Happy St. Patty’s Day and what a better way to kick this shenanigan filled day off with a beer announcement! Are we starting a brewery? No, unfortunately.

We are though partnering with Nebraska Malt (https://www.nebraskamalt.com/).  They approached a few producers in our lovely state of Nebraska to grow barley for them. We are beyond excited.  Not only does Nebraska Malt sell barley but they also just happen to make some excellent craft beer through Blue Bloods Brewery out of Lincoln, Ne. (Shamless plug alert, http://bluebloodbrewing.com) If you are ever in Lincoln, NE I suggest looking them up. There beer is great and so is there food at the restaurant. (BANGERS AND MASH, ANYONE!)

Now back to barley, it is a small grain that is a member of the grass family. It is very similar in a appearance to rye and wheat. It can contain two rows or six rows of kernels on the seed head. It likes cool weather conditions and it has a short season of growth. So we will be planting in March and harvesting in about late July/August.  I don’t want to bore you with all the specifics of this grain but it one of the main components of beer, the other being hops (there are others of course but they are small in comparison). In order for it to make beer, it has to meet certain requirements for it to work properly, otherwise nasty beer (which no one likes). The kernels of the barley have to be plump, not too high in moisture, the protein in the barley has to be just right, and no/little damage to the kernels with no contaminates (mold, bacteria, foreign matter). There is quite a lot of science behind every tasty glass of beer and now our little farm will be a part of it!

 

Maybe you are wondering why a Malt company had to ask us to plant this crop? Well in the United States there is about  205 million bushels grown each year. That sounds like a lot, right? Depending on the style of beer it takes about 30 to 40 pounds of barley to make 16 gallons of beer. That’s a lot of beer we’re making. Darn right it is; as Americans we consume about 44.7 gallons each year (I found that little fact from an Huffington post article). I don’t typically drink that much but if you think about it the average American drinks 98 pounds of barley a year.

 

 OH BOY, ENOUGH MATH, HAND ME A BEER! WHEW!

So Nebraska Malt approached Nebraska farmers because well we’re in Nebraska! Currently, the top states to produce barley are North Dakota, Montana, Washington, and Idaho. Nebraska is virtually nonexistent in the barley growing world (I’m sure there are a few please don’t be offended).  I got this helpful map from Alberta Agricultural and Forestry website, which used information from the USDA.

 

If they can procure barley from a local source a number of wonderful things for our state happens:

  1. We get to have a more diversified list of crops that we can grow here
  2. Exporting to neighboring state malting companies can happen = income,
  3. More jobs in the form of labor on the farm and pop up micro / craft breweries (which means more beer = more barley needed),
  4. Less money is being used in transporting from long distances
  5. I think you get the picture! (Oh, by the way, I love lists)

Also Nebraska Malt and Blue Bloods Brewery is excited about being a “locavore” or being able to know all products of food or ingredients are locally grown and harvested! Which I adore because I’m a farmer who believes we should be using all of our local resources first. It helps our community and neighbors.

My husband traveled down to Lincoln to pick the seed this morning and we will begin planting our barley this weekend; while there is still some cold for it. I will more than likely make serval posts about it as it is a new crop to our little farm.

You never know in the future you maybe drinking beer that was grown (in part) from SouthernWind Farm! CHEERS! or Slainte!  (If you’re Irish)