Hi, I’m Diana Puterbaugh of Puterbaugh Farms. Recently, I have been reflecting on the CRAZY idea – as my husband called it – that came to me 20 years ago already. Boy, time flies!
It feels like yesterday I was at home with our two young boys here at the farm and the idea hit me: we should start selling our hops on the internet.
I know that doesn’t sound groundbreaking and a lot of you are nodding your head in agreement – of course we should sell our hops on the internet! But this was the late 1990's and e-commerce was extremely new. For perspective, few people had cell phones or personal computers. Furthermore, many internet companies were going out of business quickly. The dot com crash scared the heck out of us, but our passion for growing hops and our mission to stay family-owned and farm-direct trumped our fears of taking the plunge.
I also took heart in knowing these two things: the Craft Beer scene was growing and our farm was producing commercial quantities of hops these breweries were in search of. I began immersing myself in the beer industry, taking what I knew about hops and farming and pairing that with a new knowledge of beer and brewing. Understanding what brewers needed help guiding the farm side as well as give birth to our very own online store, Hops Direct LLC.
For the past 20 years, Hops Direct, LLC has functioned as the merchant side of our family farm. A 5th generation farm and operation, Puterbaugh Farms has been growing hops in the Yakima Valley of Washington State since 1932. Together, Puterbaugh Farms and Hops Direct grows, processes, packages, and stores 1,200+ acres of hops in 19 different varieties, all of which are shipped directly from our farm with no middle man involvement.
2020 is quite the milestone for our family and farm, though it seems odd at this time to be celebrating when the world is hurting. We can genuinely say that each day we strive to be better, work harder, love deeper....growing in our understanding of each other and the world...and raising our children to do the same.
We will be taking time through the month of June to highlight the history of Puterbaugh Farms (est. 1932) and the 20th anniversary of Hops Direct, LLC. We will celebrate working shoulder-to-shoulder with the folks who have started out small and built their companies just like us. We are grateful for our customers who have become like family to us, and stand with them during this difficult time.
Keep an eye peeled here for ways to celebrate with us, from wherever HOME is for you! We hope you are all staying happy and healthy.
Big “air high fives” from all of us here at the farm.
CHEERS!
