Hager Cousin Prepares
Second Large Hopyard
280 Poles Rising In Field Near Fly Creek
former Mackie property near Fly Creek, and has dedicated four acres to a hopyard. (Jim Kevlin/AllOTSEGO.com)
By JIM KEVLIN • for AllOTSEGO.com
FLY CREEK – For the latest evidence the hop revival is here to stay, take Route 28 north from Cooperstown, bear right on Goose Street in front of the Pail House Winery, bear right on Bailey, and then onto Stone House Road to where Dr. Mackie used to have an airstrip.
There, you will see dozens of poles stuck in the ground – soon, there will be 280 in all. A hop farm to-be – or soon-to-be.
On an orange tractor preparing the ground for the crop to come, you are likely to find proprietor Byron B. Thomas, and he’ll tell you of plans to plant hop bines – yes, bines, not vines – next May on strings reaching to the ground from trellises atop the poles.
He’s preparing four acres. But look across toward the far hill on the east end of the Mackie place, and you’ll see there’s room for much more.
Thomas’ farm is the second-largest in northern Otsego County, after Louis Hager’s 20-acre Hager Hops farm in Pierstown, and there’s a connection there. “He’s my cousin,” said Byron – his middle initial stands for “Busch” – who said Louis has been encouraging and helpful in this new undertaking.