Enjoy this photo blog from Rogue Farms

The Farmstead Malt House in Tygh Valley, Ore., under several inches of snow in November.

We salute the Rouge Nation Department of Agriculture. When it comes to supporting and growing local ingredients to use in craft beer, Rogue Ales and Spirits invests heavily in native and natural ingredients — like its hop farm in Independence, Ore., a strategic alliance with the Coleman family, heritage hop growers in the Willamette Valley (which is basically hop Shangri-La). Rogue became an agri-fermenter founded in Oregon in 1988, as one of America’s first microbreweries. Rogue has won more than 1,000 awards and is available in all 50 states and 48 countries, but its coolest feature might be Rogue Farms. Since 2008, Rogue became committed to saving the terroir of Oregon hops and barley, one acre at a time, by growing its own. Here’s a bunch of cool photos from the 2015 Winter Rogue Department of Agriculture Crop Report.

A winter cover crop of barley. After protecting Rogue Farm’s hopyard during winter, it will die off the following spring.

A major winter storm dumped several inches of rain on Rogue Farms just before Christmas Day, 2014.

Two things to know about Rogue Farm’s Potbellied Pigs, Voo and Doo. First, they don’t like change. Second, they’ll eat just about anything.

Loading Rogue’s bee colonies for the trip south began early in the morning. Rogue wanted to complete the journey by nightfall so that the bees would spend as little time as possible on the road.

Where Rogue Farms bees are spending winter, among the almond blossoms of California.

The first shoots of Dream Rye emerged in December.

Rogue Farms hand picks its Wigrich Corn on a cold and wet November morning.

That crop of Wigrich Corn is ready to be shelled, floor malted and micro-malted for the first ever batch of Rogue Spirits Sweet Corn Bourbon.

Replacing poles and wires before they become a problem is key to running a hop yard. It takes a lot of hard work to keep a trellis in good shape, and the best time for maintenance is winter.

Getting it done with some fall plowing at Rogue Farms.

Ok, not exactly Rogue Farms, but here’s a photo of hauling in pots filled with Dungeness Crab off the coast of Newport, Ore. The crabs for Rogue’s Seafood Landings.

Tags: Crop Report Hop Farming photo blog Rogue Ales and Spirits Rogue Department of Agriculture Winter Report 2015