Not a barn

Not every rural building that is not a house is a barn.

When the hops are picked, they are dried in a kiln such as this or a more modern version. The high temperature needed to dry the hops must be monitored 24 hours a day.

Not many of the old kilns like this one remain in the Valley. I remember several hop kiln fires in the Valley since we came here, and they were in more modern facilities. These old wooden buildings would have gone up quite quickly in a fire.

Now, how did you like that segue--from the barns of the last couple of days to this non-barn--to the picking of hops. Hop harvest has finally reached the hopyards in my neighborhood. Some peeks at the process will feature in the next few days.

A busy time in the Valley.