Farm workers can be seen preparing the trellises for the hops season that starts during August and September.
The somewhat odd sight of a tractor pulling a platform with half a dozen workers 5m above the ground and followed by at least a dozen men and women walking and bending behind the slow moving farm vehicle greets the motorist on the Hops Route.
The workers are securing a plastic twine on which the hops will grow from the ground to the top of the trellis frame. The hop plant is a perennial creeper that grows at a phenomenal 10cm to 15cm per day making it one of the fastest growing plants in the world. Soon the first shoots will appear that will then be strung to the twine of the trellises by wrapping the bines in a clockwise direction.
The climate that is found on the leeward side of the foothills of the Outeniqua Mountains is ideal for hops farming. The combination of a mild temperature, absence of frost and sufficient rain encourages the fast growing locally developed strain of hops to flourish.
During the warm summer nights, visitors to the area will see another unique spectacle with hectares of green flowering hops growing under bright overhead floodlights. Farmers use the light to encourage the growth of the plant.
The somewhat odd sight of a tractor pulling a platform with half a dozen workers 5m above the ground and followed by at least a dozen men and women greets the motorist on the Hops Route.
PHOTO'S: MYRON RABINOWITZ
