentally, here's a post about making the brats.  It includes a little video of me using the sausage stuffer...

http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2013/02/everything-but-oink.html

Honey Porter - the New Batch

The new honey porter...with azaleas.

I brewed up a second batch of the "White House Honey Porter" from Northern Brewer (link below).  As with the first time, I substituted the honey that came with the kit for Luray honey from Jay and Ryanne, but since I didn't have any Luray-grown US Fuggles I used a pack that I got from Northern Brewer to add that final kick at the end of the boil

I shared a dozen 22oz. bottles with co-workers - looking forward to hearing their thoughts about it.  Speaking for myself, I believe I am going to continue to adapt this one and make it my signature brew...or at least, one of my signature brews!

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/northern-brewer-s-white-house-honey-porter-beer-kit.html

Spring Flowers, 2013 - part 2

 Here are a couple of additional photos taken from around the property:

• The dogwood down near the property line, along Beaver Run - I'd never noticed it in bloom before;
• A lilac blossom with a swallowtail; and
• Some very pretty, and very green, ground cover.
  

I've assembled these into a banner picture above, I can enjoy them through the rest of spring.

Spring Flowers - 2013 ed.

Mary stayed behind to grade papers this weekend, so Tessie and I came out to Hawksbill Cabin looking forward to a relaxing spring weekend.  I'm off my feet with an ankle injury, so we didn't get out for walks as much as the canine companion might have liked.

What we did see was the Appalachian Spring in full glory.  Today I'm posting a couple of the photos I took of the azaleas in the cabin's front yard, in the garden that is in front of the addition.  It's just a taste of what Copland's composition is about - at least I think so.

Should you care to indulge...here's a YouTube link to a performance of the Copland piece:

http://youtu.be/CJYVH_kZkOk

Another Quiche - from the Pork Diaries

Smoking the ham on the grill was a success - I still have a few things to perfect about cooking that way, but we had a nice dinner.  And typical of hams, we had plenty of leftovers, so I made a quiche on Sunday.

This time, I just pulled together some diced onion, a bit of cheddar, and the ham, basically whatever we had in the fridge.  I used the Betty Crocker recipe that I always do, adding an extra egg, and doing the two-step baking process (15 minutes at 425, and then 30 minutes at 300, if I remember correctly).

I sprinkled a little paprika on top along with some chives for color and presentation.  I was good, and we had it for dinner Sunday, lunch on Monday.

Mary has found another recipe that uses leftover ham - a ham salad.  She mixes in some vegetables, diced egg, and dressing.  It's kind of old-timey, but you can eat it plain or on a sammich.

More adventures with pork follow.

The Pork Diaries: First Ham

The hams we get off of the pigs at Public House Produce are so big that it is a challenge to feast on them in one sitting.  And so we lost quite a bit of ours last year in the freezer, due to freezer burn after a couple of power outages (power in Alexandria, four miles from the White House, can be surprisingly flaky).

This year I decided not to send the ham out for curing and used the band saw in the butchering shed to cut it into six pieces.  On Saturday, I cooked the first piece on the backyard smoker.

I figured I could cook it more or less as I would the shoulder roasts I’ve been doing, with a rub and then indirect heat for a couple of hours.  It worked out, we had some tasty ham – there is absolutely no similarity to pulled pork in this outcome despite my using the same cooking method.

I used a bit of cayenne in this rub, just enough for a pleasant bite.  The Florida corn is in (there's no comparison to what I get during the summer out in Page County though), so I paired the ham with it and some green beans.

Now my thinking is to do the same thing with the ham next year, except send out half of it in these smaller cuts for curing and smoking.  I’ll keep the other half in these small ham roasts.

I’ve still got quite a few of these to cook though – for now!

Hops Rhizomes are in

After enjoying my friend Dan’s homebrews these last few years and realizing that one thing that makes them special is the fact that he grows most of the hops he uses, I’ve decided to try growing some myself in the backyard in Alexandria.  If I’m successful, I might put in some rhizomes out at Hawksbill Cabin over the next few years.

You have to buy the rhizomes early – I placed my orders at the end of February for two each of the Willamette, Golding, and Centennial cultivars.  I planted them in pots out in the backyard, because I haven’t decided their final location, or even the proper trellising for them.  In any case, hopefully I will see something come up in about two weeks.

