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Tour de Farms 2011

This past Saturday we had a fantastic showing for our annual Tour de Farms ride with around 30 riders ready for 40 miles of smiles, good feelings, and tasty treats. Led and organized with love by Mark , Jennifer, and Danielle, the ride helps showcase a variety of local community farms that all take diverse approaches to urban agriculture. From the larger fields of Allandale to Kate Canney’s backyard plots of The Neighborhood Farm everyone riding got a great perspective on how people are thinking and acting to grow and consume locally.

After starting off  from the Franklin Park Zoo we made our way down the hill to Allandale Farm where we met the passionate Jim Buckle. Here he described how Boston’s last working farm has sustained itself while continuing to provide great produce at financially viable prices. With some history on the farm,  it’s future prospects, and a delicious apple we were on our way.

Next stop – Newton Community Farm. We were met by Greg Maslowe who depicted what a group of dedicated people could could produce in a year on a small plot of land. It was truly incredible to see how they were able to squeeze every efficiency out of small acreage to create a wonderful and reproducible model for others to follow. If every neighborhood had a similar community farm we would all be much happier and more healthy people. With some fresh cucumber salad and an explanation of how they mix production between CSA shares and external sales we were back on the bikes and on to the next stop.

 

Perhaps the most innovative approach on our tour came from The Neighborhood Farm. Founded on the desire to grow countered by the lack of available space, founder Kate Canney thought outside of the farm. She approached private land owners, many with small yards, with the offer of available produce. Our host in Needham was one of the original land donors. Beyond the farm he offered warm hospitality including lemonade, iced tea and some lovely dogs; thanks!

The next stop along the ride and the final farm was Brookwood Community Farm which lies adjacent to the Blue Hills Reservation. The farm, which had been a part of a DCR conservation area, was returned to production in 2006. Since then it has been been using organic practices that promote happy soil and a balanced ecosystem. Through donating over $20K in produce to food pantries and supporting affordable markets in Mattapan Brookwood has become a great asset to the area.

The final stop arrived, and on time I might add (thank you Mark!), at the Roslindale Village Main Streets Farmers’ Market. Here we were able to catch up with Jim again as he was shelling out produce and catch our breath from a great ride. The full-sized oreo cookies were also a highlight.

Make sure to keep your eyes open next year for another ride, or two. With a success like this it would be hard to not keep it rolling.

 

Thank you everyone that rode, I had a great time and it sounded like everyone else involved did as well!

See our entire Flickr Gallery Here. Catch Jennifer’s blog post as well.

Saddle-up!

Have you stopped by our shop recently? Nestled at the corner of Atlantic Avenue are our shops at 109 and 103 Atlantic Ave. You probably knew this already, but what you might not know is that throughout the summer we’ve been getting a ton of flashy new gear in stock.

The latest are our custom saddle bags. We have the Minicargo and Supercargo traditional saddle bags and also large Tri-Boxes. Inertia Designs made the sturdy little guys and stitched on the Urban AdvenTours logo in our signature green. The bags are made out of Cordura Nylon and truck tarp, so you know that these bad boys are waterproof. 3M Reflective tape is on the back of the saddle bags for safety too. The reflective tape is great because it doubles as a strap where you can attach a rear light such as the Swerve by Princeton Tec for added visibility. Inertia Designs makes all of their bags in the United States and guarantees your satisfaction on their products.

What do you put in your saddle bag? How about the tools you need to change a flat? We have Giant tubes of all sizes with valves of all kinds. Other than tubes, Pedro’s Tire Levers and Park Tool Patch Kits are cyclist necessities. In order to fill up those tubes after changing a flat or when you are running on low, you’ll need something along the lines of an air-pump. The Magic Flute by Portland Design Works is a handheld pump by day and a co2 tire inflator by night! Unless you are Mary Poppins your Magic Flute won’t fit in your saddle bag, but not to fear it has the power to attach to your top tube. That way you can be just as prepared as Mary Poppins is at all times.

And what about the tri-box? The tri-box is placed in between your top-tube and stem at an easily accessible location. Thus it is a great spot to stuff a bunch of energy snacks like Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch Clif Bars and Chocolate Gu Gels because if you are anything like me, constant snacking is a must and having to break from riding is just not allowed. Some people like to put more necessary items, like a cellphone in case of emergencies and keys into their tri-boxes, but practicality can only go so far.

Once you have everything you need to fix a flat and you have jammed your tri-box with enough treats to feed Ms. Poppins’ small fleet of children, then you should be ready to hit the road.

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Hubway

What is Boston’s Hubway Bike Share program?

Ride with us on the Tour and drift past farm after farm

Would you like to ride a leg of the Tour with Urban AdvenTours? That’s right, ride along some of the best riders in the entire world along a scenic path of rolling hills and green that goes on for miles.

Join us Saturday August 20th for Urban AdvenTours 5th Annual Tour de Farms ride. Okay, so it might not be THE Tour de France but you will be riding with some of the best riders in the world (okay, maybe just in Boston and maybe just their personalities not their speed).

The ride is to promote awareness for sustainable agriculture and our local farms. Riders meet at Franklin Park at 9AM and travel out through Brookline and the Blue Hills visiting Allandale Farm, Newton Community Farm, and a Neighborhood Farm site before arriving at Brookwood Community Farm. At Brookwood Community Farm the group will take a break from riding to explore the farm and have a delicious locally made and grown lunch. The ride will then continue on to Roslindale Village Main Street Farmers’ Market where riders can purchase fresh produce for themselves.

The tour is about 40 miles long and will travel at a pace of about 10-15 miles per hour. The tour costs $35 bikes not provided. If you need to rent a road bike for the tour we are offering a special rate of $60 for both a bike rental and delivery (regularly $75 plus $15 for delivery).

There are limited spots available for this ride so book early! Book online, give us a call, or come into our shop. Don’t miss the most talked about ride of the year (at least here at Urban AdvenTours). Bring a bike, your friends and your earthy-crunchy selves and leave your overalls and farmer tans at home.