Today a small team of people are working to establish one of Michigan's first hop farms in Chelsea, planting and caring for thousands of the plants at Groovy Hopster Farm.
"We might need some more help as we get into harvesting," says Louis Breskman, owner of
Groovy Hopster Farm.
The Chelsea-based business is taking over 10 acres at 18833 M-52. The land used to serve as a dairy farm before it was abandoned and left to go wild. Breskman and his team have planted 4,000 hop plants on nearly half of the site's acreage.
"We have been steadily reclaiming it," Breskman says. "We have tilled the soil and raised some trellesses." The farm also has a couple of goats who's main job is to eat poison ivy. "We want to get rid of it in an all-natural way," Breskan says.
Groovy Hopster Farm specializes in producing organic hops, a key ingredient in beer making, for local breweries. Breskman expects the 4,000 hop vines his team planted this year to yield about 4,000-5,000 pounds of hops. That number should rise to 8,000 pounds over the next couple of years as the vines mature. The entire farm should produce about 20,000 pounds of hops when it reaches capacity.
Breskman, a University of Michigan graduate, is a big fan of the craft brewing movement. He is opening Groovy Hopster Farm to meet the demand for fresh, high-quality hops from the growing base of local brewers. Breskman points out he has watched four breweries open in Ann Arbor since moving here a few years ago, and almost all of the local brewers import their hops from the Pacific Northwest.
"If we has a local source of natural, fresh hops then we could take our beer to the next level," Breskman says.
Groovy Hopster Farm recently kicked off a crowdfunding campaign for $30,000 to help fund its expansion. It will be holding a launch party for it at Grizzly Peak from 6-9 p.m. on Monday. More info on it
here.
Source: Louis Breskman, owner of Groovy Hopster Farms
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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