Dan has offered me Cascade rhizomes in the past. They are the ones that do well in his hopyard at Beaver Run Brewery, but I did something wrong and lost the plants.  So this project is a do-over and hopefully I will get enough to share some with him, maybe not this year but next (although the Willamettes have been known to produce in quantity their first year).

In addition to the periodic gift of home grown Cascade hops, Dan gave me some Fuggle hops another friend in the Valley grew.  I used these in my recent honey porter to great success, so much so, that I want to make this into a signature beer.  The only problem is that those where sold out, so I substituted the Golding.

Now I remember that Golding is the variety in some of the dubbel kits I’ve been brewing, so I guess I am lucky.  I just like saying “Fuggle.”

I plan to post on my progress with these from time to time – say twice a month.  So until then…

Wisteria's Sheep Sheering

With all the (justified) hullabaloo about the wine, sometimes it's easy to forget that our friends over at Wisteria are keeping up a working farm - featuring the flock of Romney sheep.  Although we didn't make it out in time for the event (we rolled in to enjoy a little tasting at around 5pm), last Saturday was sheering day.

Sue has put up some highlight photos on Facebook, but for this post, I'm combining a photo of part of the flock I took last December with two from the Wisteria home page (link below).  The activity here is called skirting - after the bundle of fleece comes off in one piece from the sheep, it is spread out for a quick and thorough rinse.

From there, after it is cleaned and dried, it can be spun into yarn and eventually makes its way into fine products.

Wisteria has another event planned this Saturday - they'll be planting some new vines out in the vineyard.  We're going to try and be there for that...heading out Friday night so we can join the fun at Oh Dark Thirty.

Wisteria's web site is at:

http://www.wisteriavineyard.com/

Honey Kolsch Progress Report

Earlier this month I wrote about the honey kolsch that I brewed one Saturday.  I had been very worried about it - the yeast took a few days to activate and I thought I might have had some bad microbes.  But lo, eventually they woke up.

Here's an update from Saturday, where they'd been going strong for two days.  Look at that flocculation.

I just checked on things and there is still a steady burp, so I will let it stay in primary for a few more days.

Meanwhile, I'm planning to do something extra with this batch - I want to add a little bit of lavender to the beer when it is finished.  I could add the flowers to the secondary, but I'd like to have a better way, since that would clog my siphon.

This process of extracting the essence of an herb is
called making a tincture.  I was concerned about putting
the dried flowers into my brew, so decided to use vodka
to extract the flavor, and I'll add it at bottling time.

I've read about tinctures...Wikipedia says, "Herbs are put in a container and and a spirit of 40% or more ethanol is added, or 80 proof vodka..."  So I took a couple of shot glasses worth of lavender flowers and three shots of Absolut to make this one.  I'll add it at the bottling stage when I mix in the priming sugar.

So what we'll have is a special spring kolsch with honey and lavender...hoping for good results here.

A Trout Stream Runs Through It

Tessie and I took our regular walk along the Hawksbill Greenway in Luray on Sunday morning.  We often end up on the section where the old swimming holes are, near the train trestle - and frequently, we'll run into folks casting in the stream along the banks.

This always serves to remind me that Hawksbill Creek is recognized by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries as a heritage trout stream.  This is a program that provides a scheduled stream stock day for the first Saturday in April.  It creates the feel of an old-timey opening day, and the towns across the state that share in the program will often hold events to observe "Trout Heritage Day."

Luray had one - it's all over the PNC, with quite a few big fish taken.  There was an angler who had a couple of pan fillers with him when we walked by.  But most of the morning fisherman were just there casting, enjoying a fine morning and hoping for a rise.

Nice day altogether.  I love this time of year.

A Kickstarter Hop Farm Project

Today I want to continue on the topic of some of the Kickstarter projects I have supported – this time, I’m writing about John Condzella’s hop farm on Long Island – there’s a link at the end of the post.

Condzella says he saw the rise of craft brews and the need for hops as an opportunity, and committed part of the family farm to growing them.  He’s been growing hops for two years now.

His research showed that New York provided 80 percent of the nation’s hop crop in the 1890’s.  He described the process that was used back then, with families traveling out to help with the harvest – a process that reminded me of the cranberry harvests on Cape Cod when I learned more about it.

I’ve watched my neighbor Dan with his annual hop growing and harvest process over the last couple of years, and know that even on a small scale, it’s a tedious process.  Condzella has acres committed to the crop, and those difficulties only increased with scale.  That led him to research machines that could automate the process.

