Well, sort of. At the least, two of my recipes are in a much more trafficked area than my website, and my name is attached to them. This turn of events is thanks to a friend of mine, known in the SCA as Sorcha Crowe, putting together an article on six-row barley for Zymurgy. She asked me if I had any recipes using six-row that she could use, and the rest, as they say, is history.
As luck would have it, my "historical" barley (the Bere) is a six-row. Its progress in the field has been impressive--given another month, it may catch up to the winter barley in growth. The Hana is still plugging along, but hasn't really been as productive, which is somewhat disappointing. (Overall, I'm not as impressed with the Hana as I would have liked--its germination rate seemed low, and now it's not growing as well. I may try selecting the better seeds, to try selecting for a better-adapted variety, but that's a multi-year process...)
I have, at this point, most of the holes dug for the pier footings, to which I will attach a deck, and from there a pergola for my hops. I hope to get the footings poured in the next couple of days; if I'm successful there, I should have hops in the ground after this weekend, and not a moment too soon. The Sterling rhizomes have put up shoots, as have the Magnum and one of the Willamette. The Cascades are lagging a bit, but if need be I can get a cutting from my "old" plants (which have reached their climbing strings, and are progressing as hops will do).
In the meantime, I think I have my class notes finalized for this weekend; I need to find a free minute or two to make copies of my handouts. Atlantian University has found a site for a Summer Session in June, and my Lady Wife and I are combing our schedules to see if we can attend and present our classes (she teaches classes on Russian clothing). Right now, things are looking positive.
On another positive note, I'm hopeful that I'll be able to actually brew something by late summer. Probably not "inside" in the Brewhouse, nor on a nice, shiny electric brew-rig, but brewing nonetheless. There have been a number of people ask when I was going to start back up; for now, that's the best I can offer--"soonish."Labels: Barley, Bere, brew day, class, Hops, recipes, teaching, university