Day 4: Hoppin' to Eugene
Monday, September 29 began with a full spread, eggs made to order and all, breakfast at the Bend Riverside Inncourtesy of some of the guys. The group then filled up the vans and said goodbye to Bend as we made our way west to Eugene. Along the way we had numerous stops to make. The first was in Sisters, Oregon for quick snack and a little Kombucha tea on tap at Hop N Bean. After Sisters we entered the Cascade Range and enjoyed some wonderful views of mountains and lush forests, before making another quick stop at a clear-cut location off of the highway. The contrasting forest management practices were eye-opening. From there the class drove to Goschie Farms located near Silverton, Oregon, where we received a personalized tour from Glenn Goschie himself.
Upon arrival, we were greeted by Daisy, Glenn’s dog which cleared the air and provided us a warm ‘family farm feel’ that most of us Midwesterners could relate to. Goschie Farms, as Glenn explained is an average sized hop farm in the Willamette Valley, producing roughly three to four thousand, two hundred pound bales of dried hops a year. Oregon is the second largest hop producing state in the country thus hop production is prevalent in this area. Glenn, being born and raised in a hop farming family, gave us a more localized perspective of the hop farming industry.
He brought us into the bowels of his hop operation and explained the hop harvesting and post-harvest process from a veteran’s perspective. Since the last of the harvest ended w couple weeks prior to our visit, we didn't get the chance to see the harvest process however we did get to see an extensive post-harvest process. Glenn's homey, small town farm feel sdwas met, at our next stop, with a contrastingly more public version of a hop farm at Rogue Farms in Independence, Oregon.
Rogue is a major player in the Oregon craft beer industry. In turn, our tour was not as personal as was Goschie Farms. It was, however, a great contrast to Goschie Farms in respect to the relation to the hops and their history in the valley and was still a good experience to see the more commercialized hop farm/brewery giant. The tour at Rouge was quite shorter and less extensive, which was to be assumed due to the public tour we were on. While on the farm Tim Condon and Mike Bomber gave presentations on Oregon craft beer and Crater Lake.
After seeing the two hop farms and presentations, we loaded into the vans once again on a route through Salem to see the capital and then ultimately to Corvallis to grab some dinner. In Corvallis we slip into two different groups one of which went to explore the shops in town and grab a lighter fare while the other group went straight for the grub at Sky High Brewing Company.
Satisfied with the city of Corvallis, the gang hit the road once again to our final destination for the day—Eugene. As soon as we arrived, the daily debriefing began. We discussed the ways that hop farming was different between the two locations. That and a good night sleep set us up for a great following day.
SPECIAL THANKS TO GLENN GOSCHIE, OWNER OF GOSCHIE FARMS!
Monday, September 29 began with a full spread, eggs made to order and all, breakfast at the Bend Riverside Inncourtesy of some of the guys. The group then filled up the vans and said goodbye to Bend as we made our way west to Eugene. Along the way we had numerous stops to make. The first was in Sisters, Oregon for quick snack and a little Kombucha tea on tap at Hop N Bean. After Sisters we entered the Cascade Range and enjoyed some wonderful views of mountains and lush forests, before making another quick stop at a clear-cut location off of the highway. The contrasting forest management practices were eye-opening. From there the class drove to Goschie Farms located near Silverton, Oregon, where we received a personalized tour from Glenn Goschie himself.
Upon arrival, we were greeted by Daisy, Glenn’s dog which cleared the air and provided us a warm ‘family farm feel’ that most of us Midwesterners could relate to. Goschie Farms, as Glenn explained is an average sized hop farm in the Willamette Valley, producing roughly three to four thousand, two hundred pound bales of dried hops a year. Oregon is the second largest hop producing state in the country thus hop production is prevalent in this area. Glenn, being born and raised in a hop farming family, gave us a more localized perspective of the hop farming industry.
He brought us into the bowels of his hop operation and explained the hop harvesting and post-harvest process from a veteran’s perspective. Since the last of the harvest ended w couple weeks prior to our visit, we didn't get the chance to see the harvest process however we did get to see an extensive post-harvest process. Glenn's homey, small town farm feel sdwas met, at our next stop, with a contrastingly more public version of a hop farm at Rogue Farms in Independence, Oregon.
Rogue is a major player in the Oregon craft beer industry. In turn, our tour was not as personal as was Goschie Farms. It was, however, a great contrast to Goschie Farms in respect to the relation to the hops and their history in the valley and was still a good experience to see the more commercialized hop farm/brewery giant. The tour at Rouge was quite shorter and less extensive, which was to be assumed due to the public tour we were on. While on the farm Tim Condon and Mike Bomber gave presentations on Oregon craft beer and Crater Lake.
After seeing the two hop farms and presentations, we loaded into the vans once again on a route through Salem to see the capital and then ultimately to Corvallis to grab some dinner. In Corvallis we slip into two different groups one of which went to explore the shops in town and grab a lighter fare while the other group went straight for the grub at Sky High Brewing Company.
Satisfied with the city of Corvallis, the gang hit the road once again to our final destination for the day—Eugene. As soon as we arrived, the daily debriefing began. We discussed the ways that hop farming was different between the two locations. That and a good night sleep set us up for a great following day.
SPECIAL THANKS TO GLENN GOSCHIE, OWNER OF GOSCHIE FARMS!