Bike to Farms ride, Sunday Sept. 7

Join Golden Ears Community Co-op and our HUB committee for our second Bike to Farms ride on Sunday, Sept. 7. We'll be leaving from Big Feast restaurant (11920 227 St., Maple Ridge) at about 1:00 pm, and we should return there by about 4:30 pm.  

The length of the ride is about 15 kms. Here is a map of the route:

This year's participating farms are:

• *NEW* Brookfield Farm, a historic farm owned and operated by Matthew and Deanna Laity. Lots of animals and lots of interesting stories!
• Lorea McCready, who lives on a lovely property overlooking the Golden Ears mountains, where she, with the help of her kids, lovingly and expertly grows, and preserves, an amazing variety of vegetables and fruits to feed her family. 
• Red Barn Plants and Produce. This is where much of the produce is grown that owners Elke and Ken Knechtel sell through their CSA program, as well as at the farm gate and at the Haney Farmers Market.

This year's ride is sponsored by the Maple Ridge Agricultural Advisory Committee.

Donations to the Golden Ears Community Co-op would be much appreciated.

For those of you who were wondering: out of safety concerns we decided not to visit Golden Ears Cheesecrafters this year, but we're hoping to once again include this yummy destination in future Bike to Farms rides once the planned multi-use path along 128th Ave. is completed.

Participants will be required to sign a waiver at the start of the ride. Of course we will all be expected to follow the rules of the road, such as wearing a helmet, riding single file when riding on the road, and pulling over when an emergency vehicle is approaching.

You can view a description and photos of last year's ride here.

My husband and I participated in the Slow Food Cycle Tour in Agassiz a few weeks ago. Same idea, only much bigger! Hundreds of people participate every year. I wrote about it in my last column in the Maple Ridge News.

It would be appreciated if you could register for the Bike to Farms ride in advance, so we have an idea how many people we can expect. Please send me an e-mail at jchow23708@yahoo.ca.

Photos Bike to Farms ride Sept. 7

We organized this Bike to Farms ride together with Kim Lauzon as a fundraiser for the Golden Ears Community Co-op, which Kim is working on.

Everything just worked out perfect for this ride! We had a good turn-out, there were 12 of us. Even though the skies were grey when we started off from  Memorial Peace Park, it never rained, and before we knew it the sun came out and it was actually quite warm. We headed north on 224th, and made a loop via 124 Ave, Blackstock and then east on 128 Ave. to get to Golden Ears Cheesecrafters, our first stop.

Golden Ears Cheesecrafters is a family business (mother, father and 2 daughters) that has only been in operation for 2 years. Mother Lynn gave us a tour, explaining how the cheesemaking process works, and I was amazed by the wide variety of cheeses that they produce. We got to taste some. My favourite was the cumin Gouda! Some of their cheeses have already won awards, and I'm sure many more will follow! We had time to sit down for coffee and I had a lovely homemade cranberry scone as well. Lots of interesting items in the shop as well, so I'll have to go back some time to take a closer look.

Ken was waiting for us, so we went on our way again, following 224th north up to Red Barn Plants and Produce. Like Golden Ears Cheesecrafters, Ken and Elke Knechtel of Red Barn are at the Haney Farmers Market every weekend, selling produce not only from their farm on 224th St., but also from the bigger farm that their son operates in the Okanagan, which enables them to sell a wider variety of vegetables and fruits. It seems is an awfully labour intensive operation, and to get all the work done, Ken and Elke get help from "Wwoofers", an interesting program that links agricultural operations with volunteers from all over the world. They get room and board in exchange for labour on the farm. Ken also offers them bicycles and canoes and he takes them on hikes as well.

Ken and Elke grow quite a variety of crops, and they offer weekly boxes of whatever produce is in season in exchange for your support for the farm through an annual fee, which is called CSA (Community Sustained Agriculture). We got to taste some delicious cantaloupe and peaches grown on the Okanagan farm. Yum! What a difference with the tasteless stuff you buy in the grocery store!

After this delightful visit, we had to move on to our last destination. We turned left at 136 Ave.. At the end of the road we got onto a horse trail, which ended up on the dikes. We were already half-way to Lorea's vegetable gardens when we realized we lost someone: Jack! What happened? Well, Jack had been so involved in a conversation with Ken that he apparently never even realized that we were gone! Once Ivan had found him and they had caught up with us, we continued on our way on another trail that connected back to 136 Ave., much of which was an unpaved road.

When we arrived at Lorea's vegetable garden, she was ready for us! Her son and some friends had a lemonade stand, which was just what we needed.

This was my 3rd tour of Lorea's vegetable gardens, and every time I'm so impressed with what Lorea has accomplished. She manages to feed her family, with 5 kids, the whole year through from her garden, and also sells some of her herbs and delicious tomatoes to local restaurants. It's a full time job! She's always seeding, weeding, harvesting, processing, and every patch of dirt always has something growing in it.

At the end of the tour Lorea asked us to taste her tomatoes - about 10 different kinds - and to rate them. With pleasure, of course! I'll have to get some tomato plants from her next Spring!

After some hugs we were on our way again, back to the Farmers Market. It's hard to believe that a 12 km bike ride can take almost 4 hours. Time sure flies when you're having fun!

We'll have to start thinking about our next Bike to Farms ride, because this was just too much fun!

More photos on facebook page about the ride.

Bike to Farms ride: Sept. 7

Hey folks!

Mark on your calendar our next Discovery Bike Ride to several local farms/food producers on September 7! I'm quite excited about this one, because I think it's so important to support the Golden Ears Food Co-op as well as our local food producers. The Golden Ears Food Co-op will make it easier for all of us to buy local food, and at the same time it will be easier for local food producers to sell to us whatever they produce.

On this ride, It's really cool to see how and where some of our local food is grown and made. Kim of the Golden Ears Food Co-op, Peter Tam and I tested out the route last week and had tours at the various places we'll be visiting, and we had a great time. I hope many will join us for this ride! Here's the cool poster that Kim made, which has all the information about the ride:

People can also contact me for tickets at jchow23708@yahoo.ca