Monday, October 21, 2013

Harvesting a paperback

Homebrew made with wild hops transplanted to my backyard where they grow up a swing set.
After a long Indian summer, mid October is here bringing low gray skies. The filtered sunlight makes the reds, oranges and yellows seem like campfire without heat on this finger numbing day. My collaborator and I head west on Route 9, which always has pleasant connotations. When we turn right out onto the Old Ware-West Brookfield Highway, we generally are headed for fun. First of all, the drive itself threads through the flatter areas of a hilly terrain, passing harvested fields, some planted for winter, some naked earth. Barns catch my eye. Falling in or spanking new, they always seem to look good. Then, across an open space where the curtain of trees draws back wide, the roll and feminine slopes and rounded hammocks show off their dresses of quilted forest.

Mixed feelings? To say the least. Summer was all peach juice and garden mania - the celebration of life unending. And now, the letting go. Still I've seeded hardy greens, stubbornly refusing to start into the frozen supply of August bounty. 

And the book. A biannual garden itself, this story was two years in the telling from research to proposal, to shopping for publishers, to writing it, to finding an editor, to losing my publisher, to publishing on demand, and now I have to sell it. Am I looking forward to a cold season of shameless self-promotion and sales pitches? Aw, no.


But on that note, several independent book sellers have shown interest and so far it is in stock at Booklink in the Thorne's department store in Northampton, MA and Tip Top Country Store of Brookfield, MA. Also, of course, on Amazon. The price is $18 online. You get a $3 discount when you buy it from a human at a real store.

I guess that's why I'm a bit jumpy on the approach to the Young Men's Club of Hadley where Valley Malt hosts an annual Barley Fest. Then I see Andrea Stanley, maltster extraordinaire and she is glowing with pride and joy. I am welcomed warmly and invited to put a few books (that my collaborator said I should bring with us) out for sale. Now I am feeling more at ease.

Then there is the beer and food. Being a big fan of strapping on the feedbag and slurping down the suds, I sometimes settle for anything that can hold hot sauce to eat and a mainstream beer to rinse it down. Here we have a list of about a dozen beers, all made with local malt. The food choices are barbecue or pizza. Both options feature locally grown ingredients. Naturally we ate two pizzas and a pulled pork sandwich. Supporting local farms is very delicious. 
Left: a Trillium New England Red. Right: Jack's Abby Mom n Pops Wet Hops
Meanwhile, the band Fat Bradley assembles their sound. Kids in years and kids at heart take over the ball field in a raucous pick up game. I wander out back to gaze at the neighboring farm. After speaking with Justin from Stoneman where beer CSA's are offered, Ben of Wormtown who puts local ingredients in every beer he makes, and Chris of Notch who bucks trends but supports this one, my thoughts drift back over a season of beer from here. Just one more look back before the coming frost.
Wild primrose still blooming in front of a quintessential barn.


Beer making at Barley Fest. The gentleman
facing the camera has a copy of Beer Terrain under his arm.

Portable wood-fired pizza oven and work of art.

Between sets jam.
And what's more . . .
Suzanne can't resist a Harvest Ale at Northampton Brewery.


Mystic Brewing's Bryan Greenhagen holds a jar of native yeast cultivated from an organic
blueberry.  Called Vinland Two, the beer made with this yeast won a gold at GABF.
This pic was dropped from the book for technical reasons I don't understand.
Self explanatory.





Pioneer Brewing's Hop Whammy made with hops grown by a customer in Southbridge, MA.
This has been Pioneer's fastest selling beer year after year.