2010 Athens Tour de Farm a great success!!

Check out a clip from this year's ride on CNN.com .

On April 30th, 30 cyclists parked their cars at the UGA Poultry Center and tuned up their bikes for a 3-day, 100-mile ride to 7 farms.  The first day saw us at Woodlands Gardens where Celia showed us around their pristine intensively managed operation.  Next, we headed to Mills Farm for lunch and an introduction with Luke the mule, who plows the field and grinds the grits that Mills Farm is so famous for.  We ended Friday at Sundance Farm, greeted by the smiling faces of the Janosik family.  With approximately 35 miles under everyone's belt, we were treated to a delicious meal prepared by Peter Dale of the National using produce harvested just feet from were it was served.  Everyone set up their tents and settled in for the night with roosters for alarm clocks. 

On the second day, everyone departed from Sundance Farm after a breakfast incorporating eggs from the farm.  We headed to Jubilee Partners for lunch and to learn about their Refugee Program through which 3000 refugees have been housed from more than 30 war-torn countries.  We stopped briefly to play in the water at Watson Mill State Park before heading to  Backyard Harvest for the night.  Jessica Burch prepared another delicious locally-grown evening meal with False Dawn Echo providing musical entertainment. 

After a very restful nights sleep, we woke to a breakfast of Mills Farm porridge and prepared for the the last day of our adventure.  We pedaled to Grove Creek Farm where we learned about historic Georgia cabins, heirloom seeds, and a heritage breed of cattle known as Piney Wood cattle.  We ate our last meal as a group together at Grove Creek Farm before leaving for the UGA Dairy.  The dairy made us miss the days when it provided ice cream to the Creamery at UGA.  But we did have ice cream sandwiches to round out the trip as rider pulled into the UGA Poultry Center.  The official mileage traveled for the entire trip was 112 miles.  Everyone finished the tour with smiles, new friends, and a deep connection to where they live and eat. 

Tour de Farm directly supports local farms, with over half of the event expenses going towards local farms.  Tour de Farm attempts to be a waste-free event as well.  We brought all our own dishes on the trip, washing by hand at each stop.  Buying directly from farms means that we had no labels or plastic wrap to throw away.  We were also able to compost any leftovers from each meal. 

There are so many elements to making a successful Tour de Farm: the farms, our sponsors (Luna Bakery, The National, Jittery Joe's, and BikeAthens), our organizers (Tim and Ellison), and our volunteers (Basil, Jason, Mike, Garrett, and Daniel).  Many thanks to everyone! 

Right now, Tour de Farm is a once a year event held in the Spring.  If you are interested in participating in next year's Tour de Farm, send an email to athenstourdefarm (at) gmail (dot) com with "2011 Tour de Farm Waiting List" in the subject title.