For one year now I have been dreaming of building two arbors that would be the home to our hops vines and serve as gateways to our garden. The process finally took flight when Seth and Chris took a road trip to harvest cedar for the structure. Once the wood was on site, Chris spent a few days preparing the side framing of the arbors. We then dug the holes for the footings and set the sides in place. One of the most important things when building and structure is to make sure it is square, level and plumb. Once the sides were in place we then hoisted the cross beams on top and secured them with timber locks. As you can see from the picture it looks complete but we actually have several things left to finish. The top cross beams need to be cut to size, we have an additional 12 rails that will sit face forward across the top, and lastly to adorn the sides with black birch branching. The birch will give it a rustic look and additional surface area for the hops to cling to.