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.

July 19: bike tour of the Katzie Slough

Here's a map of the routes we'll be following:

For more information:

• Watershed Watch Salmon Society 
• Katzie Slough restoration project
• HUB cycling column in The News

Photos Discover Historic Hammond ride

Thanks to Ian McLeod of Fraseropolis.com for guiding our ride today and sharing interesting facts about Hammond, and thanks to Leanne Koehn and James Rowley for the hospitality, the muffins and ice tea, and thank heavens we had a gorgeous sunny day! Here is Ian's blog post about the ride.

Ian gave us a bit of a history lesson today. It's hard to imagine now that the area just west of Memorial Peace Park once used to be pastures and orchards. The land owned by Japanese was seized from them during the 2nd World War. They were sent to the Kootenays, and few of them returned. They were never compensated. The building where the CEED Centre is now located used to be a Japanese school.

Start of the ride at the Blue Fountains at Memorial Peace Park

In Pitt Meadows, we rode the off-road multi-use path between Hammond and the Airport Parkway, and Ian, who was involved in the Golden Ears Bridge construction as public relations manager, told us that for this $1 billion project, this stretch of multi-use path was actually the most contentious of all the issues that they had to deal with. Residents whose houses this path backed onto were upset, claiming that cyclists would climb their fences and steal things out of their backyards. I know they've been complaining about flooding issues after the path was built, supposedly caused by the path, but I hope that they now see the benefits to the community as well and that most cyclists aren't such bad people after all.

While enjoying some delicious coffee at Stomping Grounds Coffee in Osprey Village in Pitt Meadows, Ian told us about the unusual government model of Barnston Island. Its 100 inhabitants are represented by a Director on the Metro Board and pay property taxes to the region, not to their own municipality. It's a great place to go for a bike ride. There's a free ferry from Surrey, from the bottom of 176 Street, and there's very little traffic on the road that goes around the island.

Great bike racks at Stomping Grounds Coffee were well used

Nice latte and great company at Stomping Grounds in Osprey Village!

We passed through the Katzie reserve. For cyclists the dirt road full of potholes is a convenient, but bumpy connection between Hammond and Osprey. The Katzie presently have only about 500 band members, and this is one of 5 reserves in the area that they own.

Wharf Street still has some industry, but it's obviously struggling. The Hammond Cedar Mill, once the biggest  employer in Maple Ridge, has downsized considerably.  There is no public access to the Fraser River in Hammond, and Hammond Neighbours would love to see some of the properties that are up for sale right along the waterfront to be turned into a park.

Riding through Hammond, we stopped at some of the older homes, like the original home of one of the Hammond brothers, who owned much of the land in the area and negotiated with the CPR to have a train station built in Hammond in 1883. Rail or boat was the only access to Hammond in the very early days. It would have been a very different kind of community back then. People would have walked or biked down to the store to buy what they needed. Most people of course worked locally at the Mill, or at the supporting local businesses.

Most of the older homes were built for mill workers. They're generally small homes and these days there's not much buyers' interest in them. Some have been remarkably well-kept though, and it's encouraging to see that there's a strong desire among the Hammond Neighbours to revive some community spirit and to fix up the whole area. It'll be interesting to see what's going to happen in the next few years in this area. It's got so much potential.

Tolmie Park in Hammond, named after a former BC premier

I thought the signs were kind of cute (it's a bit hard to read: "Hippies use side door" and "Beware: pickpockets and loose women"). This is an old telecommunications building beside the old Bank of Montreal

The old bank building, the first in Maple Ridge. 

Ice tea and muffins in Leanne and James' garden!

Leanne's home, built by her grandfather, and in the process of being restored and renovated. This is where Leanne's parents were Maple Ridge's recycling pioneers!

Another one of the older homes that makes this neighbourhood in Hammond so appealing.

Discover Hammond bike ride Sat. Sept. 15

Keep your agenda open for our upcoming, really cool Discover Hammond bike ride, on Sept. 15, starting at 10:00 a.m. at the blue fountains at Memorial Peace Park, with several pick-up points along the way.

This ride will be led by Ian McLeod, who has an interest in "land use, transportation and civic culture in British Columbia's Lower Mainland" and writes about these issues on his blog Fraseropolis.com, and who, together with Claus Andrup, recently published the booklet Aesthetic Maple Ridge.

With the help of the Hammond Neighbourhood Group and the Maple Ridge Museum, Ian's been digging up some interesting history of Hammond, and he would like to share it with you, and show you some of the well-preserved and also some of the not so well-preserved remnants of Hammond's past.

You will be able to join the ride at the following locations/approximate times:

10:00 - Memorial Peace Park (@ blue fountains)
10:20 - Ridge Meadows College on Thorne Ave.
10:45 - coffee break and chat at Stomping Grounds Coffee House at Osprey Village, Pitt Meadows
11:30 - meeting place for Hammond Neighbours: where Katzie reservation road and Wharf Street meet (by Golden Ears Bridge)

After a tour of Hammond of probably about an hour or so, the ride will end in Hammond. Those who wish can ride back to downtown Maple Ridge with us. The distance of the ride from Memorial Peace Park to Hammond is approx. 13 km.

Note that our rides are "unguided". This means that you're welcome to meet us at the suggested times and to ride along with us, but you do so fully at your own risk. We choose quiet routes where possible. Those who are not comfortable riding on River Road by Ridge Meadows Hospital can ride on the sidewalk.

In case we cancel the ride due to rain, it'll be posted on the blog on Friday Sept. 14 by 8 pm.

Hope to see you on Sept. 15th!