He found a used Wolf machine (check out how it works on the video linked below) for sale in Germany and formed a Kickstarter project to buy it – raising about $30,000 when all was said and done.

I can’t wait to read more details on when the machine gets to the farm, and how it impacts the Condzella operation.

Kickstarter link to the project:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1498739112/condzella-hops-unites-li-farmers-and-local-breweri

Here's a link to a company that makes hop harvesters:

http://www.dmfg.com/our-business

The Kickstarter Projects: Two Breweries

Over the years that we've been heading out to Hawksbill Cabin for the weekend, I've had a lingering thought about how to be a part of the (at least in my opinion) very promising agri-tourism industry.

It's a natural complement to the beauty of the area there in Page County, and certainly it offers up the potential for co-marketing with active tourism, which we come by from the outfitters at Appalachian Outdoors Adventures, Hawksbill Bicycles, and Appalachian Adventures.  On the agribusiness side, we have all the family farms that have joined Page County Grown and work at the delightful farmers market in Luray - as well as our vineyard at Wisteria.

A third leg of this stool, if you will, might be the local brewing group.  Check out the blog in the right hand column about the Blue Ridge Brewers Association - there's no shortage of enthusiasts working on this pastime.

With the thought that I might some day be able to contribute to developing this brewing community, I started looking at Kickstarter to see how others are getting small brewing related enterprises off the ground with micro-funding projects.  So far, I've found two nano-breweries in the DC area that interested me, and I sponsored them with small contributions.

The first is Baying Hound Aleworks, in the Maryland suburbs, who sought $5,000 to expand their operation.  I can find their beers at the local shop near my office, so I was glad to make a contribution.

The second is Crooked Run, located in the further out Virginia suburbs.  The proprietor there is promising to develop a Farmhouse Brewery - that brings a lot of my interests together in one place, so I was glad to make a little contribution.  His $10,000 project was also successfully funded.

Between the two of them, I can't wait to get out and check out how things are going for them.  By the way, links to their Kickstarter pages are included below.

It all comes down to this for me...as our community of brewers in Page County continues to thrive and grow, how can we find a way to add this to the mix of the agro-tourism and active tourism activities that are really coming into their own?  I'll be thinking of the right project to join...I know I'm not the only one.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bayinghound/baying-hound-aleworks
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1463544393/crooked-run-brewing-a-farmhouse-nanobrewery

Tessie Gets a Job

Unusual focus.  Or maybe not...Mary was making noises in the kitchen.
Here's a link to the rescue organization Tessie was at:
http://www.arcbcr.org/

On our first check in with the vet, the tech said, "Tessie would be a great pet therapy dog."  We recently passed the two year anniversary of adopting her - Mary's had that vet tech's words in the back of her mind ever since.  On Sunday, Mary and Tessie finished their evaluations, and they are now able to participate freely in pet therapy visits throughout the DC area.

(Editor's Note:  Mary added some information after reading the first version of this post.  Her entire message follows:  Saw the coverage of Tessie's new career on your blog.  You should add the name of the organization: People. Animals. Love (PAL).  It's located on Capitol Hill and the Web site is http://www.peopleanimalslove.org/  ...Technically, Tessie will be a therapy assistance dog, meaning she visits and offers companionship rather than participating in a program of therapy that has goals to meet and measure.  She just has to be her sweet self.  PAL has relationships with a number of locations, mostly retirement homes, senior centers, and rehabilitation centers.  She can also visit libraries and have kids read to her.  I might try that one next.)

I can't fully express how proud I am of the two of them.  The dog has been a real treat, certainly - but Mary saw this opportunity for service and has been persistent in tracking down the hows and whens, and finally over the last month, managed to get the evals over with during a visit to the Armed Forces Retirement Home in DC (link below).

Tess is a border collie - you can check out that breed at Wikipedia and see all about the intensity and focus they regularly exhibit, which makes them excellent working dogs.  On the other hand, this one's a little different...180 degrees removed from Gracie, the border collie we had for a long time before losing her in 2009.  Where Gracie wanted to run and fetch every waking moment, Tess would just as soon hang close and keep you company.

It's exhausting work, being a pet therapy dog.

That's the trait the vet tech picked up on, and I suppose it is a real talent.

Mary embraced the idea and tracked down the organization that manages this process, and followed up on the appointments and evaluations that were necessary.

