If you haven’t noticed, I’m kind of on a make-it-yourself kick. In truth, it isn’t really a kick, it is something that I have been interested in for years.
I’ve made lots of hats, sweaters and other knitted items, a willow chair, picture frames, home improvements and other things. Lately, I’ve been all about canning, freezing and drying food. I wish we had space for a bigger garden, chickens and perhaps a goat.
I really wish we had a little piece of land somewhere where we could build an Earthship and live totally off the grid and self-sufficiently. But until we have the means to do that (and I convince H he wants to do that…) I’ll settle for the little bit of self-sufficiency I can muster.
For my job at MSU News Service I’ve been writing several beer-related stories. First I wrote about barley. Specifically, the trail of barley from research at MSU to a field in northern Montana, to a malt house and finally to a brewery in Missoula (owned by an MSU grad, of course). That story comes out in a magazine next month.
Then I wrote a piece on MSU’s inaugural hop harvest. Which got me thinking, how fun would it be to grow my own hops and start homebrewing? Pretty fun.
I do have a few other things on my plate right now, so we’ll see on the homebrew. But at the very least it would be fun to plant some hops next spring.