On September 17th
of this year, the Sharing Gardens of Alpine and Monroe
co-hosted the first annual 'Farm-to-Farm' Century Ride, a 100 mile
bicycle tour that visited some of our area's outstanding examples of
sustainably operated farms. This ride was the 'brainchild' of
Jennifer Hughes of Eugene, an avid cyclist who wanted to create a
different kind of Century Ride and give it's participants a greater
purpose for participating. When she found the Sharing Gardens
online, she approached us about hosting the event and proposed that a
significant portion of the proceeds go toward our
non-profit, grass-roots, all volunteer and community-supported effort
to feed people in need. We felt that this was a perfect opportunity
to bring various community members and groups together to help raise
awareness of the need for this type of food assistance program, as
well as bring in some much needed funds to keep it strong. We
gladly accepted and began the process of planning out what, and how
much we needed to grow. Since we had agreed to cater the event, we
geared our menu so that the ingredients we would be using would be
ready when we needed them, with an all vegetarian selection of local,
and farm-fresh items.
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| The Ride was a way to involve many members of our community. Here are members of Christy Warden's 4-H group, husking corn. |
When Llyn and I embraced this project, it was with the understanding that it would be in
addition to continuing our regular schedule with our wonderful
volunteers, and with a commitment to expand our production. Last year
our surplus went primarily to the Monroe Food Bank. This year we have
added the South Benton Nutrition Program, and the Harrisburg
Gleaners. Even though the growing season got off to a slow start,
once the harvest began, the amounts continued to increase in leaps
and bounds but, unlike last year, we had people to call upon to take
our excess so that we weren't 'left holding the bag' at the end of
the Food Bank's day. Whew!!!! And even though the Ride took place
on the 17th of September, we've been so busy keeping up
with the onslaught of produce coming ripe that we haven't really had
the time to digest what happened and let you all know how things
went.
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| A cyclist enjoys a scoop of Lochmead vanilla ice-cream donated for the ride. |
Well, let me tell you, it
was a HUGE success and more fun than we've had in a long time. There
were very few snags that occurred during either the planning stages
or on the actual day of the event. We owe much of our success to the
amazing people who stepped forward in total willingness to do
whatever was needed, with a real spirit of giving and cooperation
that made our hearts feel so warm and grateful. To all of you who
were there to help, we want to thank you all so much. Gratitude and Stories from the Ride
Just to recap what took
place, here's a little sketch of the day's highlights:
People began arriving at
about 6:30 AM and went to the Monroe High's parking lot where they
were signed in and then directed to the Monroe Legion Hall for a
delicious breakfast and fresh Cafe Maam coffee before heading out on
their 100 mile trek through some of our area's most beautiful
countryside. Along the way they stopped at four local farms and were
treated to some very tasty and unique delicacies that are produced
right here in our area by people who care about sustainable
farming practices and increasing awareness of our local food web.
Riders faced some pretty strong head winds along the route and were
delayed in returning to the Monroe Garden, but they started to roll
in around 3:00 and were greeted by some of the area's finest acoustic
musicians playing a mix of Country, Blues, and Oregon-style
Bluegrass.
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| Pickin' and a-grinnin' - 'When Picks Fly' brought fun and a festive ambiance to the event. |
On the menu for these hearty souls was a deluxe potato
salad, a steaming hot serving of 'made-from-scratch' Boston-style
baked beans, all the fresh sweet corn a body could eat, along with a
garden fresh green salad with hummus-stuffed Roma-tomatoes, and if
that wasn't enough, there were cookies and vanilla ice cream to put
everyone's sweet tooth to rest. It was quite the scene! People kept
coming up to us and saying things like,”I can't wait to sign up for
next year's ride!” and, “This is the best ride I've ever been
on!” Counting riders (79), volunteers (42) musicians and misc., we fed over 130 people that day.
There's so much more I'd
like to say and so many people we'd like to personally thank
that we've dedicated a whole page on our website just for that. (Link to page) For now it's time to
come back to the tasks still facing us as we wind down this season in anticipation of how next year will unfold. We
believe that projects such as the Sharing Gardens are on the
cutting edge, addressing the challenges that are inherent in these new and difficult economic and environmental times. All of us are having to make new choices and this isn't always easy. But we believe that
these choices will have the wonderful side-effect of bringing us all
closer as members of a human family and community. I
believe that we are at the edge of beginning to rediscover the things
that are truly important in life, and that they aren't really
'things' at all, but rather the love that we have for one another
that blooms in deeds of selfless giving and compassion. After all,
'THERE'S NO COMPETITION ON THE GIVING SIDE OF LIFE.' For a list of
specific people and organizations who helped make this event so
successful, and some other follow-up stories, go to www.AlpineGarden.blogspot.com
and click on the link in the upper right-hand-corner that says Farm to Farm Century Ride – Gratitude and Stories.
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