oh what fun it is to ride…

Yesterday was the annual Urban Farms bike ride. It was part of the “kick-off” to Eat Drink Local Week and it’s the only ride I know of where you come out well ahead calorie-wise. I mean, pedal pedal, stop and nibble, pedal pedal, stop and munch munch munch… What fun!

Hope to do it again next year!

My thanks, as always, to the good folks at Bicycle Sport Shop, for keeping us on the right track. These people are organized… their signage and support is so good that even those of us with negative directional abilities didn’t get lost even once. Super!

I’m sure I’ve mentioned the Hope Farmer’s Market before. It’s the Sunday Market in east Austin that sports wonderful hand crafts as well as great tasty stuff. They also hosted a local Slow Foods event recently. Good people. They were actually the last stop on our ride, so (as is often the case) I guess I’m telling the story back to front. Oh well…

I think I’ll opt for the “picture is worth a thousand words” thing and just show you a few bits of the ride. What I will tell you, though, is that it is much too warm and much much too dry for December here… scary. Still the farms are doing well so far, and understand that all these “farms” (and community gardens) are indeed urban, right in Austin proper!

My thanks to Edible Austin for all their work in sponsoring not just the ride but the whole week’s events, to all the farmers who opened their doors (and gates) to us yesterday, and to all the local chefs who plied us with treats at every stop – may I sign up now for next year please? Mmmmm…

No recipe this week, but I may try to do something like that beet and mint ice cream, especially if it stays this warm (hot) for much longer! Mmmmmm….

I guess the photos are a bit of a jumble, but that’s how it was yesterday. We only visited maybe half of the participating urban farms and community gardens on the list over the course of the morning (we had to stop – we were getting too full!) and it was great! This is the third time I’ve done this ride (I missed last year as it was raining – the ride went on but I didn’t!) and I’m already (in case you hadn’t noticed) looking forward to the next one! Ride on…

row row row your greens… Rain Lily Farm

a bite of smoked duck udon for the road?

dig that sweet potato!

pedal pedal, eat gelato… mmmm!

squash panna cotta with just a little whipped cream

and a community garden

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