Lupulin, Oh How You Smell!

We are thinking it might actually be that time...you know harvest time.  The photo on the right is showing one of our hop bines.  You can see that the color is a little bit lighter green than before.  After squeezing a cone a little it gives of that distinct aroma.  The lovely little oil sacks of lupulin are clearly visible on the base of each leaf.  Is it time?

I picked a cone this morning to give it a good test.  I cut it open to really get a good smell of it and to see how much lupulin is actually there.  You can see in the photo bellow the glans with all the lupulin stacked in the cone.  I think we are close.  The real questions are when we do it, do we have enough for the test batch with Schlafly, do we have our drying equipment ready, do we have our vacuum bagging system and balances on hand, is the marketing ready to go, do we have business cards and a logo prepared?

These are the questions.  And can we make some little bit of money to offset some of the expenses for the year?  These are the current ponderables.  While we are working on answers, I will through a few other photos of the current state of the hop yard for your viewing pleasure (I finally took the good camera to the yard).