YOUR LOCALLY OWNED NEWSPAPER SERVING SNOQUALMIE AND NORTH BEND
SNO★VALLEY
STAR
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2016
IMPRESSIVE DEBUT Wildcats use balanced attack to triumph over the Rebels, 42-22 Page 10
Renewal Center marks milestone in assistance BY STUART MILLER smiller@snovalleystar.com
Photo courtesy Snoqualmie Valley Historical Society
A photo from 1891 shows Native American workers at Snoqualmie Hop Ranch near the base of Mount Si.
Hops with a history
Volunteers harvest wild crop growing at Meadowbrook
Snoqualmie Falls Brewing Company started using the wild hops in special batches only four years ago.
BY STUART MILLER
History in a glass Currently in his mid-80s, Dave Olson, a board member for the Meadowbrook Farm Preserve, could be found climbing ladders, carrying hop-filled baskets and getting deep into some blackberry thickets during the harvest. His son Alan and wife Betty were also there Monday, climbing, cutting and picking. Dave Olson plays bridge with Pat Anderson, part owner of the Snoqualmie Falls Brewing Company, and helped Anderson get on board with the idea of using Meadowbrook hops in a beer batch. In 2012, volunteers brought the first load of Meadowbrook
smiller@snovalleystar.com
It won’t be “last call” for Meadowbrook Ale thanks to a group of volunteers who spent Labor Day picking Meadowbrook hops, the wild descendants of hops from what was once reputed to be the largest hop farm in the world. The aromatic green buds, remnants from the 19th-century Snoqualmie Hop Ranch, still grow around the 460-acre Meadowbrook Farm Preserve in North Bend, with vines winding around any structure or plant they can grip on to. Some hop vines climb the tall wooden posts outside the interpretive center. Other
STUART MILLER | smiller@snovalleystar.com
Alan Olson (left) and Kevin Haggerty pull hop vines from a blackberry thicket Sept. 5 at Meadowbrook Farm.
vines wind up tree trunks and weave their way through blackberry bushes around the preserve. Volunteers powered through thorn bushes Monday to reach hop-heavy vines in the thicket, using ladders to clear narrow paths. Vines growing up the timbers
next to the interpretive center were cut by volunteers on ladders. Loaded hop vines were worth the extra effort they took to reach, as the fruits of the labor will end up in a uniquely local batch of beer. While some homebrewers have known about and picked the hops for many years,
SEE HOP RANCH, PAGE 3
The Valley Renewal Center, a day center in downtown Snoqualmie for homeless and at-risk people, is showing signs of success and progress. Two people recently found housing with help from the VRC after enduring two months of homelessness. An engaged couple, who go by the names Don and Suzie, are the first people that VRC Manager Charles McCarthy has seen get off the street and into permanent housing since the day center opened in July. Mike is a retired Navy veteran and Suzie is a government employee. They were forced out of their living situation when Suzie’s daughter moved away and they could no longer afford their home. King County’s expensive rental market surprised them, they said. The couple lived in their car for about two months while they figured out their situation. During their first month of homelessness, Suzie refused to seek help. “I was ashamed of our situation,” Suzie said. “I wanted to hide it.” Even with a steady income, affording the initial hurdle of first and last months’ rent and security deposit was insurmountable. Her paycheck was used up quickly in their situation. They had to buy SEE MILESTONE, PAGE 5
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