FLOYDS KNOBS, Ind. (AP) — Cousins Tim Byrne and Kory Byrne don’t have a background in farming, but when they decided to try growing hops, a flowering plant used in beer, it became an adventure that expanded beyond just a hobby.

About four years ago, the cousins started Knob View Hops at a farm in Floyds Knobs. As they have grown this non-traditional crop that isn’t commonly found in the area, they have continued to learn along the way.

Their hops are regularly featured in beers at Our Lady of Perpetual Hops, a craft brewery in New Albany. About 590 plants are growing on the farm, including three varieties of hops.

The two cousins both have day jobs in addition to working their farm — Tim works in the equine industry as a farrier, and Kory works at Koetter Woodworking.

Five years ago, Tim bought the farm in Floyds Knobs, and Kory soon bought a nearby property. Tim said he has a green thumb, and he always has been interested in plants and gardening. He was inspired when he found hops listed in a Burgess Seed catalog.

Hops are cone-shaped flowers from the Humulus lupulus plant that add aroma and flavors to beers, including styles such as IPAs.

Tim said they have a saying on their farm: “if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing.” So they dove in headfirst into their new venture.

“It’s been one of the most rewarding and fun adventures of our lives,” he said. “It’s taken us all over the place from buying our plants to buying this crazy harvesting machine that we didn’t know we needed at the time.”

They bought the plants in Michigan, and they bought the harvesting machine from Corning, N.Y., which is used to separate the hops from the vine.

“You have such a short window of when the crop is ready to come off. When the varietal is ready, you have about five days, and when it’s go time, it doesn’t matter what’s going on in your life, you have to pick, because the product will go backwards really quickly.”

They had to learn how to dry the hops and other intricacies of harvesting and preparing the hops that they didn’t realize were so “vitally important.”