I know Tessie is a natural at it.  And I really appreciate how dedicated Mary has been in finding this new opportunity for service in the community.

Here's the link to the Armed Forces home they visited on Sunday:
https://www.afrh.gov/afrh/wash/whistory.htm

Next Batch: Honey Kolsch

I'm missing this month's meeting of the Blue Ridge Brewers Association out in Luray, so I thought I would write up another brewing post.  In Friday's post, I mentioned bottling the honey porter...usually that is an activity that I couple with brewing, and last night I did: a honey kolsch.

Unfortunately, I was out of Luray honey and had to use the Minnesota variety that was provided in my kit.  I consider this one an experiment anyway, since I've never been a kolsch enthusiast.

Now here's the description of the honey kolsch, taken from the Northern Brewer instructions that were provided with the kit:




A variation on our extremely popular Kölsch recipe with 
the addition of honey and a new yeast strain for a lighter 
body and flavor. Like our original Kölsch kit, this recipe 
features a pale color, light body, and smooth mouthfeel. 
Honey adds subtle floral character and lightens the body 
by fermenting to dryness. Really nice as a summer brew 
for barbecues and picnics, or to wean your friends off 
watery mass-produced lagers. 

I did brew it as a summer brew; it should be in the bottle around May 1, and then ready for drinking in late May.  I have a few more recipes queued up for later - including a Saison and a Brown Ale.

Final note on the brewing topic for the day - I ordered some hops rhizomes to try and start in the backyard - two each of Golding, Williamette, and Centinnial.  Maybe I will have some home-grown hops to use in this winter's brewing!

A New Batch of Honey Porter

A pint of the honey porter.

Last night I bottled the new honey porter.  Like the last batch of the porter, it is made with honey from my friends Jay and Ryanne out in Luray.

Last time I made it, I had 2 oz. of US Fuggle leaf hops from another friend that I used in the brew.  I have another pack of those hops but they are in the freezer out at Hawksbill Cabin, so I used a combination of 1 ounce of leaf hops (US Fuggle, bought from Northern Brewer) and the Hallertau pellets that comes in the kit.

Here's the little write-up about the honey porter that is included in the kit from Northern Brewer:

I've got quite the store room going - batches of the
honey porter, vagabond ale, and cranberry dubbel are all
bottle conditioning just now!

This original recipe brewed by White House staff is both a callback to the favored beverage of our Founding Fathers as well as an opportunity to come together and share pints across the aisle.  More than just simply black and roasty, this porter builds consensus with generous applications of sweet caramel and toasty Munich malts, while moderate bitterness and a pound of honey lets us all find common ground.  In a year of divisive politics, we think it's especially common to remember what we have in common:  homebrewing!

The first batch of this porter I made got good marks from everybody who had a sample - the balance of the honey and hops was what they frequently mentioned.  Although the new batch will have a little variation from that, hopefully the balance is still there.

I really do have to keep notes on the batches going forward, so as these recipes evolve I will be able to repeat what worked and what didn't.  In any case, we'll know how it came out in about three weeks, after it has had adequate time in the bottle to condition!

Tech-watch Geek: My Casio Pathfinder Watch

All ones on the display - 11/11/11.

I've made no secret about how much I love my Casio Pathfinder watch.  Unfortunately, a few weeks ago I noticed that it would not take a compass reading, and then I couldn't get an altimeter reading - with hiking season upon us, I was very worried that I might be losing this very functional tool.

Then over the weekend, the display began to fade and the alarm's happy chirp has changed tones just perceptibly.  I'm guessing this means it's time for a battery change, which we'll take care this week.  I'll probably lose my to altitude records - the highs and lows - so that's the real reason for this post.

I took my highest altimeter reading in Yosemite in 2010 - it recorded the height as 2,315 meters without any adjustment for barometric pressure.  That's just about 7,200 feet - that's one of the photos here.

The scene of my highest altimeter reading.

My lowest reading was -150 meters, taken in Death Valley in 2011.  Again, with no adjustment for barometric pressure, that translates to -465 feet.  Here is a photo I took during that trip.

The scene of my lowest altimeter reading.

Of course, the first photo of the watch in this post was the moment of all ones on the display, taken at 11:11:11 on November 11, 2011.  That was a fun moment - I was very nervous I would miss it.

I'll close today with a link to a page with a nice selection of Casio Pathfinders over on Amazon - in case you might be looking for a referral to there:

Casio Pathfinder Watches On Amazon